Razorbacks shut down Texas A&M
FAYETTEVILLE Arkansas now has beaten the Texas A&M Aggies right to left.
Following junior righthander Blaine Knight’s career-high tying 11 strikeouts vs no walks gem through a season-high seven complete innings in the Razorbacks’ 9-3 Friday night SEC victory at Baum Stadium, junior left-hander Kacey Murphy threw a career long 7 1-3 innings Saturday handing off a 3-0 lead before Arkansas beat the Aggies, and excellent Aggies lefthander John Doxakis 3-1 before 8,876 at Baum.
Murphy lost his voice, he was unable to do a postgame interview because of it, but won everything else improving his record to 6-4 with junior Barrett Loseke recording a shaky third save. Loseke walked the leadoff man who scored in the ninth followed by Aggies at first and third before striking out Cole Bedford preserving Murphy’s triumph.
Arkansas senior second base man Carson Shaddy, who hit a 3-run home run in Friday night’s first inning, again knocked in three runs Saturday with an RBI single in the first and a 2-run double in the seventh accounting for Arkansas’ scoring otherwise voided by stranding 11 base-runners.
Coach Dave Van Horn’s Razorbacks, now 35-15 overall and a best in the SEC West 16-10, try to conclude their final SEC home series of the season with a sweep meeting the Aggies, 34-16, 12-14 in the SEC West at noon today.
Arkansas finishes the SEC season in a 3-game set Thursday through Saturday at Georgia.
Murphy through his 7 1-3 scattered four hits and pitched out of jams in the first, with some great defensive help by third baseman Casey Martin and catcher Grant Koch, and the fifth when center fielder Dominic Fletcher’s missile like throw home discouraged A&M’s Chandler Morris from tagging up on what initially appeared a possible sacrifice fly.
The Martin to Koch stop, throw and catch, especially Koch’s portion, was “the defensive play of the game,” Van Horn said.
The Aggies had loaded the bases in the first on a single, hit batsman when Martin stopped what seemed destined to be a Chris Andritsos single and fired a throw home in the dirt that catcher Koch scooped like a first baseman.
“The defensive play of the game was Grant Koch picking that ball backhanded with a catcher's glove,” Van Horn said. “With a fielder's glove, it's a little different. When you have a catcher's glove, that ball's got to go right in the middle of that thing and stick. That was just a tremendous play. If that ball gets by him, they've got one in and maybe two in and they're rolling.”
Of course Koch’s Part II can’t commence without Martin’s Part 1.
“He made a backhand that was the first part of a great play that really saved a lot of runs for us,” Van Horn said.
It cost A&M from taking its first lead of the series.
“We had a chance there in the first inning to break the game open and we were really not able to do that,” Texas A&M Coach Rob Childress said. “And Arkansas came right back in the bottom of the first and grabs the lead ad their guy made it stand up. Both left-handers were really, really good today.”
Van Horn concurred. “Really the story of the game was both pitchers did a great job,” Van Horn said. “Murphy did a tremendous job for us. The first inning he got out of that jam with the bases loaded and one out. Then he also got out of another jam, I think runner at third and one out.” How did he do it? “He believes he can do it,” Van Horn said. “He hit spots. If you don't throw the ball in the middle of the plate, you've got a shot. If you're throwing it on the corners and you
locate it well with a little deception, a lot of times the hitters get themselves out. And that's what Murphy relies on.”
Eric Cole doubled leading off Arkansas’ first but Doxakis retired the next two then hit Luke Bonfield with a pitch before Shaddy singled through short for the game’s lone run until his misjudged double in the seventh.
“Their lefty, he just kept getting out of jam after jam,” Van Horn said. “We'd set up innings and it looked like we had the right hitter up there a couple, three times, and we just couldn't get the big hit.”
Shaddy’s big hit in the seventh, off submarine reliever Eric Hoffman after Doxakis yielded a 1-out walk and single to Heston Kjerstad,
was wind-aided. Shaddy appeared to hit Hoffman’s pitch so well that A&M right fielder Morris Chandler backed up, then too late, saw the wind had delayed its route. Chandler scrambled in and dove but could only partially glove and not hold what became a 2-run double.
Ironically, next batter Fletcher against the wind hit “what would have been a hom run by 30 feet,” Van Horn said, which Chandler caught.”
“It’s amazing how the game works,” Van Horn said.
Murphy exited to his standing ovation when his 108th pitch recorded a strikeout with one out and one in the eighth that Loseke finished with no problem before pitching precariously in the ninth.
Loseke yielded a leadoff walk, infield single, pinch-hitter Cam Blake’s sacrifice fly and a 2-out single before Bedford struck out.