AUBURN | For the second night in a row, it was one big swing from an Arkansas batter that made the difference.

Ryder Helfrick blasted the first pitch he saw from John Armstrong well over the left field wall for a solo home run in the ninth inning to give the top-ranked Razorbacks a 6-5 come-from-behind win over Auburn.

Arkansas, which won game one 1-0 on a solo home run in the first inning, will go for the sweep Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

The Tigers, which led 5-4 going into the seventh, fall to 14-8 overall and 0-5 in the SEC.

“The 10 guys left on base tonight when we had multiple chances to get into it … I thought more was there for the taking and we just didn’t do more,” said AU coach Butch Thompson.

“We don’t always have control over the outcome but we do the effort. And that’s what I have to make sure I do the best job I possibly can right now of keeping these guys invested and playing with great effort. Hopefully, they’ll bust through and it will go their way.”

Arkansas tied the game with an unearned run in the seventh. Armstrong hit the first batter of the inning, who went to second on an infield single and third on an errant throw by third baseman Caden Green and scored on a sacrifice fly.

Armstrong (0-1) took the loss allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits, one walk and one hit batter in 2.1 innings.

Auburn took a 1-0 lead in the first as Cooper Weiss doubled, stole third base and scored on an Ike Irish RBI-groundout.

Weiss got it started in the third with a walk, two stolen bases and scoring on an errant throw by Arkansas catcher Parker Rowland. Chris Stanfield added an RBI-groundout to make it 3-1.

After Arkansas struck for three in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead, the Tigers scored the tying run in the fifth as Bobby Peirce led off with a double and scored on another Rowland throwing error, and the go-ahead run in the sixth on an RBI-single by Weiss.

AU had a chance for more in the sixth but Weiss was thrown out at home trying to score from first on a double by Irish.

AU had four base runners thrown out in the game including two at home, one at third base and one at second.

Weiss, Carter Wright and Mason Maners had two hits apiece for the Tigers. Weiss scored two runs.

AU starter Chase Allsup allowed four runs, three earned, in 6.0 innings. He struck out five and issued one walk on 87 pitches. He retired the final eight batters he faced.

“I thought the top of the fourth was a huge inning,” said Thompson. “We scored a couple of runs to make it 3-1 and they reel us right back in. I thought that was huge to the ballgame.

“I do credit Chase Allsup for getting through six innings after that. We could have made a play or two. He had a comebacker and we had a play at shortstop and a couple of walks.”

Tanner Bauman got the final two outs in the ninth.

The game was delayed 30 minutes after umpire Jeff Wright had to leave the game after being struck by a foul ball on his face mask.

Saturday’s game is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+.