Arkansas, Cole Gibler drop Tennessee 8-6 to even series

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 5 Arkansas jumped on No. 17 Tennessee early on Friday night and went on to take an 8-6 win as Cole Gibler shined out of the bullpen at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Gibler (2-1) worked 3.1 innings in relief of starter Aiden Jimenez to pick up the win. Gibler limited Tennessee to three hits, no runs, one walk and fanned a trio. In addition, Arkansas got home runs from Brent Iredale, Ryder Helfrick and Logan Maxwell. Dave Van Horn was pleased to see his team defeat Tennessee ace Liam Doyle (9-3).

“Just a great overall effort from both the offense, our defense and our pitching staff, obviously,” Van Horn said. “We faced one of the best pitchers I the country and just fought him, put some big swings on him, hit a couple of home runs. We did a nice job of taking pitches, fouling pitches off and got his pitch count up pretty good after three. I don’t know, just didn’t make any mistakes in the field really and they made one and it cost them a couple of runs. We took advantage of it. We scored on the play when it’s thrown down the line, and then (Charles) Davalan singles in the next run. All of a sudden we have a four-run lead. Yeah, just a really, really good effort by everybody, especially after the way the game went last night. And then obviously facing their ace and someone who could be voted in as the SEC pitcher of the year. Just proud of our team.”

Van Horn had extra praise for Gibler the freshman lefty from Missouri.

“Well, he’s throwing his fastball for a strike, and obviously his breaking ball is really hard to hit,” Van Horn said. “Now, he got tired at the end, and he lost some velocity on his breaking ball and some movement. So we were just trying to get one more out. Almost got it. And, yeah, that’s what I saw. He’s throwing both pitches for strikes now. His fastball’s 93. That’s pretty good from the left side, and could be more. And the breaking ball is tough.”

Tennessee Coach Tony Vitello was also impressed with Gibler.

“Breaking balls in the dirt,” Vitello said. “It’s a big arching breaking ball so it’s easier said than done from the side to lay off it or see it up or any of that stuff. He had good presence to him and really the story was not even … He threw enough strikes but balls that were out of the zone and our guys chased.”

After Tennessee moved ahead of Arkansas 4-3 in the top of the third on doubles by Andrew Fischer and Dalton Bargo as well as singles by Dean Curley and Cannon Peebles the Hogs took the lead for good in bottom half of the inning. Kuhio Aloy was hit by a Doyle pitch and Helfrick followed with a two-run shot over the fence in left field for a 5-4 advantage.

In the bottom of the fourth, Arkansas got a solo shot by Maxwell to go up 6-4. In the bottom of the fifth, Iredale walked with one out. He scored on an error on the Vols shortstop and Justin Thomas Jr. getting a single. Thomas then scored when Davalan singled for an 8-4 lead.

Tennessee got a two-run home run by Levi Clark in the top of the seventh to pull within two, but that was when Christian Foutch came in and closed the door on the visitors. Foutch pitched two innings. He allowed one hit, no runs, walked a hitter and fanned one while earning his fourth save of the season. Van Horn praised Foutch.

“Yeah, we were looking at the matchups a little bit and I think it was just in his favor,” Van Horn said. “He hit the first batter and we’re thinking obviously that’s not good. But his stuff was good. His velocity was good. I thought he settled in and obviously we got the big double play ball. That changed it. At the time I was just thinking if we could just get to the bottom of the eighth with a one-run lead and then a couple of pitches in he gets a double-play ball and that was huge. Yeah, we had Chies ready to go and we weren’t afraid to use him. It would have been probably a different look than when he starts. I think he’d come in and be throwing a lot harder and it would just be for a short period of time. I’m glad we didn’t have to use him.’

Jimenez started his first game as a Razorback. He worked 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits, four runs, walked none and struck out no Vols. Parker Coil was the other Arkansas pitcher. Van Horn talked about Jimenez’s first start.

“He threw a lot of strikes,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t walk anybody. Maybe he threw too many. They jumped at him, cheated a little bit, and I mean, they got seven hits on him in less than three innings and hit a couple, three other balls hard. I didn’t think he had his best locating the ball as good as I’ve seen him. We just saw the ball being squared up a little too much. We just felt like we needed to get him. I think he’s fine, and I was glad to see him get out there and compete. It’s good lineup he was going against. Lot of lot of rights and lefts, and there’s really no easy part of their lineup. It’s one through nine that can do it.”

Curley doubled for Tennessee in the top of the second then scored on a single by Peebles. But the Razorbacks got a two-run home run by Iredale in the bottom half of the inning and then Wehiwa Aloy plated Thomas for a 3-1 lead.

The Hogs got to Doyle early and often. He lasted 4.2 innings. Doyle, Tennessee’s ace, allowed 11 hits, eight runs, six earned, walked two and struck out 10 Hogs. Austin Breedlove, Brandon Arvidson and Tanner Franklin pitched for the Vols.

Arkansas (42-12, 19-10) and Tennessee (41-14, 16-13) will play the final game of the series and regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. Gage Wood will get the start for Arkansas with the game televised on the SEC Network.