A much-anticipated battle of SEC baseball titans didn’t play out as cleanly as it looked on paper late Thursday.
The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks got the best of No. 3 Vanderbilt 6-4 in the winner’s bracket nightcap at the SEC Tournament to snap an 0-4 skid against the Commodores in the tourney, earn a day off and a place in the semifinals.
Relief ace Kevin Kopps crossed one milestone and neared another, Matt Goodheart broke out of a deep slump with the game’s biggest hit and injury replacement Ethan Bates drove in two runs to lead the University of Arkansas (44-10), which improved to 8-2 in games against top 5 teams.