Extra-inning rally falls short against Missouri State

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With two down in the bottom of the eighth inning and runners on first and second, Miranda Dixon lined a shot to the left side of the infield, but Missouri State’s Bubba Weiss stood her ground at third to snag the ball and cap the Bears’ 2-1 victory over Arkansas Wednesday evening at Bogle Park. With the score tied after seven, the visitors took the lead in the top half of the eighth on an RBI single by Taylor Farley. The loss drops Arkansas to 25-21 on the season, while Missouri State evens its record at 18-18.The action picked up in the top of the third when Brooke Kempker singled to left field with a runner on second, but Tori Mort fired a strike to Whitney Cloer at the plate cut down Ashley Arbon trying to score and keep Missouri State off the board.Mort also produced at the plate for the Razorbacks with a season-high three hits, including the go-ahead hit that led to an early lead for Arkansas. She legged out an infield single in the bottom of the third and Jessica Bachkora, who walked ahead of her, came around to score after a pair of errors by Missouri State. The home team took the 1-0 advantage.The lead held up until the top of the fifth when Jenna Schwark singled to right field and Arbon, who reached on an error, scored the game-tying run.Arkansas and Missouri State combined to leave 15 runners on base, seven for the Razorbacks, during the game. Dixon, the game’s starter, escaped a one-out, two-on jam in the top of the seventh. With runners on first and second, Dixon struck out Schwark and Kempker to preserve the tie. However, Missouri State starter Lauren Supak, retired Arkansas in order in the bottom of the seventh to send the game in to extra innings.Jessie Smith led off the top of the eighth with a single up the middle and was sacrificed to second by Jana Shewmaker. Farley, on in pinch-hit duty, delivered the game-winning hit to right in front of Jocelyne Moncrief, whose throw to the plate was too late to catch Smith. The Bears led, 2-1.In Arkansas’ half of the eighth, Mort picked up her third hit of the game when her shot up the middle deflected off Supak and rolled into shallow right. With two down, Kayla Johnson singled to left field to give the Razorbacks two runners before Weiss’ play at the hot corner ended the threat and the game.Arkansas will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to take on top-ranked Florida in a three-game set, the Hogs’ final Southeastern Conference road series. In their past five trips to the swamp, the Razorbacks have won one game in each series. All games will be broadcast on KXUA (88.3 FM) and ArkansasRazorbacks.com, which will also carry live stats.

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