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Arkansas sends Tennessee to 5th straight SEC series loss entering SEC Tournament
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Arkansas and Tennessee are both heading to the SEC Baseball Tournament, but they’re heading there in different moods.
The Razorbacks took out the struggling Volunteers, 8-4, on Saturday afternoon in the rubber game of the weekend series. Tennessee won Game 1 on Thursday, 10-7, but even that couldn’t spur the Volunteers on to a series victory to end the regular season.
Instead, Arkansas roared back the past 2 days, winning Game 2, 8-6, on Friday before scoring 8 more runs on Saturday to send the defending national champions to their 5th straight SEC series loss.
Gage Wood earned the victory for the Razorbacks, but it was Will McEntire who provided stellar work out of the bullpen to seal the deal for Arkansas. McEntire nailed down his 2nd save of the season, helping lift the Hogs to a 43-12 final regular-season record with a solid 20-10 record in the SEC.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s pitching fell apart for the second day in a row, as the Volunteers finished the regular season at 41-15 with an SEC record that took a beating down the stretch. Tennessee still finished above .500 in the league at 16-14, but the Vols have issues as they head to Hoover with an eye toward getting back to Omaha and defending their national title.
If Arkansas keeps its momentum going in the SEC Tournament, the Hogs could be a host right through the Super Regionals as they have their own eyes on Omaha. The Arkansas baseball social media account congratulated the Razorbacks on taking the series from the Vols:
RELATED: In spite of the Vols’ disastrous finish to the regular season, Tennessee and Arkansas are still among the favorites to win the College World Series this season, according to the latest odds at DraftKings. Use the top sports betting apps to track the latest odds for the postseason.
Now, the SEC powerhouses will take their show to Hoover, with 1 team trying to keep its momentum going and the other team trying to get back some of that mojo from last season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
