Baseball Rallies to Shock Top-Ranked Aggies

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Following an overnight suspension due to weather, the Arkansas baseball team (23-17, 8-9) struck gold and used a five-run eighth inning to rally and defeat top-ranked Texas A&M (35-4, 12-4) 9-8 Sunday afternoon at Blue Bell Park.

A line of storms forced stoppage in play Saturday evening after six innings with the Aggies leading 8-3. An overnight delay proved to be just what the doctor ordered as the Razorbacks came out firing on Sunday, scoring a run in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth inning to complete a comeback for the ages and shock the No. 1 team in the land.

After scoring a run in the seventh to make it 8-4, Arkansas put runners on first and second with two outs in the eighth inning when it all came together. Eagan was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Joe Serrano delivered a triple to left center to clear the bases and pull the Razorbacks to within a run.

Andrew Benintendi followed and legged out an infield single to second base and to score the tying run and erase a five-run deficit. Arkansas was far from finished however, as a throwing error moved Benintendi to second and another infield single, this time from Tyler Spoon, put runners on the corners.

Chad Spanberger followed and grounded a seeing-eye single through the right side to send Benintendi home and give Arkansas a lead they would never relinquish.

Jackson Lowery (4-0) picked up the win in relief, recording the final out Saturday evening, before coming back on Sunday and tossing two more scoreless innings. James Teague came on in the ninth to get the final two outs, including a game-ending strikeout with the winning run on base to secure the victory.

Arkansas handed the Aggies just their fourth loss of the year as the Razorbacks moved to 4-4 against the No. 1 team in the country over the last two seasons.

The Razorbacks and Aggies will turn right around this afternoon and play the series finale at 3 p.m. The 7-inning game will be televised live on SEC Network with Matt Stewart and Mike Rooney on the call.

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