Hogs complete sweep of Monroe, 11-2

FAYETTEVILLE — Consecutive strong pitching starts and big batting barrages plus errorless baseball propelled the Arkansas Razorbacks to a 2-game sweep of Louisiana-Monroe here at Baum Stadium.

Sophomore left-hander Kacey Murphy made his first start in Wednesday’s 11-2 victory, recording nine strikeouts against one walk in the wake of senior right-hander Dominic Taccolini’s 10 strikeouts in six innings of a 12-3 triumph Tuesday.

“We had a good game yesterday and really took care of business today,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Just came out and played solid baseball. It all started with Kacey Murphy giving us a great outing. Four really strong innings. The fifth inning he struggled a little bit. But I think he had around nine strikeouts. I know he had four in a row at one time. He was using three pitches. Obviously a fastball, but then he was throwing really good change-ups to the right handers and throwing a breaking ball to some of the lefties and mixing a breaker a little bit to some of the righties.”

Arkansas (9-3) begins a three-game Baum Stadium series with Rhode Island at 3 p.m. Friday, also playing at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Louisiana-Monroe dropped to 4-10.

Helped by Nathan Reynolds caught stealing after singling to lead off the game, Murphy faced a minimum 12 batters until a fifth-inning, one-out walk followed Blake Beckman’s RBI double and Brady McGehee’s RBI single netted ULM’s runs.

The fifth was the first time that Murphy manifested “feeling under the weather,” which he said he did before his first Razorback start.

“I just have been under the weather for the last few games from the long road trip, I guess,” Murphy said.

Last week the Razorbacks played two midweek games at Louisiana Tech and three last weekend against Arizona, Nebraska and Oklahoma State in Frisco, Texas.

He must have perked up striking out five of his first six batters.

“Yeah, like coach said in the meeting, if you’re not feeling too well, it brings out a new concentration level,” Murphy said. “I got out there and did my job. From the beginning, all three pitches (fast ball, changeup and slider) worked. I commanded the changeup early and then I went to my slider and that’s when I started getting the strikeouts.”

Hogs hitting stars freshman center fielder Dominic Fletcher and senior right fielder Jake Arledge credited their pitcher.

“He wasn’t feeling that well but the guy came out and was lights out,” Fletcher said. “He struck everybody out. It was really cool.”

Arledge concurred

“It’s unbelievable when Murphy and Taccolini come out and just throw really well,” Arledge said. “It’s so easy when they are striking everybody out and getting guys to roll over or pop up. It just makes our job on offense so much easier and it really helps on defense that you get back into the dugout really quick.”

Fletcher had a three-run homer in the first inning. Arledge and Bonfield each had three hits, Arledge crashing into the fench for a foul fly in right and Bonfield with a two-run double. Jax Biggers added two of Arkansas’ 14 hits, giving them 30 in two games against Monroe.

Fletcher tagged a “hanging curve” for his three-run home run but Arledge drew the most interest for his sliding catch juggling but hanging on the ball despite his head hitting the wall.

“Usually you are taught to slide feet first into the wall so you don’t hit your head,” Arledge said. “Of course I hit my head regardless. I just hit my head and caught it and luckily I didn’t like break anything. The ball popped out of my glove, It was laying on my chest and I just grabbed it and held it up. It was pretty cool.”

Van Horn called Arledge’s impact “huge” for the catch and as the leadoff hitter three for three with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored.