FAYETTEVILLE -- The No. 1 University of Arkansas baseball team was poised to sweep No. 24 Auburn on the road Saturday with a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
Instead, the Tigers rallied for six runs in the sixth against what had been a sturdy bullpen and held on for an 8-6 win that snapped the Razorbacks' 15-game winning streak and a seven-game run of victories in the series.
The first loss in a month for the Hogs (19-3, 5-1 SEC) dropped them to 9-2 in games decided by two runs or less.
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he liked the experience of having to battle in a road series in which every pitch, swing and defensive play was magnified as every game was decided by two runs or fewer.
"I told them after the game, I said, 'Winning's hard,' " Van Horn said. "We won 1-0, 6-5 ... then today's game was a one-run game going into the eighth inning, and we lost by two.
"We just talked about the difference between winning and losing those close games is so fine. It's the little things. Just driving in a run, making contact, making a pitch here or there. Maybe turning a double play."
Van Horn's comments reflected precisely some of the key moments that cost the Hogs a chance at reaching 20 wins and taking a commanding 6-0 SEC record into their weekend set against No. 4 LSU at Baum-Walker Stadium.
As it stands, Arkansas can hit the 20-win mark in game No. 23 on Tuesday against Arkansas-Little Rock. A win against the Trojans would tie the 50-win team of 2021 for the Razorbacks' fourth-fastest run to 20 wins in 22 years under Van Horn. The Arkansas teams of 2005, 2012 and 2023 reached 20 wins in 22 games.
Against Auburn on Friday, Arkansas had chances to expand on a four-run lead. The Razorbacks stranded runners at third base in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, the latter two after the runner had reached third with one out.
The Razorbacks did major damage in the fourth inning on Jared Sprague-Lott's three-run homer and Kendall Diggs' two-out RBI double for a 4-0 lead. Diggs was on second and Peyton Stovall on third when left-hander Carson Myers relieved starter Joseph Gonzalez and induced a fly out by Wehiwa Aloy on a 2-1 pitch to escape further damage.
In the sixth, Diggs tripled to the wall in right field with one out to score Stovall, who had singled, to give the Razorbacks a 5-1 lead and a strong opportunity to make it more.
Instead, Parker Carlson came on to retire Aloy on an 0-2 ground ball with the infield up and induce a first-pitch fly out from Ben McLaughlin to leave Diggs at third.
"We just didn't drive people in all the time," Van Horn said.
In the bottom of the sixth, Arkansas right-handed reliever Cooper Dossett was ahead 0-2 on his first batter, Mason Maners, before allowing a home run on a 1-2 pitch that Van Horn described as "right down the middle."
Dossett slipped and fell on a bunt by the next batter, Chris Stanfield, and the Tigers started laying the ground work for their big inning. Freshman Gabe Gaeckle, who notched his fifth save Thursday in the 1-0 win with a 14-pitch ninth inning, allowed a hit and two walks in relief of Dossett.
With Arkansas ahead 5-3, the Razorbacks came an eyelash away from turning a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded that might have ended the bleeding. Instead, catcher Ike Irish beat the relay from the shortstop Aloy at first base on a bang-bang play on which Arkansas requested a video review.
Colin Fisher struck out the next man, Bobby Peirce, but it did not end the inning, allowing designated hitter Carter McMurray to send his three-run shot over the left-field wall for a 7-5 Auburn lead.
Van Horn called Fisher a "tough luck" pitcher for that sequence of plays.
"He just gave up a fly ball that turned into a three-run homer," Van Horn said. "The home run that went over the big left-field wall, he hit it good but it was a fly ball, just barely cleared the wall as it was coming down. That's the way it works when you're playing with quirky parks and it got us today."
Arkansas bounced right back in the top of the seventh with Hudson White and Sprague-Lott reaching on singles. Will Edmunson's one-out double scored White to make it 7-6 and sent Sprague-Lott to third.
With a golden opportunity to plate another run or two, the Razorbacks did not score again. Carlson retired Sprague-Lott at home on Ty Wilmsmeyer's comebacker to the mound, then Stovall struck out on a borderline 2-2 pitch to end the Hogs' last strong threat.
"That was a chance for us to really maybe gut punch them a little bit after they score six and take the lead," Van Horn said. "At a minimum we should have tied it there and we didn't. One big hit and we're ahead. So, typical game 3. It got a little crazy."