By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 5 Arkansas completed the sweep over No. 16 Tennessee 7-2 on Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Hogs took the suspense out of it early scoring three runs in the bottom of the first and the same in second for a 6-0 lead. Tennessee never recovered. Dylan Carter pitched 4.2 innings in relief of starter Ben Bybee and got the win his sixth in as many decisions. Carter allowed six hits, walked one and struck out five without allowing a run. Dave Van Horn was impressed with what Carter gave him.
"Really, really gutsy performance by Dylan Carter," Van Horn said. "I wasn’t sure exactly how many pitches [he had thrown]. I knew it was near 70. We had him up and down a couple times yesterday, so that counts as pretty much pitching. We just felt like he kind of got better there in the eighth. We were thinking, ‘That’s probably it.’ He wanted to go back out, and he had a really quick eighth. I think he just ran out of gas."
In the bottom of the first, Tavian Josenberger walked. He then stole second and scored on a Peyton Stovall single. Jace Bohrofen and Kendall Diggs then walked to load the bases with no outs. Brady Slavens hit a sacrifice fly to center field that allowed Stovall to score. Caleb Cali then singled to left getting Bohrofen home for the third run.
In the bottom of the second, John Bolton singled to start the inning. Josenberger then walked. After two outs, Diggs was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Slavens then unloaded a bases-clearing triple to put the Hogs up 6-0.
The Vols responded with two runs in the top of the fourth. Jared Dickey singled to left field plating both Zane Denton and Hunter Ensley.
The final run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth when Josenberger sent one over the fence in right field. Arkansas played the entire series without left fielder Jared Wegner, who broke his left thumb in the first game against Little Rock on Tuesday. Van Horn was asked when Wegner will see a hand doctor again?
"They may be dealing with it today," Van Horn said. "There could be a decision made whether they want to go ahead and just let it heal exactly the way it is or if they need to go in and put a pin in there that will speed things up while it heals. We’re thinking that we’ll get him back probably for maybe the last series of the season, at 100%."
Arkansas (29-7, 11-4) will now host UCA (16-19) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. UCA has played two SEC teams to this point. They beat Vanderbilt 5-4 and lost to LSU 10-4. Tennessee (23-13, 5-10) only scored seven runs in the three-game series.
April 14, Arkansas 5 - Tennessee 2
Hunter Hollan (6-1) and Hagen Smith combined to throw a six-hitter against the Vols. Smith pitched the final three innings to pick up his second save. Hollan got the win allowing five hits, two runs, one earned, walked one and struck out six. Smith allowed one hit and struck out seven in his three innings.
"Obviously we got off to a bad start," Dave Van Horn said. "Balked in a run. Hunter didn’t have his command. But man, did he settle in. When we scored those three runs, he came out the next inning and got them out quick. And that’s really want your pitcher to do when there’s a little rally and you score some runs. Go out and get your team back in the dugout, and he did that.
"He ended up throwing 100-plus, 100 pitches, right in there. But his best innings were really the fourth, fifth and sixth in my opinion. He just gave us a chance to catch up, settle down a little bit and take some good swings. Then Hagen, he was lights out. He faced on over the minimum and I think he had seven strikeouts. He was just really good."
Kendall Diggs got two of Arkansas' seven hits on the night. Tavian Josenberger knocked in a pair of runs.
Saturday, April 15, Arkansas 6 - Tennessee 3
Former Bryant standout Will McEntire and former Batesville right-hander Gage Wood combined to pitch another gem for the Hogs. McEntire (5-1) got the win pitching six innings, allowing a half dozen hits, two runs, both earned, three walks and five strikeouts. Wood picked up his third save of the season. In three innings, Wood allowed one hit, a run, walked a pair and struck out six. Dave Van Horn saw Wood, a true freshman, struggle until about three weeks ago, but not any longer.
"I think he just mentally turned the corner," Van Horn said. "Because we saw it in the fall. We thought this guy was going to help us as a freshman. He just seemed a little nervous the first couple, three times out, which is probably normal. He had a couple disappointing outings a few weeks back and I think he just said ‘I’m done with that. I’m good.’ We’ve been telling him he’s good, players think he’s good and, like you said, he’s had three weekends in a row he’s helped us win games."
Wood was all smiles after the game and had a direct response when asked what was working for him?
"Yeah, everything was working tonight," Wood said. "I mean, I had the fastball, curveball, the slider on righties. I even flashed the splitter that I've been working on for lefties to (Blake) Burke. Yeah, everything was kind of working tonight."
McEntire looked much better after battling the flu in a recent start.
"Yeah, those first two innings, I didn't really have my best stuff," McEntire said. "As the game went on, I started finding it more. You've just got to battle through those innings when you don't have it. Once you find it, it gets a lot easier."
The Hogs only got four hits in the game. One was a two-run home run by Jace Bohrofen for his 10th of the season.
"I thought that was big," Bohrofen said. "Got myself in a good count. Tavian (Josenberger) had a heck of an at-bat to start off the game. I think that just kind of speaks to the grittiness of our offense."
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
