Hogs tiptoe around 15 walks
ARKANSAS 9, ALABAMA 7
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks wouldn’t allow Alabama to walk out of Baum Stadium on Sunday with a victory.
Seven of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s eight pitchers combined to issue a school-record 15 walks, but the No. 7 Razorbacks rallied to beat the Crimson Tide 9-7 before an announced crowd of 7,392.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Shocking, actually.”
Center fielder Dominic Fletcher put the Razorbacks (32-13, 13-8 SEC) ahead 8-7 with a three-run home run in
the fifth inning, and he made a diving catch in the eighth inning with a runner on first base and Alabama threatening to tie the score.
Fletcher’s latest highlight catch came on a sinking line drive by Chandler Avant off Jake Reindl for the second out, chasing Cobie Vance back to first base.
“When it left the bat I didn’t think [Fletcher] could get to it,” Van Horn said. “Just another incredible catch. There’s one every weekend at a minimum it seems like.”
Reindl pointed at Fletcher to acknowledge the catch.
“It’s exciting because you know you made a bad pitch and it got hammered and you weren’t penalized for it,”
Reindl said. “I was pumped.
It keeps the momentum on our side.”
Fletcher, a sophomore who bats left-handed, got the momentum on Arkansas’ side when he hit an 0-2 pitch from Dylan Duarte over the leftfield fence with Heston Kjerstad and Grant Koch on base. It was Fletcher’s sixth home run this season and 18th as a Razorback.
“I think that was my first home run to the opposite field,” he said. “That’s probably as good as I can hit a ball to the left side of the field.”
The home run came after Fletcher pulled a ball over the right-field fence that was foul by a few feet.
“He swung at two breaking balls and didn’t look good, then he [Duarte] hung a breaking ball and he got just out in front of it and had a three-run homer go foul,” Van Horn said. “You could tell he was frustrated, and we were all telling him, ‘Hey, shoot one the other way,’ and the guy tried to sneak a fastball by him like he was sitting on a breaking ball.”
“He just took a really nice swing and I mean, he caught it in the sweet spot. Right when it left the bat we knew it was going out of the park.”
The Razorbacks made it 9-7 in the eighth inning. They loaded the bases when Eric Cole singled, advance to third on a walk to Jax Biggers and single by Casey Martin, and scored on Kjerstad’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Alabama (23-23, 5-16) got the tying runs on base with one out in the ninth inning when Keith Holcombe singled and Reindl walked Vance.
Reindl threw a wild pitch, but Koch — the Razorbacks’ junior catcher — pounced on the ball and threw out Vance at second base with Holcombe taking third. Reindl struck out Joe Breaux swinging to end the game and earn his fourth save.
Reindl, Barrett Loseke (11) and Evan Lee held the Tide scoreless over the final 41/3 innings.
Loseke pitched 21/3 innings, giving him 81/3 scoreless innings for the week, including 41/3 in a 5-1 victory over No. 4 Texas Tech on Tuesday night and the final 11/3 in a 7-4 victory over Alabama on Saturday night.
“I’m obviously a little fatigued to throw that much, but I feel good,” Loseke said. “I did a little bit of yoga and worked out to keep the body in shape.”
The Razorbacks broke the school record of 14 walks in a 10-4 victory over Oklahoma State on April 4, 1989.
“It’s a record that you don’t want, obviously,” Van Horn said.
The Razorbacks took a 3-1 lead in the second inning when they scored three runs, including RBI singles by Fletcher and Cole, but Alabama came back with five runs in the third inning without getting a hit to go ahead 6-3.
Four Arkansas pitchers —
Kole Ramage, Jackson Rutledge, Jacob Kostyshock and Caleb Bolden — combined for seven walks in the third after starter Isaiah Campbell went just 11/3 innings. The Razorbacks also committed three errors, and three runs scored in the third inning on wild pitches by Rutledge.
It could have been an even bigger inning for the Tide, but they left the bases loaded when Bolden struck out Avant to keep Alabama’s lead at 6-3.
“For us to get out of that inning only down three runs was incredible,” Van Horn said. “I couldn’t believe it. Fortunately for us they didn’t get a big hit or bases-clearing home run that would have put them up big time.
“I realized it was only the third inning. We felt like there was plenty of time. It was just a matter of could we stop them?”
Martin’s home run in the third inning pulled Arkansas
within 6-4. The Tide made it 7-4 in the fifth on John Trousdale’s home run before the Razorbacks began their fourrun rally in the bottom of the inning, which started with Luke Bonfield drawing a oneout walk.
“Things weren’t going well for the pitching staff early on, which is tough for everyone,” Loseke said. “It kind of brings down the team morale.
“But with a lineup like ours, I think we have the confidence to get back into the game.”