If Arkansas starting pitcher Brett Eibner was going to throw a shutout against the Georgia baseball team Sunday, he was going to have to earn it in the bottom of the ninth inning – as due up was Matt Cerione, Colby May and Rich Poythress.

But after issuing a walk to Cerione, he induced flyouts to May, Poythress and Bryce Massanari as the Razorbacks held on to a 2-0 victory at Foley Field.

“We had every opportunity and we had our guys up and we just didn’t get it done today,” Georgia head coach David Perno said. “But we didn’t make it and we didn’t hit enough to deserve to win today.”

After May flew out to the warning track in left center, Poythress worked the tiring Eibner to a 3-1 count. He then threw the Diamond Dog slugger a hittable pitch that resulted in a harmless fly ball to right.

“I just missed it and he beat me,” Poythress said. “He was in the mid 90s all day with a good slider and good breaking ball. He located well, and we didn’t do a great job at the plate of laying off bad pitches and hitting the pitches we got to hit. Tip your hat to him because he did a great job and that’s a great baseball team over there.”

But as impressive as Eibner’s (4-2) stat line was, (nine innings, one hit, zero runs and 12 strikeouts) Georgia starter Justin Grimm pitched just as well.

Grimm, the tough luck loser, faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings and pitched arguably the best game of his career, only to have his defense let him down.

In the sixth, after an infield single by Zack Cox, Jarrod McKinney hit a sharp ground ball to short that may have resulted in a double play. But shortstop Levi Hyams missed it, allowing McKinney to reach safely. Catcher James McCann then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, a move that paid off when Chase Leavitt hit a two-run double to give Arkansas (26-11, 11-6 SEC) its 2-0 lead.

In all, Grimm (2-2) pitched seven innings, allowing three hits, two runs – one earned – one walk and struck out six. Jeff Walters pitched a perfect final two innings.

“There are some days when you have to go out there and give everything you have and you may not get what you want,” Grimm said. “You just have to keep going and do what you do.”

Despite the tough loss, Georgia (31-8, 13-5 SEC) still won that series against a good team, something it had struggled to do against LSU and Alabama. It won both of Friday and Saturday’s games 4-3, and on walk-off hits by Cerione in each of them.

“It’s a huge series win for us, and may not seem like it right now,” Poythress said. “It’s a big win for us to separate our league but we have to get a lot better.”