COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- With an eye on the postseason, the Arkansas Razorbacks are looking for another reliable pitcher to emerge.
Senior Dominic Taccolini, who continues to work his way back from a right forearm injury, gave hints that he could be that pitcher with five solid innings against Texas A&M on Friday night.
But he was on the mound for six.
Taccolini allowed four runs in the third inning -- three coming on Hunter Coleman's home run -- and the No. 16 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (38-15, 17-11 SEC) could not recover as it suffered a 5-2 loss to the Aggies (36-19, 16-13) at Blue Bell Park.
"In the third, they just got a couple of hits up the middle. [Taccolini] was behind in the count a lot," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "Then, Coleman got a fastball elevated. It was a mistake, and he smoked it. He hit it out of the park and the game changed big time. It was fairly tight until then."
Taccolini (4-1), who allowed just 1 run and 3 hits in 4 1/3 innings against Vanderbilt in his previous start, surrendered back-to-back singles to open the third. Shortstop Jax Biggers throwing error allowed both runners to move into scoring position.
After right fielder Eric Cole made a nice running catch to limit Cole Bedford to a sacrifice fly, Braden Shewmake worked Taccolini for a walk.
Then Coleman drilled a 1-0 pitch over the 400-foot sign in center field to give the Aggies a 4-1 lead.
That was more than enough support for Texas A&M starter Corbin Martin (6-3), who allowed 8 hits and notched a career-high 12 strikeouts in 8 innings.
"Really, it was all about Corbin Martin tonight. He was unbelievable," Van Horn said. "We didn't hit him very hard. The one time we did hit him hard with the bases loaded it went right to the center fielder. I mean, that ball was hammered. If it finds a gap we're up four runs. Unfortunately for us, Koch hit it right at the center fielder."
That was in the top of the third.
Cole hustled to turn a line drive to right-center field into a leadoff double. He scored one pitch later on Jared Gates' single to center for a 1-0 lead. Biggers followed with the third consecutive hit off Martin.
But the rally quickly faded.
Gates was thrown out at third on Jake Arledge's attempted sacrifice bunt, and Chad Spanberger struck out for the second out.
Luke Bonfield drew a walk to load the bases, but Grant Koch lined out hard to center field.
"We score one in the top of the inning and get a little momentum, but we also left a couple on," Van Horn said. "We should have scored another one, then they come in and score four."
Unlike in Thursday's 6-4 victory, the Hogs couldn't get the clutch hits for a big rally. Runners were left at second and third in the fourth and at second in the seventh.
In the seventh, Biggers delivered a one-out single and scored with two down as Spanberger pounded a double into the corner that popped out of the glove of sliding left fielder Walker Pennington to cut the lead to 4-2.
Martin struck out Bonfield in the next at-bat.
"We had runners at third base twice with less than two outs and didn't get them in," Van Horn said. "We had bases loaded with one out, second and third with one out. We've got to score at least one run there both times. If we do that, it's probably a different game."
Despite that frustration, Van Horn found encouragement from Taccolini's showing.
"He's a senior. Obviously, this is the last hurrah for him," Van Horn said. "He wants to contribute. I have confidence to put him in the game. I have confidence to start him in a tournament or a regional.
"I think he gained some confidence. Obviously, he didn't have a good third inning, but take the inning away and he hung in there against a good team."
Sports on 05/20/2017