Hogs wait out ace, pounce in sixth
FAYETTEVILLE — Bryant All-American James Karinchak shut down the Arkansas Razorbacks for five innings Friday.
It was when the righthander came back for the sixth inning that things unraveled for the Bulldogs.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville scored 10 runs in the sixth to earn an 11-8 victory in front of 6,921 at Baum Stadium. The Razorbacks (4-0) will go for the series victory today at 2 p.m.
Fifteen batters went to the plate for Arkansas in the
sixth, including 11 consecutive before an out was recorded. Bryant led 3-0 going into the inning but trailed 10-3 when it was over.
“That was the inning that won us the ballgame,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “We put together some really good at-bats.”
Karinchak came back for the sixth with his pitch count at 80. He had allowed only four base runners before the inning, but he allowed three consecutive batters to reach before he was pulled.
Evan Lee led off the sixth with a double, Luke Bonfield followed with a walk, and Grant Koch tripled to chase Karinchak and pull the Razorbacks within 3-2.
“They have really good approaches, and they stayed off a lot of my curveballs in the dirt,” Karinchak said. “When I missed they hit me, and they hit me hard.”
Bryant (2-3) used four pitchers in the inning. Carson Shaddy and Eric Cole had RBI hits, and Dominic Fletcher had a sacrifice fly. The Razorbacks also scored two runs on bases-loaded walks, two runs on a fielding error and a run when Lee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Karinchak allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 5-plus innings. He struck out five.
“All our guys throughout the lineup had good at-bats and got his pitch count up kind of high,” said Koch, Arkansas’ catcher who finished with 4 RBI. “I think we could see it with his velocity and location.
“I think as more hitters come up and we start talking, it just carries over — momentum from hitter to hitter to hitter.”
Bryant scored two runs off Kacey Murphy in the seventh and added two more on Tyler Panno’s pinch-hit home run off Cannon Chadwick in the eighth to pull within 10-7.
Koch’s solo home run in the bottom of the eighth extended Arkansas’ lead to 11-7, but Bryant brought the game-tying run to the plate with no outs in the ninth when Razorbacks reliever Cody Scroggins walked a batter, hit a batter and allowed a single.
Redshirt senior Josh Alberius got Gaby Cruz to hit into a double play on his first pitch out of the bullpen. Alberius then struck out James Cliento to end the game and earn his first save.
“It was nice to see Josh come in the game and show a little senior leadership,” Van Horn said. “He kind of righted the ship there at the end when it wasn’t looking great.”
Ryan Ward and Nick Angelini had two-out RBI singles off Arkansas starter Blaine Knight in the third inning to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Knight allowed a leadoff home run to Chris Wright in the fourth to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-0.
Knight allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. He struck out four.
Dominic Taccolini earned the victory for Arkansas by
striking out two in a scoreless sixth. The Razorbacks used five pitchers over the final three innings.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to hang in there against one of the top pitchers in the country,” Van Horn said. “We found a way to get a win.”