HOOVER, Ala. — The No. 7 seed Arkansas Razorbacks scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning, hit three home runs across the night, and rode 3.0 dominant innings from starter Tate McGuire and a clean five-out save from Cole Gibler to an 8-4 win over the No. 10 seed Tennessee Volunteers on Wednesday evening at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The win sends Arkansas — the No. 12-ranked team in the country per the D1Baseball Top 25 — into a Friday quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 seed Texas.
Arkansas improved to 37-19 overall and 17-13 in conference play. Tennessee’s season ends at 38-20 (15-15 SEC). For Dave Van Horn, in his 24th season at Arkansas, the win extends a tournament that for the Razorbacks is now defined by an emphatic Wednesday night and a Friday rematch with the No. 2 seed. The Razorbacks face Texas on Friday, May 22 at 4 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
For Josh Elander and the Tennessee Volunteers, the loss ends a season that brought the program out of the 2024 College World Series championship and into a new head-coaching era. The Vols’ RPI and 38 wins should secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Selection Monday airs at noon ET on May 25 on ESPN2.
That’s a DUB in Hoover pic.twitter.com/67bBgi9PCo
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 21, 2026
The first inning
The game was decided in roughly 15 minutes.
Tennessee starter Evan Blanco — the right-hander Josh Elander confirmed pretournament was getting the ball — opened the bottom of the first with three quick outs needed and never recorded them. Damian Ruiz struck out. Camden Kozeal followed with a solo home run to make it 1-0 Arkansas. Ryder Helfrick — the program’s catcher and MLB Pipeline’s No. 16 overall prospect — drew a walk. Zack Stewart launched a two-run home run to put it at 3-0. TJ Pompey — Arkansas’s third baseman who finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBI — followed with a solo home run to make it 4-0.
Three home runs. Four runs scored. The Razorbacks had cleared the bases before Blanco recorded the inning’s final out.
By the end of the third, Arkansas led 5-0 on a Nolan Souza RBI double in the bottom of the third. The Razorbacks were never seriously challenged after the first.
McGuire was lights out
For Arkansas, the offensive eruption was matched by a starter who answered every challenge from the Tennessee lineup.
Tate McGuire — making just his second start as Arkansas’s tournament-week designation — went 3.0 innings, allowed one hit and one walk, struck out three on 44 pitches, and exited the game with the score 5-0. The right-hander had not been an early-season fixture in Van Horn’s rotation, but he stepped into the Hoover spotlight and delivered a quality outing on three days’ rest that took pressure off the Razorbacks’ deeper-rotation arms.
After McGuire, Parker Coil entered in relief and labored through 1.2 innings — 4 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 3 strikeouts, 45 pitches. The Vols put together their two-run rally in the fourth and one more in the fifth against Coil before Arkansas turned to James DeCremer.
DeCremer steadied the game across 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, one earned run, and striking out four on 39 pitches. Then Cole Gibler — the Arkansas senior closer — entered in the eighth and slammed the door, going 2.0 innings on 30 pitches with one hit, no runs, and five groundball outs to seal the win.
Gibler’s two-inning save closed out a complete Arkansas pitching performance: a starter who gave them the lead, three relievers who handled their roles, and a closer who finished. The same model that Van Horn has built his postseason teams around for two decades.
Tennessee’s offensive day
For Tennessee, the offense never recovered from the first-inning hole. Garrett Wright — coming off his four-hit, program-record-tying day Tuesday — went 2-for-5 but did not drive in a run. Levi Clark added a 2-for-4 day with a double. Blake Grimmer hit a one-out double and drove in Tennessee’s first run in the fourth, then drew a walk. Blaine Brown drove in two runs on a single in the seventh inning that briefly cut the lead to 6-4.
Tennessee’s defensive lineup was scrambled by the absence of catcher Reese, who was hit in the face on a pre-tournament BP ball Monday and remains in Knoxville recovering. Wright moved from his usual outfield post to catcher and left field, depending on the matchup. Stone Lawless came in as a pinch-hitter and replacement catcher. Jay Abernathy and Nate Eisfelder both started.
“Cam can do a lot of things at a very high level,” Elander said of Levi Clark in his Game 3 press conference, where the head coach had to manage the Reese-related defensive shuffle. “And he played outfield force before, and he’s more than capable of being an everyday catcher in the SEC.”
The grind catches up to Tennessee
For Tennessee, the loss ends the program’s first season under Elander on a sour note. The Vols won Game 3 in dominant fashion 24 hours earlier — 11-6 over South Carolina with the freshman lefty staff (Cam Appenzeller, Will Haas) carrying the day — but Arkansas’s first-inning surge tonight effectively ended the tournament run before Tennessee had a chance to settle in.
Elander, asked in Game 3’s press conference whether Tegan Kuhns (MLB Pipeline No. 43, second-team All-SEC starting pitcher) would be available on short rest, signaled that Kuhns was the plan against the Razorbacks. By the time Game 7 ended, Arkansas had not seen Kuhns — Elander stayed with Blanco as the starter, then watched the four-run first inning end the game’s competitiveness.
