Hogs fend off Golden Flashes, 11-4
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas shattered a 4-4 tie with three solo home runs in the seventh and a grand slam in the eight to foil the Kent State Golden Flashes, 11-4, in Sunday’s series finale at Baum Stadium.
Freshman third baseman Casey Martin had an RBI double in the sixth inning and homered to lead off the seventh versus losing reliever Jack Schultz. He was followed by Jordan McFarland’s home run before Carson Shaddy’s hit a home run with one out.
McFarland, who entered the game striking out looking as a pinch-hitter, hit his eighth-inning 400-foot grand slam over the yellow line on the center field wall.
Even with all the home runs, freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad provided the Razorbacks most key hit, a two-run double to tie it 4-4 in the sixth.
Sophomore lefty Evan Lee won it in relief throwing the final 4 1/3 innings with a twohit shutout and no walks.
Sunday’s success enabled coach Dave Van Horn’s Razorbacks (11-4), going into a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday against the Texas Longhorns at Baum Stadium, to win the series against Kent State, 2-1.
The two teams played a doubleheader Friday as heavy rain was forecast for Saturday, but the storms did not occur. Arkansas won the opener, 7-2, with Kent State dominating the nightcap, 10-4.
“We didn’t feel good about the way the second game went the other night,” Van Horn said after Sunday’s game. “We felt like we were flat. We almost looked like we were satisfied and we were outplayed and outhustled. I kind of challenged the guys a little bit after the game. They got challenged a little bit yesterday in practice.”
“Kjerstad worked the count a little bit and took a couple borderline pitches, then got a pitch,” Van Horn added. “It was a left-on-left at bat and he threw the fastball up and away and he smoked it into the left-center field alley and tied up the game. And then Martin came up there and hit the ball out of the ballpark to give us the lead and got us riled up in the dugout even more. Just kept it going with a couple other balls that were hit out of the park.
“I thought McFarland, after his first at bat, had two really good at bats. His second at bat, he fouled off three or four pitches, then he hit a fly ball down the left field line that got up in the wind and pushed it back fair and it went out of the park. That was big for us, for Jordan as well.”
Especially after that caught looking strikeout.
“Coach Van Horn made that pretty obvious that I wasn’t being aggressive,” McFarland said. ‘I made some adjustments and sure took that to heart.”
Lee netted praise, too. “You throw in Evan Lee who came out and gave us four innings of he didn’t walk anybody,” Van Horn said. “He only struck out one, but I think they really only got a couple of really good swings on him, so that was really good to see.”
Arkansas freshman Bryce Bonnin gave up one run in the first inning Sunday in his first start after walking the game’s first two batters. He did not walk another until he was faced with two out and nobody on in the fifth inning.
Van Horn pulled Bonnin for fellow freshman Kole Ramage after Josh Hollander’s bloop single. Ramage walked Reilly Hawkins and got tagged for Mason Mamarella’s tworun single to right-center. Ramage should have retired Kanavas, but third baseman Martin booted it scoring the inning’s third run.
Arkansas tied it 1-1 in the third off right-handed starter Joey Murray. Eric Cole hustled a single into a double leading off. Kjerstad’s grounder to second advanced Cole to score on Luke Bonfield’s infield single.
Shortstop Hollander’s error on Shaddy’s grounder after Grant Koch’s leadoff walk enabled Arkansas’ 4-4 tying 2-run sixth on Kjerstad’s 2-run double at the expense of lefty reliever Nick Skolnicki who opened the inning off Murray’s five complete.