Hogs Hold on for Win in Wild Night in Auburn

Arkansas stays undefeated despite absence of Van Horn, delay to replace umpire

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn missed Game 2 against Auburn to be there for the birth of his triplet grandchildren. / Wesley Hitt/GettyImages

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas clawed its way to a 6-5 win over the Auburn Tigers to secure a series win in a game that took 3 hours and 45 minutes without head coach Dave Van Horn. 

With the head Hog away tending to newborn triplet grandchildren, pitching coach Matt Hobbs took over as acting head coach, making the key call to insert Ryder Helfrick for defensive purposes. However, things worked out on the offensive end as well. 

Helfrick was 2-for-19 on the season and had not seen any game action since March 9. He had been lauded as one of the best catching prospects under Dave Van Horn and showed Friday why he was a top-100 Perfect Game Recruit out of high school.

Brought on in the bottom of the seventh, Helfrick impacted the game on both ends of the scorecard. On a night when the Tigers wreaked havoc on the basepaths, stealing five bases, Helfrick gunned down Cooper Weiss trying to swipe his fourth bag at second base for a key out in the bottom of the eighth.

“Everyone was really happy for him,” Hobbs said.  “We’ve seen him do this. We’ve seen him do it in the fall, we saw him do it early in the spring. It’s been uneven for him, but it doesn’t mean the kid’s not super talented and that everybody on our staff has a lot of faith in him.” 

A game filled with high drama would see it drug out even longer as home plate umpire Jeff Wright had to be removed from the game after being struck by a foul ball in the next at-batl. The game entered a 30-minute delay as everyone waited for a new home plate umpire to drive over.

In the top of the ninth, Helfrick launched a first-pitch sinker from John Armstrong deep into the Auburn night sky. The 405-foot game-winning moonshot down the left field line left the bat at 109 miles an hour and sailed well past the high wall at Plainsman Park.

“I think the team just rallied together to try and make him [Van Horn] proud," McEntire said. “This is his brand of baseball that he’s built. We want to make him proud while he’s gone because we know he’s watching.”

“I kind of blacked out,” Helfrick said. “I just swung the bat [and started] running the bases. Once I got in the dugout, it was pretty cool. Everybody was going crazy. It’s definitely a fun environment. Won't forget that one for a while.”

Will McEntire, pitching on back-to-back days, retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the ninth with two strikeouts to seal the victory.  

Auburn scratched across a run in the bottom of the first for its first lead. Cooper Weiss led off the game with a double down the line and stole third before scoring on a grounder to short.

The Razorbacks, facing their first deficit of SEC play, hit back right away with their second early solo home run in as many days. Ben McLaughlin parked a 403-foot homer to right to tie the game 1-1 in the second.

Brady Tygart struggled with command for the second straight start, walking four in 3 ⅔ innings of work. In the third, the Tigers manufactured two more runs without the benefit of a hit. 

Tygart walked the first two to start the inning before the Tigers continued to run rampant on the basepaths. Weiss stole third for the second time and scored on a throwing error from Parker Rowland. Tygart then compounded the issue, balking a pair of runners over to second and third. The Tigers tacked on a third run on a fielder’s choice.

The Hogs didn’t trail for long, punching back with a three-run top of the fourth. Arkansas loaded the bases despite only one ball leaving the infield. Jared Sprague-Lott worked a six-pitch full-count walk to force home a run. Will Edmunson, making his first start since March 9, dumped a two-run single to left to give Arkansas its first lead of the day, 4-3. 

Auburn continued to pressure the Razorback pitching staff, putting the lead-off man on in each of the first five innings. Bobby Pierce smoked a double to kick off the fifth and eventually scored on the second throwing error charged to Rowland to tie the game 4-4 as the Tigers stole their fourth base of the afternoon.

Auburn continued to manufacture runs with speed, adding to their 42 stolen bases on the year. A fifth stolen base led to Auburn retaking the lead in the sixth off Weiss’s RBI single to go up 5-4. Auburn had a chance at an insurance run, but Peyton Stovall made a perfect relay throw to gun Weiss down at the plate trying to score from first on an Irish double into the right field corner. 

Arkansas played a little small ball of its own to tie things up in the seventh. Edmuson led off the frame by getting plunked. Ty Wilmsmeyer used his speed to lay down a perfect bunt down the third base line to put the runners on the corners with one out. Then, Stovall tied the game on a sac fly to left.

The Hogs’ bullpen walked another tightrope in the bottom of the seventh. A walk loaded the bases as lefty specialist Stone Hewlett came in and struck out lefty Christian Hall on a full-count pitch. Cooper Dossett finished off the inning, Ben McLaughlin covered the first base line on a grounder and dove toward the bag, just beating Javon Hernandez to keep the game tied.

The Razorbacks look for back-to-back sweeps to kick off SEC play in a quick turnaround for both teams. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday and will be streamed on the SEC Network+.