LSU falls to Arkansas, 10-4, in Game 3

Published 12:03 am Monday, April 14, 2014

BATON ROUGE — No. 24 Arkansas used two-four run innings to take Game 3 over eighth-ranked LSU, 10-4, Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU, which won the first two games of the series, posted its ninth series win over the Razorbacks in the past 10 seasons. LSU is 27-9-1 overall and 8-6-1 in the SEC following Sunday’s loss, which ended the Tigers’ seven-game win streak. Arkansas improved to 22-15 overall and 7-8 in league play in handing LSU its first SEC home loss this season.

LSU is only 1.5 games behind first-place Alabama (10-5) in the overall league standings through the first half of the SEC schedule.

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The Tigers return to action Tuesday night for the annual Wally Pontiff Jr. Foundation Baseball Classic against Southern Miss at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La.

“It was a disappointing day for us,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We had a chance to sweep this series, but we didn’t get the job done today. We didn’t pitch well, and although their starter gave us nine free passes with seven walks and two hit batters, we couldn’t take advantage of it. We’re certainly pleased that we won the series, but we need to be better than we were today.

“We’ve got a challenging week ahead, so we’ll get back to work and keep battling through the second half of the league schedule.”

Arkansas took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning Sunday. With the bases loaded, LSU starter Kyle Bouman gave up a grand slam to designated hitter Blake Baxendale.

LSU scored two runs in the second inning to cut the lead to 4-2. With the bases loaded and two outs, left fielder Jake Fraley hit a single up the middle to score Andrew Stevenson and Tyler Moore.

In the fourth inning, Arkansas added another run against LSU reliever Cody Glenn to extend the lead to 5-2. With runners on the corners, catcher Jake Wise reached on a fielder’s choice to score Eric Fisher.

The Razorbacks added another four-run inning in the fifth. With two runners on base after walks, second baseman Brian Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to plate Andrew Benintendi. Baxendale doubled to right field to score Joe Serrano. First baseman Eric Fisher then hit his third home run of the weekend against reliever Brady Domangue to score two more runs.

LSU cut into the lead in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly by Stevenson to score Moore. The Tigers added the final run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by catcher Kade Scivicque to plate designated hitter Sean McMullen.

Arkansas notched its final run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Benintendi to center field that scored Bobby Wernes.

Bouman (3-2) was charged the loss after allowing four runs on three hits in one inning with one walk and no strikeouts.

Arkansas starter Chris Oliver (4-3) earned the win after allowing four runs on four hits in seven innings with seven walks and one strikeout.