Razorbacks Comeback Falls Short in 8-7 Loss to

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Arkansas comeback bid fell short late Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park as the 21st-ranked Auburn Tigers held on for an 8-7 win in front of 2,767 fans.
The Razorbacks have now lost two straight conference series and own a 3-5 mark in SEC play and a 21-6 overall record. The conference series win at home was the first for the Tigers since the 2003 season, a span of six straight. AU is now 5-3 in league action and 21-9 overall.
"We didn't play bad today, Head Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We just didn't win."
Charley Boyce pitched 6.1 innings and allowed eight earned runs on 13 hits. The loss evened his record at 4-4 on the season. Lee Land came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Auburn's Josh Sullivan pitched 5.2 innings to earn the win. He allowed six runs (all earned) on four this while walking three and striking out five.
The game winner for the Tigers proved to be Josh Donaldson's three-run home run over the green monster in left-field in Auburn's four-run fifth inning.
"Charley made a mistake and gave up that three-run home run," Van Horn said, "and that pretty much did us in. It was a 1-2 pitch that he tried to bust in on him, and he turned on it and hit it out of the park."
Danny Hamblin was the first Hog hitter to collect more than one hit this weekend, going 2 for 4 with a RBI and a run scored.
Blake Parker got the Razorbacks back into the game with a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning. The two-run shot followed Hamblin's RBI single to right-center field. Parker led Arkansas with three RBI.
The Hogs put the running game into motion to score two runs in the first inning with three stolen bases. Without the help of a base hit, walks to Craig Gentry and Jake Dugger would come around to score on ground outs by Clint Arnold and Clay Goodwin.
Auburn came back in the bottom of the first inning with a RBI single by Karl Amonite and a RBI double by Russell Dixon to tie the game at 2-2. The Tigers tacked two more runs on to take a 4-2 lead in the second inning on a two-RBI infield hit by Clete Thomas.
The Razorbacks pulled within one run at 4-3 in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Blake Parker.
Arkansas will look to win the final game of the series on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in the series finale.
 Arkansas Razorbacks #7 Arkansas at #21 Auburn Apr 02, 2005 at Auburn, Ala. (Plainsman Park) Arkansas 7 (21-6,3-5 SEC) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Craig Gentry cf.......... 3 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 Jake Dugger rf........... 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 Clint Arnold lf.......... 3 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 Clay Goodwin 3b.......... 4 1 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 Danny Hamblin 1b......... 4 1 2 1 0 2 11 3 0 John Henry Marquardt 2b.. 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 Blake Parker dh.......... 3 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 Brian Walker c........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Scott Hode ss............ 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 Charley Boyce p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 Lee Land p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 32 7 5 7 3 7 24 14 2 Auburn 8 (21-9,5-3 SEC) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Tyler Johnstone 2b....... 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 Bruce Edwards cf......... 5 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 Clete Thomas rf.......... 4 2 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 Karl Amonite 1b.......... 3 1 1 1 1 0 12 1 2 Josh Bell c.............. 4 1 1 1 0 0 5 1 0 Russell Dixon dh......... 4 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 Josh Donaldson 3b........ 4 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 Adam Stacey ss........... 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 Ben Sprague lf........... 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Joey Huskins ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Derek Sain lf........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Josh Sullivan p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Jared Shore p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Michael Nix p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 37 8 14 8 2 1 27 11 7 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Arkansas............ 200 103 100 - 7 5 0 Auburn.............. 220 040 00X - 8 14 0 ------------------------------------------- LOB - ARKANSAS 2; Auburn 7. 2B - Goodwin(6); Hamblin(9); Hode(10); Thomas, C.(10); Dixon(5). HR - Parker(4); Donaldson(1). SF - Parker(3). SB - Gentry 2(3); Dugger(8); Arnold(5); Johnstone(13); Thomas, C. 3(15). Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Charley Boyce....... 6.1 13 8 8 2 0 31 33 103 Lee Land............ 1.2 1 0 0 0 1 6 6 25 Auburn IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Josh Sullivan....... 5.2 4 6 6 3 5 21 25 96 Jared Shore......... 1.0 1 1 1 0 0 4 4 9 Michael Nix......... 2.1 0 0 0 0 2 7 7 26 Win - Sullivan, J. (5-2). Loss - Boyce (4-4). Save - Nix (6). WP - Sullivan, J. 2(7). Inherited runners/scored: Land 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Boyce 103/64; Land 25/16; Sullivan, J. 96/59; Shore 9/6; Nix 26/21. Umpires - HP: Steve Manders 1B: John Magnusson 3B: Ken Couch Start: 4:01 Time: 2:40 Attendance: 2767