Arkansas claims 5-3 home victory over Kentucky Wildcats
FAYETTEVILLE - It took two Andrew Benintendi home runs and two solid eighth and ninth relief innings by reliever Zach Jackson after a precarious seventh, but the Arkansas Razorbacks finally won for Trey Killian.
The junior right-hander from Norfork via Mountain Home High with no bad outings this season yet an 0-2 record to show for it, logged his first triumph 5-3 over the Kentucky Wildcats in Friday night's start to a 3-game SEC series before 5,442 at Baum Stadium.
Arkansas, 19-15, 6-7 in the SEC West, and Kentucky, 18-14, 4-8 in the SEC East, play again at 6 tonight and noon Sunday.
Killian led 4-1 after six complete innings, sweated through Kentucky batting eight times off Jackson in the seventh and scoring two on a bases-loaded single and hit batsman before finally subdued with the bases still loaded.
Benintendi's monstrous home run leading off Arkansas' seventh gave Jackson a 5-3 cushion that he kept inflated. Jackson set the Wildcats down 1-2-3 in the eighth and in the ninth threw a doubleplay ball grounder and game-ending groundout after normally flawless third baseman Bobby Wernes committed the game's only error. Arkansas and Kentucky swapped solo home runs to tie 1-1 before Arkansas scored two in the second.
Benintendi hit his one-out first-inning home run into the right field bullpen on a full count against losing Kentucky starter Zach Brown.
Dorian Hairston countered for Kentucky with a one-out home run in the second.
Arkansas staked Killian to a 3-1 lead in the Arkansas second. Cullen Gassaway and Rick Nomura hit successive one-out singles to left setting up Michael Bernal's RBI single up the middle.
Alex Gosser's high chopper to second advanced Bernal and Nomura to second and third. Nomura, among the fastest Hogs, dashed home on a short wild pitch barely ahead of catcher Greg Fettes' throw and Brown's tag covering the plate.
Nomura flashed speed to score again after a leadoff walk in the fourth. Nomura advanced on Bernal's infield out, tagged to third on Alex Gosser's fly to center and trotted home on Clark Eagan's single to right.
Two Arkansas defensive gems kept Kentucky scoreless in the fifth.
A Killian strikeout between singles preceded Kyle Barrett's shot bouncing down first. First baseman Gassaway dove to snag it before it could scoot down the line and recovered just in time to record the putout to Killian covering.
Freshman Gassaway started because regular first baseman Eagan was in left field replacing senior outfielder Joe Serrano. Serrano was scratched just before the game because of illness. A Killian walk loaded the bases before Arkansas shortstop Michael Bernal hustled to No. 3-hole hitter Ka'ai Tom's slow grounder and whisked a throw to first barely beating Tom for the final out.
JaVon Shelby's Texas Leaguer bloop doubled in the no man's land between Arkansas' shortstop, second baseman and center fielder leading off the sixth, Killian's final inning. Hairston walked but Killian retired Thomas Bernal on a doubleplay turned by Michael Bernal then personally recorded the last out receiving Gassaway's throw on Storm Wilson's grounder to first.
Killian left comfortably ahead 4-1 after throwing 101 pitches, and striking out four against six hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Before Kentucky finished its seventh the Wildcats were down 4-3 with the bases loaded.
Zach Jackson, who failed to hold Killian's lead last Friday against Auburn then won it when Arkansas forged ahead, was rocked for leadoff singles by Kentucky's 8 and 9-hole hitters. He got his first out on a force out putting runners at first and third, threw warmups through a 10-minute Kentucky argument and umpires' TV replay review whether Evan White's liner down right was foul as called or fair. It was verified foul. White eventually walked loading the bases which remained with two runs home as Tom singled sharply to left and Shelby was hit by a pitch before Jackson himself fielded Thomas Bernal's inning-ending popup.
Benintendi opened Arkansas' seventh admiring his clout taking long flight over right into the night. Tyler Spoon singled, concluding Brown's night in favor of lefty Brad Schaenzer. Schaenzer struck out Chad Spanberger while Spoon stole second then was stranded by reliever Zach Strecker.