By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas completed the sweep of Louisiana Tech with a 15-6 victory on Sunday.
The Razorbacks pounded out 11 hits on Sunday, but drew an amazing 12 walks from the seven pitchers Tech sent to the mound. Dave Van Horn talked about the sweep and the Hogs batters being disciplined at the plate.
"A pretty good job by our team all weekend," Van Horn said. "Finding a way to win three games. Today was more about taking advantage of what they didn't do well. They walked us I think a dozen times and got hit by a pitch or two. Got a couple of big hits and created a couple of things we took advantage of, but I was just impressed the hitters when they went out of the zone they weren't chasing much."
The Hogs exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the third to erase a 3-1 deficit for good. Jared Wegner and Kendall Diggs both hit two-run homers. Peyton Holt then tripled. Holt's triple was followed by five consecutive walks and a single by Brady Slavens. Landon Tomkins faced five hitters in relief of starter Reed Smith and gave each of them a free pass. Reed (0-2) took the loss.
The Hogs added four runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to secure the win. Starter Hunter Hollan worked five innings, allowing two hits, three runs, though just one earned, struck out seven and didn't walk anyone. Hollan (3-0) got the win.
Cody Adcock worked two innings in relief of Hollan. Former Batesville standout Gage worked worked the eighth allowing one hit, but striking out the other trio he faced. Christian Foutch worked the ninth.
Slavens had a pair of hits and knocked in a couple of runs. Jace Bohrofen had two hits, a double and also plated two runs. Tavion Josenberger had two hits, a double and knocked in a run. John Bolton had two hits. Wegner had the home run and knocked in three runs. He drew five of the walks. Diggs had the home run and plated a pair of runs while Holt had one hit, a triple, and knocked in a run.
Karson Evans led Tech with a home run and knocked in three runs. Former Razorback Ethan Bates started at third base for Tech. He had one hit in four at bats. In 1.2 innings on the mound, Bates allowed four hits, two runs and walked one.
Friday, March 10, Arkansas 7 - Louisiana Tech 4
Hagen Smith worked five innings allowing four hits and two runs to pick up his third win in as many decisions. He fanned seven hitters and walked four. Jace Bohrofen had two hits, a home run and knocked in a pair of runs. Kendall Diggs had two hits and plated a pair of runs. Tavian Josenberger also had two hits. Parker Rowland had a home run and knocked in two runs. Peyton Stovall had one hit and plated a run.
"Well, I thought we made a couple of big plays when we needed them," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "Obviously, Dylan Carter came in and did a great job for us, gave us three full innings and mixed in a lot of off-speed pitches, along with a fastball with good sink. He came into a tough situation. I think we had a three-run lead, two on, nobody out. I think he had to go through maybe the two, three and four hitters, somewhere in there. Just really did a nice job. You look at the defensive play that Brady Slavens made with two outs in that inning. Ball was hit by a left-handed hitter on the ground toward the right-field line, and Brady, he just made a great play. The ball took kind of a funny hop there at the end, kind of jumped out and up on him. He tracked it. That was a big play for us."
Saturday, March 11, Arkansas 6 - Louisiana Tech 1
The story of the day was former Bryant right-handed pitcher Will McEntire working a complete game. It was Arkansas' first complete game since 2016. McEntire (3-0) allowed three hits, one unearned run, a walk, six strikeouts and threw 97 pitches in nine innings. Peyton Stovall had three hits and knocked in a run. Jace Bohrofen, Kendall Diggs and Peyton Holt each hit a home run. Dave Van Horn praised McEntire afterward.
"Obviously it was just a great job by Will McEntire, who gave us a great outing when we needed it," Van Horn said. "You know we’ve had some injuries and we used some guys on Tuesday and we were hoping we wouldn’t have to double them up if any this weekend. For him to go out and give us nine innings in under 100 pitches, that was big for our bullpen. I’m sure it was big for his confidence. Man, his cutter was really good today. It made his fastball look even harder than it was. He was locating pretty much wherever he wanted whenever he wanted and that cutter was really good."
Van Horn talked about when he thought McEntire might go the distance.
"Well, I didn’t know about going the distance," Van Horn said. "You never can predict or project that really. Even in the sixth inning. His pitch count was really low. He had a couple of really quick innings. I think he had a nine-pitch inning and one less than that somewhere in there. We knew he was going to be good probably going into the third because we had a lead, we had a three-run lead, maybe two or three run lead, and he just kept filling it up. I mean, we could see from the side that that cutter was really moving and if he didn’t get tired or just run into a bad inning he was going to be able to go for a while."
McEntire credited his catcher Hudson Polk for helping make his performance what it was on Saturday.
"I just felt like I had most of my pitches today, and we knew they were going to be aggressive, and I’ve got to give credit to Polk behind the dish," McEntire said. "He called a great game, getting a bunch of soft contact, and the defense played really well all day."
Up Next
Arkansas (13-2) will be back at home on Tuesday to host UNLV at 6 p.m. They will follow that up with a 3 p.m. on Wednesday for a two-game series. UNLV brings a 5-8 record to Fayetteville.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
