Four-run fourth leads Hogs to sweep
FAYETTEVILLE — The season-opening weekend couldn’t have gone much better for Arkansas’ baseball team.
Arkansas beat Miami (Ohio) 11-1 Sunday before an announced crowd of 6,744 at Baum Stadium to complete a three-game sweep of the RedHawks.
It was another big victory in front of a big crowd on a warm and sunny afternoon.
The Razorbacks outscored the RedHawks 23-3 in the series before combined crowds of 23,007.
“That was definitely the best opening weekend I’ve had as a Razorback here,” said junior left fielder Luke Bonfield, who drove in three runs Sunday. “It was pretty special coming out all three games and seeing those people in the stands for us.”
Arkansas took a 6-1 lead with a four-run fifth, a rally that a got a boost when Bonfield hit a bouncer back to Miami reliever Andy Almquist with Eric Cole on third.
Almquist bobbled the ball, and Cole, who led off the inning with a walk, beat the throw home, leaving the Razorbacks with Jax Biggers on third base and Bonfield on first with one out.
Arkansas catcher Greg Koch followed with a threerun home run.
“Cole can run and got a good jump and I think the pitcher looked down just a touch and the ball spun out of his glove because it was hit off the end of the bat,” Van Horn said. “They don’t even get an out there.
“If he gets an out at the plate it’s still the same score and who knows what happens?”
Koch, who went 3 for 4, hit a 1-0 fastball for his home run.
“I think we did a good job
as a team kind of creating that situation,” Koch said. “I was just the one put in that situation and got us a hit. We did a real good job of getting runners on.”
Miami loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with one out against Arkansas freshman starter Kevin Kopps, but senior reliever Josh Alberius minimized the damage with a double-play ground ball after giving up a run-scoring single by Cal Elvers.
Biggers, a freshman shortstop, and junior Carson Shaddy — who moved to second base this season after playing third base and center field — turned the double play.
“I thought our shortstop did a great job of coming and getting the ball and he made a perfect throw semi-off balance to Carson, who really turned the double play well,” Van Horn said. “And bang, we’re in the dugout with the lead when we easily could have been at least tied or down.”
Arkansas’ 13 hits included Cole’s inside-the-park home run and a home run by Chad Spanberger over the rightfield fence.
“We’ve got a little bit of pop,” Van Horn said.
The right-handed hitting Koch’s home run went into the wind to the opposite field and over the right-field fence.
“Grant let the pitch get deep and he smoked it,” Van Horn said. “He wasn’t out front. He got his legs and everything into it and just drove
it through that wind.”
Freshman infielder Jaxon Williams pinch hit in the seventh inning and on his first pitch as a Razorback hit a three-run double off Eric Handleman, Miami’s sixth pitcher of the game.
“The guy laid one in there
and he hammered it,” Van Horn said. “He’ll be able to tell his grandkids one day, ‘Hey, my first swing in college I had a bases-clearing double with three RBIs.’ ”
Kopps allowed just one hit and had five strikeouts the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth.
“Kevin Kopps did a tremendous job for three innings,” Van Horn said. “Then it’s almost like he hit the wall.
“We thought we could get four out of him and hopefully the next time out he can go a little bit longer.”
Arkansas pitchers combined to hold Miami to 16 hits and 6 walks in the series.
“Overall, every pitcher that we brought in did their job,” Van Horn said. “There’s a lot of competition amongst the pitching staff to get on the mound.
“They push each other, they pull for each other and then they have to compete against each other to get some time. It’s making for a good situation as far as some depth.”