Hogs Claim Series Win as Van Horn Hits Milestone

April 5, 2015

AUBURN, Ala. – The University of Arkansas baseball team (16-15, 5-7) rallied with four runs over the final two innings Sunday afternoon to claim the series with a comeback 6-4 victory over Auburn (19-13, 4-8) at Plainsman Park in SEC action.

Head coach Dave Van Horn picked up his 500th victory at Arkansas with the win and sits at 1,085 victories for his 27-year career. He becomes just the second coach in program history to record 500 wins as a Razorback, joining Arkansas legend Norm DeBriyn who posted 1,161 wins in 33 seasons.

In his 13th season at the helm of the Arkansas baseball program, Van Horn has averaged over 40 wins per season and is just the third active coach in the SEC with 500 wins at their current institution. He has led Arkansas to 13 straight NCAA Regionals and three appearances in the College World Series.

Down 2-0 after four innings, Andrew Benintendi came to the plate in the fifth frame with a runner on first and two outs and crushed his SEC-leading ninth home run of the year just inside the foul pole down the right field line to erase the two-run deficit and make it 2-2.

After Auburn retook the lead in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly, Arkansas came right back in the eighth inning and used a double off the wall by Carson Shaddy to plate Rick Nomura from first and tie the game 3-3. Joe Serrano then came to the plate with two outs and provided a clutch single through the right side to send Shaddy racing home and give the Razorbacks their first lead of the day.

Tucker Pennell added some breathing room in the ninth inning with a line drive two-run single to right field to make it 6-3. Auburn added a run in the bottom of the inning, but Zach Jackson came on to slam the door and record his third save of the season.

Jackson Lowery (3-0) earned the victory in relief, tossing 2.1 innings and giving up two hits and one run. Keaton McKinney got the start and gave up two runs on five hits in 3.1 innings, before giving way to James Teague and Josh Alberius.

Arkansas returns to action Tuesday evening, welcoming Mississippi Valley State to town for the first of two midweek games against the Delta Devils. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 6:35 p.m., followed by a 3:05 p.m. start on Wednesday.

Game Notes

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn recorded his 500th win at Arkansas with the victory.
Van Horn has 1,085 wins during his 27-year career as a head coach.
The Razorbacks have recorded back-to-back SEC Series wins.
Arkansas sits in a tie for third in the SEC West at 5-7 in conference play.
The Razorbacks picked up their second win of the weekend and the year when trailing after seven innings.
Arkansas has recorded double-digit hits in a game 15 times this season.
The Razorbacks earned their first series win over Auburn since the 2009 season.
Andrew Benintendi is now tied for the SEC lead with nine home runs on the year.
Benintendi recorded his team-leading 11th multi-RBI game of the year with his two-run homer.
Benintendi ended the series 5-for-10 at the plate with two home runs, four RBI, four runs scored and three walks.
Tyler Spoon extended his hitting streak to eight games with two more hits in the win.
Zach Jackson recorded another strikeout in 0.2 innings of work and has 15 strikeouts in the last 26 outs he has recorded.
Jackson picked up the win in the series opener and tallied a save to clinch the series.

For more information on Arkansas baseball, follow @RazorbackBSB on Twitter.