Arkansas rolls past Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Sophomore pitcher Blaine Knight and the 24th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks had to battle through a twohour rain delay in the fourth inning Friday afternoon, but still had a big five-run second inning before the stoppage and ended up defeating the 18th-ranked Missouri Tigers 9-2 at Taylor Stadium to open a three-game series.

Arkansas (19-4, 4-0 SEC) won its seventh game in a row and stayed undefeated in conference play, while Missouri (20-2, 3-1 SEC) saw its 20-game winning streak snapped.

Friday’s game was originally scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start, but with impending weather, it was moved up to a noon start. Knight was sharp into the fourth inning, not allowing a run before lightning and rain forced both teams off the field. After a two-hour wait, play was resumed and Knight returned to the mound.

Unlike his counterpart, Tanner Houck, who did not return to the game after the delay, Knight pitched three more innings. Missouri did get two runs off of Knight in the fourth and fifth innings, but he finished with six innings pitched and struck out seven batters for his third win of the year. In three of his last four starts, Knight has struck out at least seven batters and has thrown six or more innings.

Six different Razorbacks finished with multi-hit games.

Junior Chad Spanberger

went 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBIs. Junior Carson Shaddy notched his sixth multi-hit game with a double and a triple, two of 14 hits for the Hogs on Friday.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Arkansas got on top of Houck early before the weather delay, scoring five runs on four hits in the second inning. The Hogs put its first two batters on base to start the frame, but didn't score until there were two outs.

Jax Biggers walked to load the bases after working back from an 0-2 count.

Jake Arledge was then hit by a pitch to bring in the game’s first run. From there, four more runs came across, three off hits and one off an error to build Arkansas’ lead to 5-0.

The Razorbacks did the bulk of their damage with two outs. Of the nine runs Arkansas scored, eight were brought in with two outs. The Hogs hit 9-for-17 (.529) with two away in the game.

Their lone run with less than two outs came in the top of the ninth after Shaddy scored on an Eric Cole groundout.

With a five-run lead after just two innings, Knight continued to baffle Tiger hitters through the third inning. Knight only had three strikeouts before the delay, but went on to add four more to his total and only allow three baserunners for his final three innings.

Senior Dominic Taccolini came on to pitch in the seventh and finished the game with only two hits allowed along with four strikeouts to corral his second save of the year.

The series continues today with the game slated to begin at 2 p.m. The contest will be televised by the SEC Network.

The series will conclude on Sunday afternoon with the game scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.