“For a theme around here a long time is, you’ve got a chance to win a ball game, let’s go play ball,” Elander said pretournament. “Know our players are excited to be here.”
But Tennessee’s pitching depth, never robust this season, ran into the buzzsaw of an Arkansas offense that, when locked in, looks like a College World Series team.
What’s next
Arkansas advances to a Friday quarterfinal against No. 2 seed Texas at 4 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. The Razorbacks and Longhorns are both top-12 D1Baseball-ranked teams; Texas, at 40-12 (No. 5 in the D1Baseball Top 25), arrives off a first-round bye and with the deeper rest. The Razorbacks bring the deepest collection of MLB Pipeline draft prospects in the conference — catcher Ryder Helfrick (No. 16), LHP Hunter Dietz (No. 18), RHP Carson Wiggins (No. 83), and RHP Gabe Gaeckle (No. 86) — and a pitching staff that is now lined up for the bracket: McGuire used Wednesday on short rest, Coil and DeCremer in the middle, Gibler available again on full rest by Friday.
For Tennessee, the wait is now until Monday at noon ET. The Vols’ 38-20 record and quality wins should secure an at-large bid, but the program’s tournament path now likely runs through a regional outside Knoxville rather than as a host site.
By the Numbers
Score: Arkansas 8, Tennessee 4 (FINAL)
Hits: Arkansas 9, Tennessee 8
Errors: Arkansas 2, Tennessee 1
Left on base: Arkansas 4, Tennessee 10
Arkansas pitching: Tate McGuire (W) 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 44 pitches. Parker Coil 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 45 pitches. James DeCremer 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 39 pitches. Cole Gibler (S) 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 30 pitches.
Tennessee pitching: Evan Blanco (L) 3.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 57 pitches. Chandler Day 1.1 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 27 pitches. Ethan Baiotto 0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 3 pitches. Nic Abraham 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 33 pitches. Mark Hindy 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 4 pitches. Bo Rhudy 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 20 pitches.
Arkansas hitting leaders: TJ Pompey 3-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB. Zack Stewart 2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 2 K. Camden Kozeal 1-for-3, HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB. Nolan Souza 1-for-4, 2B, 1 RBI. Reese Robinett 1-for-4. Damian Ruiz 1-for-4.
Tennessee hitting leaders: Garrett Wright 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 K (moved to C/LF). Levi Clark 2-for-4, 2B, 1 R. Blake Grimmer 1-for-4, 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB. Blaine Brown 1-for-3, 2 RBI. Jay Abernathy 1-for-4, 1 R. Henry Ford 1-for-4, 2B, 1 RBI.
For More on the 2026 SEC Tournament
- Game 6 Recap: Florida 8, Vanderbilt 3
- Game 5 Recap: Mississippi State 12, Missouri 2 (7)
- Game 4 Recap: LSU 6, Oklahoma 2
- Game 3 Recap: Tennessee 11, South Carolina 6
- Game 2 Recap: Vanderbilt 8, Kentucky 5
- Game 1 Recap: Missouri 10, Ole Miss 8
- How to Watch the 2026 SEC Baseball Tournament
2026 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule
All times Eastern. Second game of each session begins approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
Tuesday, May 19 — First Round (SEC Network)
Game 1: No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 16 Missouri — 10:30 a.m. (Missouri 10, Ole Miss 8 — FINAL)
Game 2: No. 12 Vanderbilt vs. No. 13 Kentucky — 2 p.m. (Vanderbilt 8, Kentucky 5 — FINAL)
Game 3: No. 10 Tennessee vs. No. 15 South Carolina — 5:30 p.m. (Tennessee 11, South Carolina 6 — FINAL)
Game 4: No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 LSU — 9 p.m. (LSU 6, Oklahoma 2 — FINAL)
Wednesday, May 20 — Second Round (SEC Network)
Game 5: Missouri vs. No. 8 Mississippi State — 10:30 a.m. (Mississippi State 12, Missouri 2 — FINAL, 7 inn.)
Game 6: Vanderbilt vs. No. 5 Florida — 2 p.m. (Florida 8, Vanderbilt 3 — FINAL)
Game 7: Tennessee vs. No. 7 Arkansas — 5:30 p.m. (Arkansas 8, Tennessee 4 — FINAL)
Game 8: LSU vs. No. 6 Auburn — 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 21 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 9: Mississippi State vs. No. 1 Georgia — 3 p.m.
Game 10: Florida vs. No. 4 Alabama — 8 p.m.
Friday, May 22 — Quarterfinals (SEC Network)
Game 11: Arkansas vs. No. 2 Texas — 4 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. No. 3 Texas A&M — 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 23 — Semifinals (SEC Network)
Game 13: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 — 1 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12 — 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 24 — Championship (ABC)
Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14 — 2 p.m.
