Late home run sends Razorbacks to series loss

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With two outs in the top of the seventh, Auburn’s Myesha Finney lined a two-run homer to right center field, the eventual game winner in the Tiger’s 5-4 victory over Arkansas Sunday at Bogle Park. The Razorbacks led after the bottom of the sixth when Sandra Smith hit her second home run of the game which put Arkansas ahead, 4-3. With the loss, Arkansas drops to 22-15 overall with a 9-6 mark in Southeastern Conference play.“We had (Auburn) on the mat a couple of times today, but couldn’t put them away,” head coach Jamie Pinkerton said. “We had some big hits in the game with the home runs but didn’t get any hits in the clutch when we had runners on base or in scoring position.”The Razorbacks left nine runners on base during the game, including a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fourth. Arkansas stranded two in the bottom of the seventh during a comeback attempt.

Auburn (27-13, 7-7) manufactured an early run to take a 1-0 lead. Kyndall White led off the game with a single to left field and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Lindsey Harrelson. After a single by Tatiana Fernandez, Auburn had runners on first and third with one out. Elizabeth Eisterhold lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score White from third.

Arkansas put a three spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second with the help of back-to-back home runs by Miranda Dixon and Smith. With Amie Hubbard on second via an error, Dixon hit her second home run of the series and sixth of the season. Smith following by lining a shot over the wall in left center for her fourth home run of the season and a 3-1 Razorback lead.

Auburn cut its deficit in half when Cassie Trosclair hit a solo home run to right field in the top of the fourth. After giving up a single to White, Dixon got Harrelson to pop out to Brittany Griffiths at shortstop to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Arkansas loaded the bases but couldn’t push any runs across. Dixon and Griffiths earned walks and after a bloop single by Jessica Bachkora, the bases were full of Razorbacks. Jenee Loree, who came on in relief for Auburn in the third, retired the next two hitters to end the Arkansas threat.

Dixon retired the first two Auburn batters of the fifth but ran into trouble when she hit Finney with a pitch. Finney advanced to second on a wild pitch and then came around to score on an RBI single by Amber Harrison and the game was tied 3-3.

Smith put the Razorbacks back on top with another line drive home run in the bottom of the sixth. With the solo shot, Smith upped her season total to five and collected her first two-homer game of the season.

Kim Jones came on to relieve Dixon to start the sixth and got help from a double-play combination to end that inning. With a runner on first and one out, Jones struck out White and Cloer came up throwing to catch Trosclair trying to steal second.

In the top of the seventh, however, the Razorbacks couldn’t get out of a jam. Harrelson led off the inning with a double to right field and advanced to third on a groundout by Fernandez. Jones struck out Eisterhold for the second out before giving up the game-winning home run to Finney.

Arkansas threatened in the bottom of the seventh with two runners on and one out, but as she did in the fourth, Loree retired the last two hitters of the game for the victory and Auburn series win.

The Razorbacks head out of conference for their next game, an April 8 matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners. The game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start from Marita Hynes Field in Norman, Okla., and will feature an internet-only broadcast on ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Download: Auburn 5, Arkansas 4.pdf