Texas A&M dropped its final game of the regular season Saturday as Arkansas scored runs in five of the nine innings en route to an 8-0 final in front of 5,456 fans at Olsen Field.
“It’s definitely rough — it’s a tough loss,” senior outfielder Nick Choruby said after the game. “I thought we played pretty well in first two games of the series and I guess today was kind of disappointing but there’s a lot of baseball left to be played for us.”
A&M starting pitcher Stephen Kolek worked scoreless innings in both the first and second but ran into trouble in the third. He gave up three hits and two runs in the frame, and the Razorbacks (39-15, 18-11 SEC) continued to produce at the plate throughout the afternoon.
Jake Arledge plated Dominic Fletcher in the fourth with an RBI single to right, but Kolek responded by getting a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat without any further damage.
The Razorbacks were relentless, though, and chased Kolek from the game in the fourth. Chad Spanberger led off with a home run to right and then back-to-back singles brought head coach Rob Childress out of the dugout to call for Kaylor Chafin out of the bullpen.
“The first two innings, he was really good,” Childress said of Kolek. “Then we got into some hitters counts, and I feel like Arkansas is as good an offensive team as we’ve seen the last 10 weeks.”
Chafin allowed an RBI single to the first batter he faced, but retired the next three hitters to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Arkansas starter Blaine Knight was spinning a gem on the mound. The Aggies (36-20, 16-14 SEC) did not get a runner in scoring position until the eighth inning and only managed three hits off Knight, who improved to 7-4 on the season, tossed six innings before handing the baton to reliever Kevin Kopps, who tossed three scoreless innings to earn his second save of the season.
The loss is a disappointing end to the season, and marks the Aggies’ third consecutive SEC series loss, but they will immediately look to turn things around in next week’s SEC tournament. A&M, which won the tournament championship last season, will be the No. 7 seed and will open Tuesday against Missouri.
“We’re starting a whole new season,” Chafin said. “We definitely know what it takes to get there and what it takes to win it. Just be ready to go, get a good day of practice in and start winning some baseball games.”