Razorback sophomore pitcher Brady Tygart (#25) from Hernando, MS throws a breaking ball for a strike and picks up the win against Grambling Tuesday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 9 Arkansas overcame a 6-1 deficit to rally late for a 9-7 win over Grambling Tuesday in Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (3-1) trailed the entire game until the bottom of the eighth when they broke a 7-7 tie. Catcher Parker Rowland walked to start the inning against Grambling's Javier Martinez. Peyton Holt pinch ran for him. Shortstop John Bolton then was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch allowed Holt to advance to third and Bolton second base.
That allowed center fielder Tavian Josenberger to send a sacrifice fly to plate Holt. Just like Josenberger, Peyton Stovall hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Bolton, who had tagged on the previous sacrifice fly, scored from third. That allowed Arkansas' coaches, players and fans to breathe a sigh of relief on a day when the game was much closer than anyone anticipated. Dave Van Horn was proud to escape with the win.
"Obviously a pretty entertaining game to watch I would imagine," Van Horn said. "It was a little tough from our dugout. I thought Grambling came out and just swung the bat extremely well. They got I think three big two-out hits. We kind of chip away trying to get back in the game and they kept getting that hit. Finally got a couple of guys to come in there and slow them down. Koty Frank and obviously Brady Tygart, they knocked down the last four innings. I think maybe two and a third for Frank or whatever it was. Maybe two thirds. He turned a double play when he came in."
Brady Tygart allowed a single to start the top of the ninth, but then closed the door on Grambling with two strikeouts and a fly out. Tygart worked two innings allowing a pair of hits, fanned four and faced eight hitters to earn the win. Martinez took the loss.
"Just a good job hanging in there," Van Horn said. "We were concerned about this game. A little bit of a trap game. Traveling back, getting back late, big tournament, lot of hoopla, big win on Sunday. Yesterday we don’t have a team practice and you kind of just kind of think, ‘How is this going to go? A lot of new players.’ I thought offensively we did a pretty good job. This is some different type of pitching that we saw from that starter. We’ve seen him before a little bit. We tried to work at it and train them for him today and a little bit yesterday. But until you get up there and see that thing floating around, it’s difficult when you’re going from 95 mile an hour, 93-95 every pitch to 72-78, it was a little deception. I thought we did a really nice job of staying on some pitches."
Grambling wasted no time jumping on Arkansas starter Ben Bybee in the top of the first. Terry Burrell III walked and then Trevor Hatton hit a one-out, two-run shot over the fence in left field for a 2-0 lead.
Hatton drove in his third run of the day in the top of the third when he plated Kyle Walker for a 3-0 advantage.
Arkansas got on the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom of the third when Josenberger drew a one-out walk. He went to third on a Stovall single. Josenberger then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jared Wegner to pull within 3-1.
Grambling with Walker and Hatton knocking in runs and scoring as well for three more in the top of the fourth. The 6-1 had the Razorbacks reeling at the time.
In the bottom of the fourth, designated hitter Kendall Diggs doubled to start the bottom of the fourth. Jace Bohrofen followed with another double to plate Diggs. Bohrofen advanced to third on a balk. He scored on a Parker Rowland ground out allowing Arkansas to move to within 6-3.
Grambling took a 7-3 lead in the top of the fifth when Keylon Mack started off the inning with a single to right field. Mack scored on a one-out single to right field by Jose Vergas that loaded the bases. It looked like Grambling might blow the game open, but Burrell hit into a double play started by Stovall.
Reliever Koty Frank came in for Bryant's Will McEntire to get Burrell to ground into the double play. Frank worked 2.2 innings allowing no hits and striking out three while walking one facing eight hitters.
Trailing by four entering the bottom of the fifth, Arkansas started narrowing the Grambling advantage. Josenberger walked and Stovall singled to start the bottom of the fifth. Wegner then singled to get Josenberger across the plate. Brady Slavens then singled to plate Stovall allowing the Hogs to move to 7-5.
Arkansas got another run closer in the bottom of the sixth when Rowland led off with a single. Bolton grounded out to the shortstop, but Rowland advanced to second on the play. He then scored on a Josenberger double slicing the Grambling lead to 7-6.
Wegner walked to start the bottom of the seventh. With one out Diggs walked. A balk moved Wegner to third and Diggs to second with one out. Bohrofen hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Wegner to tie the game for the first time all day.
Grambling starter Jacorey Boudreaux had a very good day. He worked four innings, allowed four hits, three runs, walked a pair and fanned a trio of Hogs. In the game, Grambling had 13 hits compared to only nine for Arkansas.
Josenberger and Stovall each had two hits to lead the Hogs attack. Josenberger, Wegner and Bohrofen each drove in a pair of runs. In allowing the 13 hits to Grambling, Arkansas' Bybee, Zack Morris, McEntire, Frank and Tygart combined to walk five and strike out 12. Van Horn had extra praise for Josenberger.
"He’ll run in your face," Van Horn said. "We’ve been working on going from first to third and he’s the best at it. We know the arm strength of the other team’s outfielders and that makes a little bit of a difference. He’s a really good leadoff man. He’s got some power. He hit a ball out of the big league park the other day that was just driven, and this ball was hit every bit as hard, and it didn’t get out. The elements, you know.
"But he’s got a good eye, he can handle the bat, he can bunt, steal bases. He brings a lot to the table. Even the first couple of ball games when he didn’t get on base much or if any, he didn’t get a hit, he was helping us. He was helping us by fouling off pitches and doing things. And then tonight, like you said, a couple of hits, sac-fly, scored runs, a couple of hits, stolen bases. Had a really good night."
Arkansas will now host Eastern Illinois for a three-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. Saturday's game is at noon and then 1 p.m. on Sunday. Eastern Illinois (3-0) will come to Baum-Walker Stadium with momentum after sweeping Florida A&M in a three-game series in Tallahassee.