By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 7 Arkansas used home runs from second baseman Peyton Stovall and center fielder Jace Bohrofen to defeat Texas A&M 7-5 Thursday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Hogs snapped a four-game losing skid with the win that allowed them to stay in the hunt for the SEC West title. Arkansas stranded 15 runners in the game and had various chances to blow the game opener earlier, but couldn't push runners across the plate. Dave Van Horn was relieved to get the win.
"I just thought it was a really good ballgame," Van Horn said. "I mean, there was some really good pitching and we put together one good inning … We had a lot of runners out there and couldn’t get the big hit. Give A&M’s pitching staff some credit. They worked out of some jams, and brought a lot of different looks. Mostly lefty looks, but they were different."
The Hogs and Aggies were tied at 5 in the bottom of the eighth. Third baseman Caleb Cali walked to start the inning and then Bohrofen sent a two-run shot over the fence in right field. Bohrofen had three hits on the night.
But it wasn't just Arkansas that missed scoring opportunities. Texas A&M had runners on second and third with no outs in the top of the eighth. Hagen Smith then got pinch hitter Travis Chestnut to ground out to third base for one out. Hunter Hass, the leadoff hitter, then hit a fly to left field that Hunter Grimes caught. Grimes then made a perfect throw to catcher Parker Rowland who applied the tag to Ryan Targac who was trying to score from third to end the inning.
"We made a really, really good play, obviously … I didn’t, they did, in the eighth inning when Hunter Grimes made an incredible throw to the plate," Van Horn said. "Swung that momentum right back into our dugout. Cali goes down 1-2 in the count and fights off some pitches and ends up drawing a walk, and then a high fastball swing and miss, breaking ball, home run and we’ve got a two-run lead.
"Smith had just enough to finish them off there in the ninth. We’ve been struggling and had a lot of injuries. Might have had another injury tonight. I don’t know yet. But it’s good to get a win. It’s good to get a win in league."
Van Horn went into more detail on the throw by Grimes and tag by Rowland.
"I felt like he got a really good read on the ball," Van Horn said. "He had a lot of momentum moving towards the plate. He kind of got around the ball a little bit. He used his former infield skills there to get rid of that ball really fast. And he kind of short-armed, darted it and made a perfect throw. Played the angle a little bit and the ball hit the grass and shot to the catcher. Great play. Great tag. I felt like Rowland, he also plays first base and he showed a little bit of that right there. He just popped that tag down. It was great."
Grimes described what he was thinking on the throw.
"It was kind of hit in the left-center gap and the main goal was to try to get in front of it and catch it and then make a strong throw to the plate," Grimes said.
Smith (6-1) worked four innings to pick up the win. He allowed two hits, no runs, walked a pair and struck out four. Hunter Hollan started and went four innings and then Dylan Carter pitched the fifth. The last thing Van Horn needed or wanted was another injury, but as he noted it appears an additional key player is hurt.
"Carter, he’s been sore, and he’s sore again, so that’s probably not a good sign," Van Horn said of his key reliever.
Arkansas appeared to take control of the game in the bottom of the second inning when they exploded for a 5-0 lead. With one out, Grimes, Brady Slavens and Rowland all walked to load the games on A&M starter Troy Wansing. John Bolton then got an infield hit to plate Grimes. After a strikeout for the second out, Stovall then hit a grand slam.
However, A&M wasn't going to go away quietly. In the top of the fourth, A&M got a three-run blast from Jordan Thompson and a solo shot from Haas to pull within 5-4. The Aggies tied it in the top of the fifth with singles from Travis Werner and Brett Minnich to start the inning. Werner scored on a sacrifice fly from Austin Bost to tie the game at 5.
Van Horn talked about the mood in the dugout as the Hogs stranded the 15 runners that prevented them from getting the lead earlier than Bohrofen's shot in the eighth.
"Well, we weren’t having wine and cheese, I can tell you that," Van Horn said. "It wasn’t very fun. It was guys talking to each other about staying positive, the coaches were saying, ‘You’ve gotta stay positive.’ I just kept mentioning now we have a four-inning game, we need to win it. Then we have a three-inning game, out-score them the last three. I didn’t say much after that."
Van Horn also went into more detail on the home runs by Stovall and Bohrofen that allowed the Hogs to win.
"On Stovall’s, obviously that was huge," Van Horn said. "We’d already scored one, and the hitter before him didn’t get a run in, and that was disappointing. So then it was up to him with two outs. It wasn’t just about making contact then, he had to get a hit or they had to make an error or walk or whatever. It was a 1-0 count, and he swings at a ball in the dirt, and you’re thinking, ‘Wow. Left on left.’ He fought his way back into the count. I think he fought off a 3-2 pitch and then got, I think it was a 3-2 slider. The first one was a fastball, then that (HR pitch) was a slider. I mean, he just got extended on it and popped it up there on the roof. Just a really good job staying on the ball left on left.
"Then obviously with Jace’s swing, he hits lefties just as good as he hits righties if you look at the numbers. We don’t really care if it’s right or left with him. I mean, he’s hitting .360, .370 against lefties, I think. He guessed on the first pitch, that he was going to get him a fastball, and it was just a little too high to hit, but he fouled it off. He was on it. Then super job hitting a breaking ball. Maybe he felt like he was going to get it or he just saw it, but he didn’t hit it on the sweet spot, but he hit it solid and we knew it was gone when it left the bat."
The Aggies used six pitchers and Brandyn Garcia worked 1.2 innings to take the loss. Garcia (1-1) was the fourth pitcher to enter the game.
Arkansas (31-11, 12-7) and Texas A&M (25-17, 9-10) will play Friday night at 6 p.m. and then Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
