Razorback graduate left fielder Jared Wegner (#11) from Kearney, NE celebrates his home run against Alabama Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, AR.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas used a Parker Rowland single in the bottom of the sixth that allowed Harold Coll to score what proved to be the winning run 5-4 at Baum-Walker Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The win allowed Arkansas (23-5, 6-3) to take the series despite losing big in Game 1 on Friday night. Dylan Carter pitched 3.2 innings in relief to get the win and keep his record perfect in four decisions. Batesville's Gage Wood worked the final 1.1 innings retiring all four Alabama hitters to earn his first save of the season. Wood has worked his way back into pitching with an SEC game on the line after a slow start to season.
"Yeah, they helped tremendously," Wood said. "I got thrown out there in probably the biggest crowd that I'll see as a freshman our second game of the year against TCU, and it did not go well at all for me. I think that kind of made me better and stronger as a player. I just kind of had to fight through some adversity. It helped a lot and made me grow as a pitcher."
Dave Van Horn showed great confidence in Wood and it paid off in a Razorback victory.
"Gage knew he was going to pitch today, and he’s got good stuff," Van Horn said. "He threw to one hitter the other day [threw 1 inning on Friday night], I think it was, and he was upset when we took him out. We told him, you’re going to pitch again on Sunday. You have to. And he came through for us and got us four really, really big outs."
Left fielder Jared Wegner got two hits and knocked in three runs to lead the offense. Wegner hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth that plated Tavian Josenberger, who had reached on a bunt single. The blast over the fence in left field gave the Hogs a brief 4-3 lead. Van Horn was pleased with the timely hitting of his Hogs on Sunday.
"Just enough," Van Horn said. "I mean, you look on the lineup card we got nine hits, they got seven. But there were three or four balls we blooped in, there were three or four balls that we lined out. But we did get a couple of big hits, moved some guys around. I would like to have that 0-2 count with Tavian up with the second run, could’ve given us a two-run lead, because he’s awfully tough to strike out, been really clutch. It just seems like sometimes the 20 seconds goes quick, gets down to 10. Sometimes it’s not so much. I mean, it’s all about when they push the button, or somebody’s pushing the button I guess. We really weren’t giving any signs there, because there was an 0-2 count, nothing to give. They said when he squared back up to look at the pitcher it was at nine seconds. It needed to be at 10. That hurt, but just really glad that we’re not second guessing ourselves and saying what if. Thank goodness for our pitching staff. The last couple of days they did an incredible job. Old saying, they just kind of took the bull by the horns, man, and we loved it."
However, Alabama scored in the top of the sixth to tie it. That set up Rowland's heroics in the bottom half of the inning. The Tide jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.
In the bottom half of the first inning, Josenberger and Peyton Stovall singled. Wegner then singled to left field allowing Josenberger to score. Stovall scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2.
Carter allowed two hits, one run, a pair of walks and struck out a hitter. Ben Bybee got the start, but only lasted 0.2 inning. The Tide turned two hits into a pair of runs. He also walked three. Cody Adcock then worked 3.1 innings, three hits, one run, a walk and fanned a trio of hitters.
Alabama (21-8, 3-6) reliever Garrett McMillan pitched 1.1 innings. He allowed two runs on a pair of hits. He walked a hitter and struck out another to take the loss in his first decision this season. Starter Grayson Hitt and reliever Braylon Myers didn't figure into the decision. Alabama coach Brad Bohannon saw his team nearly pull off a series win on the road.
“It’s a tough one when you have a chance to win a signature series on the road against a top five opponent,” Bohannon said. “We just needed to make one more pitch or get one more big hit.
“We did a lot of good things this weekend, competed really, really well and unfortunately it just wasn’t quite enough to win a series.”
Friday, March 31, Alabama 12 - Arkansas 1
The Tide rocked Arkansas' four pitchers for 22 hits compared to only three for the Hogs. Arkansas starter Hunter Hollan (4-1) has had a good season, but was hit hard. He pitched 4.0 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven run, walked one and struck out four. Batesville's Gage Wood, Bryant's Austin Ledbetter and Zack Morris were the other Arkansas pitchers. Tavian Josenberger provided the one highlight for the Hogs with a solo home run in the top of the third. Ben Hess (4-0) got the win for the Tide. Arkansas' Dave Van Horn was very disappointed in the team's performance.
"Yeah, it’ll be quick because we didn’t do much," Van Horn said. "Credit to Hess. He was great. First inning we had runners at first and second, nobody out with 3, 4 and 5 coming up and we didn’t advance a runner at all. That was a little hard to swallow. Their offense just got after our pitching tonight and we didn’t have an answer."
Saturday, April 1, Arkansas 9 - Alabama 6
The Tide held a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth. That was when Kendall Diggs hit a three-run blast over the fence in center field. Tavian Josenberger had reached on a double and Jace Bohrofen walked to score ahead of Diggs on the home run. Josenberger scored a run in the bottom of the sixth when Bohrofen singled to push Josenberger across the plate. The Hogs scored two more in the seventh when Josenberger doubled to allow Brady Slavens and Parker Rowland to score. In the bottom of the eighth, Bohrofen led off with a solo home run. Diggs walked and then Caleb Cali hit a two-run home run.
Bryant's Will McEntire started and worked 3.1 innings, but was removed after allowing four runs on seven hits. Dylan Carter then worked the next 2.1 innings. Cody Adcock pitched to one hitter and retired him in the top of the sixth. Then Hagen Smith worked the final three innings to pick up his fifth win in as many decisions. Smith allowed five hits, two runs, walked one and struck out three.
Van Horn was proud of his team's fight after falling behind 4-0.
"They just kept fighting obviously," Van Horn said. "They felt like we were taking some good swings. We hit a few balls hard that were caught. We felt like we could catch them.
"Obviously Kendall got us close with the big swing with two outs and two on and two strikes and hit one over the center field wall. It was amazing. We showed a lot of toughness and grit. I love it."
Alabama coach Brad Bohannon was ejected for arguing balls and strikes and mocked the Hog Call as he left the field.
Up Next
Arkansas will host Arkansas State (9-16) at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Baum-Walker Stadium and televised on SEC Network+.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
