Bonfield’s hot bat lifts UA to refreshing finish
FAYETTEVILLE — Luke Bonfield got his first career ice bath late Friday and the junior for the Arkansas Razorbacks didn’t mind at all.
Bonfield singled up the middle with two outs in the ninth to score Jax Biggers from second base and give the Razorbacks a walk off 4-3 victory in their SEC series opener against Vanderbilt.
The Razorbacks (36-13, 15-9 SEC) rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Commodores (29-20, 12-12) in the last three innings before an announced crowd of 6,087 at Baum Stadium.
“I think that was my first career ice bath,” said Bonfield, who also hit a first-inning home run. “It was pretty cool.”
Arkansas remained 1½ games behind Mississippi State in the SEC West by winning its first weekend opener since April 13 against Georgia.
“We haven’t had a hit like that in a while, one with two outs and we don’t have to go back out there,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.
Biggers looped a one-out hit down the left-field line off Zach King (2-1) in the ninth and turned it into a hustle double to set up the winning rally.
Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin elected to walk leadoff hitter Jake Arledge to bring up Chad Spanberger. King, a lefthander, retired Spanberger on a pop-up to shortstop, then Corbin called on right-handed closer Reed Hayes.
Bonfield took a curveball for a strike, then laced a fastball back through the middle. Biggers’ slide at home just beat the throw from Vanderbilt center fielder Jeren
Kendall to touch off the Hogs’ party.
“Give credit to Jax Biggers for hustling and then Luke getting that big hit,” Van Horn said. “We knew when they put Arledge on, that unless Chad hit into a double play that Luke was going to get an opportunity. He’s pretty clutch.”
The key hit for Arkansas was a two-run home run by Dominic Fletcher against Patrick Raby, which tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh inning.
“I was able to put a pretty good swing on a fastball, I think it was, down the middle,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher’s home run, his third in three games, was his ninth of the year.
Arkansas starter Trevor Stephan threw 111 pitches in seven innings and was called “the man” by Van Horn for staying with his game plan after falling behind 3-1.
“Command wise, I was kind of iffy, but I kind of settled in there after a few innings and commanded all my pitches,” Stephan said.
Stephan extended his scoreless innings streak to 13 with a perfect first inning before Ethan Paul hit a two-run home run with one out in the second inning.
Arkansas reliever Kevin Kopps (3-0) allowed one hit over two innings and escaped a mess in the eighth to pick
up the victory.
Bonfield ripped a low fastball from Raby over the leftfield wall with two outs in the first inning for a shortlived 1-0 Arkansas lead on his eighth home run.
“He was trying to establish his fastball first time through the order,” Bonfield said. “He got a little bit too much of the plate and I was ready to hit.”
Hayes, Vanderbilt’s designated hitter, hit a one-out single in the second inning, and after Paul took a couple of close two-strike pitches, he pulled a Stephan fastball over the visitor’s bullpen wall beyond the right-field fence for his fifth home run.
The Commodores extended their lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning on No. 9-hole batter Connor Kaiser’s triple to center field and Kendall’s RBI single through the right side.
Raby dominated for several innings after the Bonfield home run, retiring 14 of 15 Razorbacks in one stretch into the sixth inning.
Spanberger and Grant Koch had singles in the sixth as Raby began showing signs of slowing down, and the Hogs jumped him in the seventh.
Carson Shaddy led off the Arkansas seventh with a double to the base of the wall in left field that eluded Coleman. Eric Cole’s grounder to first moved Shaddy to third, then Fletcher rocked a fastball right down the middle over the right-field wall to tie the game at 3-3. Biggers followed with a solid single over the second baseman’s head, but a liner off the bat of Arledge stayed up just enough for the center fielder Kendall to glove it. King came on to finish the inning by retiring Spanberger on a ground ball.
The Commodores had something cooking in the eighth inning when Ro Coleman drew a walk on four pitches from Jake Reindl, then Kopps hit Kendall with a pitch to bring up clean-up batter Julian Infante with no outs.
However, catcher Grant Koch caught Coleman straying off second base and fired to the shortstop Biggers for the tag out. Then Spanberger backhanded a hot grounder from Infante to start a 3-6-1 double play on which Kopps made a backhand scoop on Biggers’ relay.
Arkansas threatened in the eighth to no avail. Koch hit a one-out single and Shaddy drew a two-out walk after a lengthy battle, but right fielder JJ Bleday raced to the wall to bring in a line drive off the bat of Eric Cole to end the inning.