By Otis Kirk
No. 12 Arkansas just had four hits and committed two errors falling to Kentucky 4-3 Thursday night in Lexington.
Kentucky jumped on starter Hunter Dietz in the bottom of the first when designated hitter Ethan Hindle hit a two-run home run over the fence in left field. The Hogs never led in the game and Dave Van Horn was disappointed afterward.
"We didn't hit the ball well," Van Horn said. "They jammed us on some pitches."
Kentucky opted to puts it ace, Saturday starter Jaxon Jelkin into the game in the top of the eighth to pitch the final two innings and earn the save.
"In the bottom of the seventh they took an offensive timeout," Van Horn said. "That's when I saw him warming up down there. They were trying to give him time to get ready. I was a little surprised they pitched him to answer your question."
The Hogs pulled to within 2-1 in the top of the third. TJ Pompey walked to lead off the inning. He then stole second and advanced to third on a ground out by Damian Ruiz to first. Pompey then scored on a wild pitch by starter Nate Harris.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kentucky loaded the bases against Dietz with no outs. Hindle and Braxton Van Cleave started the inning off with singles. Will Marcy then was hit by a pitch. Hudson Brown hit into a double play started by second baseman Nolan Souza. Hindle scored on the play. Owen Jenkins then hit a sharp ball to shortstop Camden Kozeal who threw it to first baseman Carter Rutenbar. The ball wasn't caught by Rutenbar and they gave the error to Kozeal. Van Cleave scored on the play to make it 4-1. Van Horn didn't like the ruling.
"They gave the error to Kozeal, but that should have been on Rutenbar," Van Horn said. "He has to catch that ball. He thought it was going to short hop to him and it didn't. We need to check into getting that error changed."
The Hogs got one run back in the top of the seventh. With one out Reese Robinett, who replaced Rutenbar at first base, walked. Robinett advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a two-out single to right field by Ryder Helfrick.
The Hogs got on the scoreboard in the top of the ninth when Zack Stewart blasted a solo shot over the fence in right field off Jelkin. But Jelkin then struck out Pompey, got Robinett to ground out to second base and then fanned Damian Ruiz to end the game earning Jelkin his first save of the season.
Kentucky (31-18, 13-15) used four pitchers. Jack Sams was the third one to take the mound and earned the win to move to 2-0 on the season. He pitched 1.2 innings allowing one run, one hit, walked a hitter and struck out three. Nate Harris started and pitched three innings allowing no hits. He walked two and fanned three. Tommy Skelding pitched next and lasted 2.1 innings. He allowed two hits, no runs, walked three and struck out one.
Diezt (7-3) took the loss. He pitched six innings allowing five hits, four runs, three earned, walked one and struck out nine. James DeCremer pitched 0.2 inning and allowed one hit fanning a pair. Parker Coil pitched the final 1.1 innings allowing just one hti and striking out a hitter. An oddity of sorts each Arkansas pitcher hit a batter.
The two teams will play Friday night at 5:30 p.m. Arkansas (34-19. 15-13) will send Gabe Gaeckle to the mound.
