An Alabama freshman pitcher with a 7.88 ERA in three SEC games shut down the No. 1-ranked University of Arkansas baseball team.
Zane Adams, a left-hander who last season played for Porter (Texas) High School, pitched eight innings to lead the No. 17 Crimson Tide to a 5-0 victory over the Razorbacks on Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Adams (3-2) matched the eight innings he had combined to pitch in three SEC games -- against Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky -- in which he had allowed 7 runs, 10 hits and a .313 opponents' batting average.
"What an effort Zane Adams gave us," Alabama Coach Rob Vaughn said. "He had good stuff and mixed pitches. What an effort from the young pup."
Adams was a mid-week starter before moving into the SEC rotation two weeks ago because junior Hagan Banks sustained a season-ending arm injury.
Prior to Sunday, Adams' longest outing was 4 1/3 innings against Troy on March 6.
"He threw a lot of strikes and kept some guys off balance," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We let some good pitches go by and swung at bad pitches. Got ourselves out a lot.
"But give him credit. He was ahead in the count, and we didn't get him early. We hit some balls hard early and they went at people. I think our hitters got a little frustrated, pressing a little bit."
Arkansas (30-5, 12-3 SEC) suffered its first shutout in a 96-game span.
Ole Miss had been the last team to shut out the Razorbacks in a 2-0 win at the College World Series on June 6, 2022, to end Arkansas' season.
Adams threw 97 pitches with 63 strikes. He held the Razorbacks to 4 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts.
"It felt like nothing could go wrong," Adams said. "I wasn't thinking about where I was throwing the ball. I wasn't thinking about anything.
"I was just letting it go and it was going where it needed to go. I just kind of got in a groove."
Alabama closer Alton Davis pitched the ninth inning. He walked Wehiwa Aloy with two outs, then struck out Nolan Souza swinging to end the game.
"They didn't give us anything," Van Horn said. "And we didn't hit very well obviously."
The Razorbacks, who beat the Crimson Tide 5-3 on Friday night and lost 4-3 in 10 innings on Saturday night, have dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.
"I'm proud of the guys. They played hard," Van Horn said. "You know that it's not going to go your way every weekend.
"This game, it can eat you up a little bit. We've just got to move on, got to get better."
Alabama (24-12, 6-9) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Ian Petrutz's RBI single against Arkansas starter Brady Tygart (3-1).
Bryce Eblin hit a two-run home run against Koty Frank to extend the Crimson Tide's lead to 3-0 in the seventh inning.
Alabama added two runs in the eighth inning against Will McEntire, with one run scoring on a throwing error by catcher Ryder Helfrick.
Tygart went five innings, his most since also going five in an 11-1 victory over Murray State on March 2. He allowed 1 run, 5 hits and 2 walks and had 3 strikeouts. He threw 87 pitches with 54 strikeouts.
"I thought he battled, competed," Van Horn said. "Really did not have his breaking ball for the first three innings. We were a little concerned, because he couldn't land it. Maybe one time in three innings.
"Then the last couple of innings he started throwing it a little more around the plate, got a strikeout or two with it.
"He was able to get us through five just down a run. Hey, that's all you can ask. He did his job."
Arkansas got its only extra-base hit when Jared Sprague-Lott hit a two-out double off the left-field wall in the sixth inning.
Ben McLaughlin followed with a single through the left side, but Sprague-Lott initially hesitated and only reached third base with Arkansas trailing 1-0.
"The ball was hit to the left of the third baseman [Gabe Miller] from a left-handed hitter, so it was kind of sliced on the ground," Van Horn said. "[Sprague-Lott] hesitated because he thought [Miller] was going to field it and he was going to run into an out.
"But if he fields it, he's going to throw out [McLaughlin] at first anyway. ... Just run. If he fields it, see what happens. But he had no chance to score, really, when he stopped and then tried to start again.
"Yeah, that was a little mistake there in my opinion."
Adams stranded the potential tying and go-ahead runs when he got Aloy on a flyout to center fielder TJ McCants.
Arkansas also had a chance to score in the second inning when McLaughlin singled, but McCants made a diving catch of a line drive by Peyton Holt to end the inning.
In 104 Arkansas-Alabama games since 1992, it was the fourth shutout victory for the Crimson Tide along with beating the Razorbacks 10-0 in 2007, 5-0 in 2013 and 10-0 in 2019.
Alabama had lost five consecutive games before winning its last two against Arkansas.
"They've got a good team," Van Horn said. "I thought they had a good team three weeks ago.
"Conference play started and they got off to a tough start. But they swing the bat as good as anybody we've played in conference play. They're going to win some games."
In the Crimson Tide's victories over Arkansas they went 9 for 31 with runners on base. The Razorbacks were 1 for 13.
"This weekend was more about timely hitting," Van Horn said. "We didn't get too many of them and that's what cost us. Alabama got some big two-out hits that did it to us, put us away a little bit.
"You worry about it, but I think we're going to be fine. We need to get back home, relax and play good baseball."