Three HR outing sinks Razorbacks
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks’ six-game winning streak got nixed by the mighty bat of Tyler Smith on Wednesday.
Smith hit three two-out, two-run home runs to fuel Northwestern (La.) State’s 10-7 upset of the Razorbacks before a crowd of 2,051 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The 5-11 junior outfielder hit his shots — all off fastballs — in the third inning off Arkansas starter Marshall Denton, in the fifth off of Elijah Trest and in the ninth off closer Matt Cronin as the Demons (24-16) rebounded from a 19-2 drilling by the Razorbacks on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I don’t even know where that came from,” said Smith, who entered the day with a team-high five home runs. “I got in good counts and put barrels on them. That’s all you can ask for.”
The Razorbacks had taken a 4-1 lead in the first inning on Dominic Fletcher’s grand slam, but their series of younger pitchers could not hold the Demons at bay.
“I just told them, responding is everything,” Northwestern State Coach Bobby Barbier said. “You’re going to get knocked down a lot in this game. Last night, we hadn’t had one like that in a long time.
“And it got to be 4-1 after the first four hitters. You can sit back and take your medicine and go home, or you can fight back and see what happens. I was very proud of our guys today.”
Smith was 3 for 4 and 7 RBI, one shy of the school record.
“They just beat us,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Smith stepped up and had a great day. He hit three home runs and drove in seven runs, and we couldn’t overcome it. We had a couple of chances to maybe break the game open or maybe extend a lead, and we just didn’t get that big hit.”
Arkansas (31-11) fell to 22-5 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
“They didn’t really surprise us,” Fletcher said. “We knew they were a good team and we beat them, so we knew they would come out ready to play and put up a good fight today. They played us tough and did a good job, and their right fielder [Smith] had a great game.”
Northwestern State broke a 7-7 tie in the eighth inning against left-handed freshman pitcher Liam Henry (0-1). Austin Stegall drew a one-out walk, and designated hitter Lenni Kunert drove him in with a double down the leftfield line for an 8-7 edge.
Cronin relieved Jacob Burton with one out and one on in the top of the ninth and struck out Jeffrey Elkins before Smith took a fastball over the rightfield wall.
Right-hander David Hodo (1-2) gave up a leadoff double to Heston Kjerstad in the seventh and a two-out double to Casey Martin in the eighth, but neither runner scored. Tyler Piggot posted the final four outs for his second save.
The Demons jumped on Denton in the first inning on Sam Taylor’s single, a double by Elkins and Smith’s sacrifice fly.
Fletcher’s grand slam came after Northwestern State starter Jerry Maddox walked Trevor Ezell, Martin and Matt Goodheart to load the bases. Fletcher’s smash to right-center field bounced off the top of the wall, then over near the 365-foot marker for a 4-1 Arkansas lead.
The Demons struck back in the third inning against Denton. Nine-hole hitter Larson Fontenot led off with a single, and he scored one out later on Caleb Ricca’s single. Denton struck out Elkins before Smith sent a shot well over the wall in right-center field to make it 4-4.
The score remained tied until the fifth. Arkansas righthander Trest walked Taylor and Ricca with one out, and Taylor scored on a balk before Smith’s second two-run home run, this time an opposite-field shot to left field.
The Razorbacks bounced back in the bottom of the fifth against Peyton Graham, a change-up specialist who had held them scoreless for 1 his first 3 / innings. 3
Fletcher slapped an opposite-field single to left to open the rally, followed by Kjerstad’s single to center. Jack Kenley ripped a shot to the right-field corner that Smith over-ran by a step, leading to a two-run triple. Jacob Nesbit followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Kenley for a 7-7 tie.