Root's Gem Not Enough as Hogs Drop Series Opener against Tigers in Extras

BATON ROUGE, La. – Zach Root logged his team-leading fifth quality start with his six frames of two-run ball and six strikeouts on the mound, but No. 7 Arkansas (40-10, 17-8 SEC) coughed up a two-run lead in the seventh inning and was handed a 5-4 series-opening loss in 10 innings against No. 3 LSU (39-11, 16-9 SEC) Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.

Friday night’s game, which was originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m., did not begin until 9:57 p.m., only three minutes before the latest allowed start time by the SEC, due to steady rain in Baton Rouge. Despite the delayed first pitch, Root settled in quickly and worked six innings on the bump, allowing two runs on five hits to lower his season ERA to 3.88.

The left-hander racked up six strikeouts against the Tigers, his eighth consecutive start with six or more punchouts, and raised his season total to a team-leading 98 in a team-high 72.0 innings across 13 appearances on the mound.

Thanks to solo home runs by Cam Kozeal and Kuhio Aloy as well as RBI from Charles Davalan and Wehiwa Aloy, Arkansas provided Root with four runs of support and led, 4-2, entering the bottom half of the seventh inning. Kozeal swatted his 12th homer of the season in the top of the fourth before Kuhio Aloy connected on his 13th blast of the year in the sixth.

Aiden Jimenez, who took over on the mound in relief of Root in the seventh, struck out the first batter he faced, but LSU tagged the right-hander for two runs on two hits and two walks to even the game at four apiece. Gabe Gaeckle would emerge from the bullpen to strand a pair of runners in the seventh, giving the Hogs an opportunity to reclaim the lead.

Arkansas, however, could not answer over the game’s final three frames. Gaeckle’s strong relief outing sent the game to extra innings, where the Razorbacks loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the 10th but were unable to capitalize.

The Tigers finally broke through against Gaeckle, who tossed 3.1 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts, in the bottom of the 10th. LSU scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to center to eke out the 5-4 walk-off win.

Offensively, Justin Thomas Jr. (3-for-4) paced the Razorback offense with a career-high three hits, while Wehiwa Aloy (2-for-5, RBI) and Ryder Helfrick (2-for-4, 2B) also turned in multi-hit efforts. With his two-hit performance, Aloy raised his team-leading season slash line to .377/463/.710 with a team-high 17 home runs and 53 RBI over 50 games.

Arkansas will look to even things up at a game apiece tomorrow evening in Baton Rouge. First pitch in game two of the weekend series between the Razorbacks and Tigers is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10, on SEC Network.

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