BOL Round Table

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 4-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks completed the sweep of Alabama with a 7-4 Southeastern Conference win on Sunday afternoon from Baum Stadium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide falls to 8-12 overall and 0-3 in SEC play. Arkansas improves to 19-2 and 3-0 in conference action.

Arkansas jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, as the Razorbacks got three runs on five hits in the first inning off Alabama starting pitcher Trey Pilkington, and never looked back. Pilkington (0-2) lasted just one inning and took the loss for the Tide.

Arkansas reliever Nolan Sanburn earned the victory to improve to 2-1 on the season, as he came into the game in the fifth, and pitched 2.2 innings, allowing one run on one hit in relief of starter Randal Fant. Barrett Astin picked up his sixth save of the season, throwing a scoreless ninth inning.

Alabama collected a total of eight hits on the afternoon, as Andrew Miller and James Tullidge had two hits each. Both Miller and Tullidge scored twice, accounting for all four of the Tide’s runs. Taylor Dugas and Hunter Gregory had an RBI and Jared Reaves drove in two. Dugas’ hitting streak ended at 12 games, but with a walk he has reached base in 32 straight games. Ben Moore was 1-for-4 at the plate and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

After the Razorbacks loaded the bases with no outs in the second, Alabama went to Justin Kamplain in relief of Pilkington. Kamplain got a double play and a strikeout on the two batters he faced in the inning, limiting the damage to just one run, and a 4-0 lead for Arkansas after two.

After Alabama got an RBI single by Reaves in the third to cut the Arkansas lead to 4-1, the Razorbacks answered with two unearned runs in the third to open a 6-1 lead. UA answered with a pair of runs in the fifth, scoring on a ground out by Gregory and a sac fly by Reaves.

Arkansas added a run in the sixth, before Miller doubled to lead off the seventh and scored following a pair of groundouts by Tullidge and Dugas.

Alabama returns to action on Tuesday night when the Crimson Tide travels to Troy for a 6 p.m. CST, game from Riddle-Pace Field. Starting pitchers for the mid-week non-conference game have not been announced.

Follow the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team on Facebook at Alabama-Baseball and on Twitter at @AlabamaBSB.

Arkansas 7, Alabama 4 (Mar 18, 2012 at Fayetteville, Ark.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama............. 001 020 100 - 4 8 3 (8-12, 0-3 SEC)
Arkansas............ 312 001 00X - 7 11 0 (19-2, 3-0 SEC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pitchers: Alabama - Trey Pilkington; Justin Kamplain(2); Jay Shaw(5); Spencer Turnbull(7);
Jake Hubbard(8) and Ben Moore. Arkansas - Randall Fant; Nolan Sanburn(5); Cade Lynch(8);
Barrett Astin(9) and Jake Wise.
Win-Nolan Sanburn(2-1) Save-Barrett Astin(6) Loss-Trey Pilkington(0-2) T-2:26 A-8426
Weather: 74, Cloudy. Wind: 22 SSW
Pilkington faced 3 batters in the 2nd.