Arkansas lineup powers to win in regional opener
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior starter Blaine Knight allowed three hits through eight innings and the Razorbacks hit four home runs Friday to open the Fayetteville Regional with a 10-2 win over the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.
Knight (11-0) was supported by 10 runs from the lineup, including two home runs by freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad, before 8,827 heat-braving fans in attendance Friday in the first round of the four-team double-elimination regional.
Arkansas (40-18), the co-champion of the Southeastern Conference’s West division co-champion, will play again tonight at 7 p.m. against the winner of Friday night’s game between Southern Mississippi (43-16), the regional’s No. 2 seed and the Conference USA champion, and third-seeded Missouri Valley Conference runner-up Dallas Baptist (40-19). Oral Roberts will play an elimina-
tion game today at 2 p.m. against the loser.
Knight was efficient with just
104 pitches in the 92-degree Friday afternoon heat. He let his fielders do the work, striking out only two batters and walking one.
Other than a bunt single and a walk in the second inning, Knight was only clipped for Oral Roberts catcher Riley Keizor’s solo home runs to lead off the fifth inning and with two outs in the seventh.
“Knight just kept peppering the zone,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Really was only threatened one inning. Other than that, he gave up a couple of solo homers, but give credit to their hitters. They just attacked the first one, kind of a first pitch of an inning and just hammered it.
“Hey, that’s the way it goes. We had the lead at the time. We just asked our pitchers to throw strikes, and that’s what Blaine did.”
“He’s good,” Folmar said. “You don’t go 10-0 in that league and on the year and not do a lot of things well. He has good command, commanded the fastball well on both sides, two different breaking balls for strikes, a change up for strikes, he’s athletic, he’s competitive, he’s got enough fastball. I mean he’s good. He’s really good.”
Knight said beating the heat was easier than beating the Golden Eagles.
“Heat-wise, it was just stay hydrated and try to keep out of the sun as much as possible in between innings,” Knight said. “They’re a very, very good lineup. They don’t swing and miss a lot. When they get their pitch, they hammer it, and that’s what that guy did with those two home runs. He sat on two pitches and hit them out, so props to him.”
Keizor’s first home run halved the Arkansas lead to 2-1 following Kjerstad’s two-run home run off losing starter Justin McGregor (62) in the third. McGregor yielded a leadoff single to junior shortstop Jax Biggers and retired two on flyouts to left fielder Andrew Pace before Kjerstad’s opposite field home run landed in the left field bullpen.
The Golden Eagles trailed,
6-2, in the seventh inning after his second home run.
Arkansas erupted for four runs in the sixth inning, chasing McGregor and ace reliever Brady Womacks. The inning started with a walk to sophomore center fielder Dominic Fletcher and redshirt senior second baseman Carson Shaddy missed an outside pitch on a hit and run. Fletcher was thrown out at second base.
Shaddy hit the next pitch over the left-center field fence for his
11th home run of the season. Senior first baseman Jared Gates followed with a double.
Folmar pulled McGregor for Womacks, who lasted just two hitters. Junior catcher Grant Koch singled Gates home and Biggers, batting ninth, hit a two-run home run for just his third of 2018.
“One of the strengths for us all year long has been our bullpen and it got away from us a little bit,” Folmar said.
Arkansas added an unusual run in the seventh inning. Oral Roberts third baseman Cal Hernandez fielded Koch’s two-out grounder and tried to tag Fletcher, but missed him before he reached the bag. The play allowed redshirt junior infielder Hunter Wilson, running for senior designated hitter Luke Bonfield, to score from third.
SEC Freshman of the Year Kjerstad, 3 for 5 with four RBIs, hit his second two-run home run of the game during a three-run eighth inning. He now has 13 home runs this season.
All 10 Arkansas hitters mustered at least one of Arkansas’ 14 hits.
“They have depth to their lineup and it is a good lineup top to bottom,” Folmar said. “You just can’t make many mistakes and every mistake we made tonight was made and hit well. I don’t know - four or five home runs and three or four doubles. Again, it was just one of those nights that every time we made a mistake they hit it and hit it well.”
McGregor held the Hogs at bay until Kjerstad broke up “the pitcher’s duel” Van Horn expected.
“I just think he sees the ball well,” McGregor said. “He has a pretty tall stance and he seems able to see the rotation. He sees the ball deep and hits it the other way and whenever he has to he turns on the fast ball.”