With an 8-4 win over the No. 10 seed Tennessee Volunteers on Wednesday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, the No. 7 seed Arkansas Razorbacks (37-19) advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament to face the No. 2 seed Texas Longhorns (40-12).
Right fielder Zack Stewart keyed the Hogs with two home runs, his fourth consecutive game with at least one long ball, to position Arkansas to make its first appearance in the semifinals in three years. Stewart wasn’t alone in his power surge — the Razorbacks
hit three home runs against Vols starter Evan Blanco, who had one of his worst outings of the season, departing after allowing five runs in three innings.
Two of the home runs hit by Arkansas and four of the runs scored came in the first inning against Blanco, extended the lead to 5-0 in the third inning on Stewart’s second home run.
As Razorbacks head coach Dave Van Horn started right-hander Tate McGuire to save No. 1 starter Hunter Dietz for the potential matchup against the Longhorns, the risk paid off for Arkansas as McGuire pitched three scoreless innings. Against the bullpen, Tennessee tried to make a comeback, taking advantage of an error at third base to score two unearned runs in the fourth inning and adding another in the fifth on a two-out, RBI double.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, Pompey made up for his error at third with his 15th home run of the season, a three-run shot to extend the lead back to five runs.
The Volunteers added another run in the seventh, but Cole Gibler worked around a leadoff double in the eighth to retire the final six Tennessee batters to earn his fifth win.
First pitch on Friday is at 3 p.m. Central on SEC Network.
