FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks has played for the big inning all season and for the most part have gotten, but on Sunday at Baum Stadium, the Auburn Tigers beat the Hogs at their own game in front of a crowd of 7,911.
The Tigers (30-15, 12-9 SEC) battered the Hogs, 13-2, Sunday to win the series and leave the Razorbacks (35-10, 14-7 SEC) tied with Ole Miss for the Western Division lead and Auburn ahead of LSU, which was swept by Florida this weekend.
This was the first league series the Razorbacks have lost at home. Auburn scored 13 runs on 16 hits, while the Razorbacks managed just 2 runs on eight hits.
The game was scorless through three innings with Brett Eibner holding the Tigers at bay, but the Tigers stacked the bases in the fourth, scoring three runs. Jordan Pratt came in to stop the bleeding for the Hogs.
Auburn tacked on a run in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. Zach Cox, who got his sixth-consecutive hit, nailed a solo home run and Andy Wilkens cranked another homer to trim the Auburn's lead to 4-2 going into the seventh. Wilkens' round-tripper was the 39th of his career and tied him for fourth with Ryan Kirby on Arkansas' all-time list.
But the Razorbacks would only lose ground from there as Auburn stacked up four more runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth for a 12-2 lead. The Tigers added another run in the ninth for good measure.
The Hogs have lost four of their last six games and face a tough week ahead with final exams and a trip to Oxford, Miss. to play Ole Miss May 7-9.
