FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas dropped its first home SEC series in three years Sunday.
The fourth-ranked Razorbacks lost 5-0 to No. 21 Vanderbilt in the seven-inning rubber game of the series. It snapped Arkansas’ 12-series win streak against SEC teams at Baum-Walker Stadium that began in April 2019.
The Razorbacks (37-14, 17-10 SEC) dropped into a tie with Texas A&M atop the SEC West standings with three games to play. Arkansas will finish the season at Alabama, and the Aggies will play their final regular-season series at Ole Miss.
Texas A&M holds a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Razorbacks, based on a 2-1 series win in College Station, Texas, last month. Auburn and LSU are also still in contention in the division race.
Vanderbilt freshman left hander Carter Holton shut down an Arkansas lineup that scored 17 runs during the first two games of the series. Holton allowed 2 hits and 4 walks, and struck out 5 in his 113-pitch start.
The Commodores (34-16, 14-13) took control with a pair of two-run swings. Dominic Keegan’s two-run single in the fifth inning gave Vanderbilt a 3-0 lead, and Tate Kolwyck hit a two-run home run in the sixth to put the Commodores ahead 5-0.
Both hits came against Arkansas reliever Evan Taylor, but the fifth-inning runs were charged to starter Jaxon Wiggins, who allowed a one-out single to Enrique Bradfield and a one-out walk to Jack Bulger.
Wiggins, who also gave up an unearned run in the third inning, took the loss in one of his best outings in SEC play. He allowed 4 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 8 in 4 1/3 innings.
Taylor allowed 2 runs, 2 hits and 1 walk in 1 2/3 innings. Kole Ramage worked around a single and a walk during the seventh.
The unearned run against Wiggins came after first baseman Brady Slavens failed to field a one-out grounder off the bat of Spencer Jones, which allowed Bulger to advance to third base after his one-out single. Keegan followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Commodores a 1-0 lead. Keegan had 3 RBI.
Arkansas’ only time to seriously threaten Holton was in the fourth inning when Zack Gregory walked and Cayden Wallace singled with one out. Robert Moore hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out and Jalen Battles grounded out to end the inning.
Moore’s one-out double in the sixth inning was the Razorbacks’ only other hit. The two hits were Arkansas’ fewest in a game this season. That have been three-hit twice.
Arkansas was shut out for the first time since a 5-0 loss to Stanford at the Round Rock Classic on Feb. 27. The Razorbacks had not been shut out in an SEC game since a 10-0 loss at Alabama in 2019, and had not been shut out at home since a 2-0 loss to LSU in 2017.
The series finale was delayed by nearly three hours due to lightning and rain that followed the resumption of the second game of the series earlier Sunday. After Arkansas won that game 11-6, both teams waited three-and-a-half hours for the finale to begin.
Vanderbilt won the series opener 9-6 in 10 innings Friday.
The loss will hurt Arkansas’ hopes of being a top-eight national seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament. While the Razorbacks remain a strong candidate to host a regional, their RPI is likely to fall into the low 20s with two home losses to the same team.
Since the NCAA Tournament adopted its current format in 1999, no team with an RPI in the 20s has been a top-eight national seed, which guarantees all games at home during the regional and super regional rounds.