HOOVER, Ala. — On Thursday night #1 Arkansas knocked off #3 Vanderbilt, 6-4 handing the Commodores their loss of the SEC Tournament. The Hogs advance to Saturday's single elimination semifinal game.
It was the first game all season between two of the best teams in college baseball. The Commodores would strike for two in the first inning when CJ Rogriguez doubled with two outs off Patrick Wicklander.
Arkansas would answer in the second when Ethan Bates singled home Christian Franklin to cut the Vanderbilt lead in half. Matt Goodheart would get hit with a pitch with the bases loaded to even the score at two.
With Arkansas trailing 3-2 in the fourth Goodheart would break out of his slump with a two run double. Cullen Smith would add an RBI single in the frame to give Arkansas a 5-3 lead. The Hogs chased Kumar Rocker after only 3.1 innings pitched and five earned runs.
After a Vanderbilt run, Bates would add his second RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly to once again give the Hogs a two run cushion.
Dave Van Horn would turn to Kevin Kopps in the seventh inning and the SEC Pitcher of the Year would slam the door. Kopps threw three shutout innings with five strikeouts and zero hits to put Vanderbilt to bed.
Arkansas will have the day off on Friday and take on either Vanderbilt or Ole Miss at 3:30 p.m. in Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinal game.
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