Shower of power
Rebels use late home runs to sink Hogs
FAYETTEVILLE — Blaine Knight and James McArthur had a pitching duel going Thursday night at Baum Stadium.
Then Ole Miss chased Knight in the eighth inning and the Rebels pulled away to beat the No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks 9-1 before an announced crowd of 4,169.
The Rebels (26-16, 10-9 SEC) led 2-1 going into the eighth inning when they scored three
runs off Knight — including a two-run home run by senior third baseman Colby Bortles — to take control of the game.
Bortles also had a two-run home run in the ninth inning against reliever Josh Alberius.
“He’s a veteran guy,” Knight said of Bortles. “He’s been in the league forever. He’s a senior and played all four years for them, so he’s been through it all.
“He was 0 for 3 on the night when he hit that home run off me, and he just waited for a pitch that was up to punish me on. That’s what veteran guys do in this league.
“They had a bunch of freshmen on the team that sat there and chased all night. It wasn’t hard to get those guys out. They’re coming of high school. Different story with Bortles.”
Knight, a sophomore righthander from Bryant, went 71/3 innings and allowed 7 hits and 5 earned runs with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks. He threw a season-high 110 pitches.
“Knight is so good and we knew that going in, but we made him work a little bit tonight,” Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco said. “Took some walks and ran some counts early, and got some good swings.
“I thought we had a good night and he struck out 10, so that shows you how good he is.”
Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said Knight pitched well overall after Tim Rowe’s two-run home run gave Ole Miss a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
“He battled back and he gave us 5 or 6 pretty good innings there in the middle,” Van Horn said. “He gave us everybody to catch up, and we didn’t.”
McArthur (3-3), a sophomore right-hander, went a career-high 8 innings and held the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (33-11, 12-7) to 1 hit — Jared Gates’ home run in the fifth inning — with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.
“I think I was able to locate some fastballs and breaking balls in some good spots,” McArthur said. “They’re an aggressive team and they were going for it, so I was able to get some fly balls and some ground balls.
“They were swinging at some at the knees. I was able to attack them and that helped a lot.”
McArthur threw 114 pitches, including 72 strikes.
“He got ahead of most everybody,” Van Horn said. “The first pitch in most atbats he really didn’t give you too much to hit. It was always away. He kept a lot of pitches down.”
McArthur’s fastball was clocked at 90 or 91 miles per hour, according to the stadium scoreboard.
“But it looks a little bit harder to the hitters,” Van Horn said. “It’s a little hard to pick up. He just kind of kept us off-balance and worked ahead the whole night.”
Gates said McArthur had good spin on his pitches.
“His fastball was good,” Gates said. “I don’t know what the velocity was, but it rose it seemed like. Had a lot of movement to it.”
The Razorbacks finished with a season-low 2 hits, including a double by Chad Spanberger off reliever Will Ethridge in the ninth inning.
Ole Miss got two-run home runs from Tate Blackman and Bortles in the ninth inning off Alberius.
“Going into the eighth inning it’s a 2-1 game,” Van Horn said. “It’s a great game. If you just glance at the score, it looks like it was a blowout.
“It ended up being that way, but really it was a very well-pitched game by both starters.”
The Rebels’ four home runs were the most allowed by the Razorbacks since 2015 in a 9-0 loss to Loyola-Marymount.
“Sometimes it just happens,” Van Horn said. “You
kind of get on a roll, you put good swings on the ball and it jumps out of the park. That’s what Ole Miss did.”
The teams have a quick turnaround with a doubleheader starting at noon today.
“I hope we bounce back and do what we’re supposed to do and play good baseball,” Van Horn said. “That’s what we should do.”