Behind Knight, 3 HRs, Hogs silence Tide
NO. 7 ARKANSAS 7, ALABAMA 3
FAYETTEVILLE — Blaine Knight picked up his first victory in three starts as the No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks homered their way past Alabama 7-3 on Friday to snap a threegame SEC losing streak.
Dominic Fletcher, Casey Martin and Eric Cole hit home runs off Alabama starter Sam Finnerty and Jake Reindl pitched the final three innings to post his third save before a crowd of 9,568 at Baum Stadium on a balmy evening.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (30-13, 11-8) hit multiple home runs at Baum Stadium for the 10th time this season and regained sole possession of first in the SEC West by a half game over Ole Miss, which lost 5-2 at home to LSU.
Alabama (23-21, 5-14) lost its seventh SEC game in a row.
Knight (7-0) did not have his sharpest stuff, allowing 3 hits, 3 walks and 3 earned runs, but he made it through 6 innings on 101 pitches.
“I thought it was very average honestly,” Knight said. “I definitely didn’t locate the ball very well. Even though the guy had a tight zone, I still didn’t locate very well. I walked three guys, which is uncommon for me. It was not what I wanted it to be, but we got a win so I’ll take it.”
Knight, who struck out six, left his last two starts with leads before the Razorbacks lost those games against South Carolina and Mississippi State.
“He probably wasn’t as sharp as he has been and he didn’t command his fastball like some of the games I’d seen on video, but you’ve got to tip your cap,” Alabama Coach Brad Bohannon of Knight. “Not really having your best fastball and grinding through, pitching deeper into the game like he did, he did a good job for them.”
Van Horn said he thought Knight and Finnerty (4-3) both thought the zone was small.
“You figure it out, then you pitch to it,” he said. “I think both of them were a little frustrated and I just think both pitch counts got up for the pitchers and we both had to go to the bullpen.”
Arkansas broke on top early with the aid of successive singles by Cole, Heston Kjerstad and Martin and sloppy defense from the Crimson Tide.
Cole scampered to third on Kjerstad’s single to right, and Kjerstad took second base as third baseman Cobie Vance was unable to scoop the throw to the infield. Martin beat out an infield single that scored Cole. Evan Lee followed with a potential double play grounder to second, but Alabama’s Chandler Avant booted it, allowing Kjerstad to hustle home.
“Arkansas is a really good team and we made mistakes,” Bohannon said. “You can’t do that in this league, especially against a really, really good team like Arkansas. They did a great job of taking advantage of the mistakes we made.”
Alabama tied it in the second when the center fielder Breaux took Knight over the right-field wall for a two-run home run, his first of the season.
Breaux is the older brother of Josh Breaux, the nation’s No. 1 junior college recruit, who has signed to play for the Razorbacks next season.
The Razorbacks regained the lead with a two-run third inning. Kjerstad drilled a shot just inside the first base bag and into the corner for a stand-up double to open the frame. After Martin popped up, Kjerstad advanced on a wild pitch and came home on Lee’s twisting sacrifice fly to left field.
Fletcher found a Finnerty pitch to his liking on a 3-1 count and belted it over the bullpen wall in right field for a 4-2 lead.
“I was sitting on a fastball and got a good swing on it,” Fletcher said.
The Crimson Tide inched within a run in the fifth, which ended with Knight at 92 pitches. Eight-hole batter Kyle Kaufman doubled just inside the third base bag, then Jett Manning moved him to third with a single. Vance’s fly ball to right field was deep enough to plate Kaufman.
Martin re-opened a tworun gap by leading off the bottom of the fifth with a long home run to left-center field. Martin’s ninth home run tied him for the team lead with Cole, Carson Shaddy and Kjerstad, but not for long.
“Mine was just an outside slider,” Martin said. “After the first or second at bat I knew I wasn’t going to get too many fast balls so I just sat on one pitch. He was definitely favoring that slider a lot so I sat on it and let my hands work.”
Cole’s home run was a two-run shot over the rightfield wall in the sixth, scoring Jax Biggers, who had walked to lead off the inning.