Arkansas opens 2018 baseball season.
FAYETTEVILLE Warming at least for awhile, some 3,619 fans weathering a low-40s chill at Baum Stadium, coach Dave Van Horn’s Arkansas Razorbacks debuted their baseball season Friday by bludgeoning the Bucknell Bison 14-2.
Arkansas junior starter Blaine Knight of Bryant threw five hitless innings.
Arkansas freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad went 3-for-4, scoring three times and drove in the season’s first run on a two-out single with runners at first and second, igniting a four-run first.
Senior second baseman Carson Shaddy hit the season’s first home run.
Kjerstad’s two-out single between first and second against Bucknell ace Connor Van Hoose, the Patriot League Preseason Pitcher of the Year, “set the tone,” Van Horn said.
“It was the clutch at-bat of the inning because the hitter before him (cleanup hitter Luke Bonfield) struck out and left a couple guys out there in scoring position,” Van Horn said. “We needed an RBI there and he comes through with a big hit to score a runner from second. It changed the game. It changed, obviously, how long their starter was going to be in the game because he was out there for another five or six hitters and probably another 25 pitches.”
Kjerstad likely will never forget it.
“I’ve been waiting for that at-bat ever since I’ve been here in the fall,” the precocious rookie from Amarillo, Texas said. “And then as soon as I made contact with the ball and I saw it go through the hole, I felt like I had a flash, remembering that moment forever.
"And then as soon as I got on first base and I was able to look around and see the crowd cheering, that’s when it set in that I had finally done something here.”
Shaddy’s opposite field three-run home run over right in the second off Van Hoose also was with two outs.
“I knew they were going to try to throw me middle away, so my approach was take everything to right field.” Shaddy said. “The wind was blowing out that way, so it helps your confidence a little bit. Just walking up to the plate, there were runners on base in scoring position. I was just trying to be aggressive and hit the first good pitch I could find and they threw me one high and away.”
Shaddy also walked with the bases loaded totaling four RBIs.
Two walks comprised Bucknell’s offense against Knight’s 67 pitches while he struck out four through five complete innings.
“Blaine started out a little slow and I said at the time I think he's just really grown up as a pitcher,” Van Horn said. “He wasn't trying to be overpowering. He just pitched. It seemed like maybe the second and third inning, he started working his curveball and his changeup a little bit better."
Knight benefitting from but also had to sit in the cold weather while Arkansas’ hitters took their time totaling 10 runs their first two innings.
“That one inning went like 30 something minutes so that was hard,” Knight said.
“If it’s warm, it’s not a big issue, but with it being cold and having to throw and walk around - I had three jackets on and a heat sleeve. But I made it work and was able to keep throwing strikes.”
So did ensuing freshman relievers Kole Ramage, two scoreless innings, and Bryce Bonnin, yielding two unearned runs with errors preceding pinch-hitter Dominic Toso’s two-run, pinchhit eighth-inning double, and senior Barrett Loeske throwing a scoreless ninth.
“I thought our pitching staff did a tremendous job,” Van Horn said. “We basically just pounded the strike zone for most of the night. A lot of different arm slots and angles and good velocity.”
Arkansas (1-0) and Bucknell (0-1) continue their three-game series at Baum at 11:30 a.m. today and noon Sunday.