Freshmen shut out Dayton
COLLEGE BASEBALL ARKANSAS 11, DAYTON 0
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks’ veteran pitchers are rested and ready for a three-game series that begins today against Southern Cal.
The Razorbacks’ freshmen pitchers saw to that by shutting down Dayton.
Freshmen Hunter Milligan, Bryce Bonnin and Kole Ramage combined on a four-hit shutout as the No. 6 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville beat Dayton 11-0 on Thursday at Baum Stadium before an announced crowd of 2,152 as the Razorbacks (72) completed a two-game sweep of the Flyers (1-7).
In the Razorbacks’ 18-1 victory on Wednesday, freshmen Caleb Bolden and Zeb Vermillion did all the pitching for Arkansas.
The five freshmen didn’t
give up an earned run or extra-base hit against Dayton and had 22 strikeouts with two walks.
“You look at the last two days and I thought they all did a really good job,” Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said. “They gave us an opportunity to save some of our more experienced bullpen guys for the weekend, which is good. Plus, they gained a lot of experience.”
That experience, Van Horn said, will come in handy in series against Texas and at North Carolina-Charlotte the next two weeks.
“We’ve got some really good mid-week games coming up,” Van Horn said. “We’re going to have to pitch these guys and depend on them to give us some quality innings.
“They all threw good enough that they gained confidence, and we’ve got confidence in them that we can put them in tough situations against good teams.”
After Milligan went the first two innings on Thursday, Bonnin (1-0) threw 5 hitless innings with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk.
“It felt great,” Bonnin said. “My slider was really working today. I’ve been working hard
on that in my bullpens. I was able to mix up my spots really well and just locate my fastball.”
Bonnin’s fastball registered as high as 93 mph on the scoreboard radar display.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Van Horn said. “Six strikeouts, one walk, throwing the ball as hard as he does, that’s impressive.
“He showed me that he was under control. He wasn’t stomping around on the mound when he didn’t get a call. He acted like he’d done it before and just showed a lot poise out there. I gained a lot of confidence in him today.”
The Flyers have struggled to win games, but they came into the series with a team batting average of .284.
“The key is going out and throwing strikes and not walking people and giving up free passes,” Van Horn said. “[The freshmen] did a really nice job of commanding the ball and throwing it in the zone and making the other team swing.”
Arkansas freshman catcher Casey Opitz started Thursday and said Milligan, Bonnin and Ramage made his job easy.
“They had a feel for every one of their pitches,” Opitz said. “They dominated today. It’s fun being back there when they all jell like that and they’re able to feed off
each other’s energy.”
Bonnin credited the defense and mentioned second baseman Carson Shaddy, shortstop Jack Kenley and right fielder Eric Cole, who made a catch against the fence.
“It makes it a lot easier when you’ve got guys behind you that can make plays,” Bonnin said.
The Razorbacks made sure the pitchers had plenty of support on offense as well with 11 hits, including a three-run home run by Heston Kjerstad and a home run by Jared Gates.
Ramage, who pitched the final innings Thursday, even got a hit.
Van Horn decided to take Cole out of the game because he has a sore foot, and Ramage took his place in the batting order. Ramage responded by getting an RBI single in the eighth inning.
“I asked Ramage, ‘You hit in high school a little bit, didn’t you?’ ” Van Horn said. “He said, ‘Oh yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, you know where the batter’s box is then. It’s up there.’
“He made his way to it, and I thought he did a pretty good job.”
Bonnin said the pitchers were excited for Ramage’s hit.
“We say it all the time, we’re the athletes around here,” Bonnin said with a smile. “It was good for him to get to represent for the pitchers and show them that we can hang a little bit. Hitting ain’t that hard, right?”
Van Horn said the plan going into the Dayton series was to go with the freshmen pitchers.
“It always feels good when you can go out there and execute a game plan like we did today and yesterday,” Bonnin said.
“Now it’s time for the upper classmen to take the reins and run with it these next three days.”