FAYETTEVILLE — No. 2 Arkansas completed a weekend sweep of hapless Missouri winning 14-4 and 16-2 on Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (30-3, 11-1) had defeated Missouri (11-20, 0-12) 21-3 in Game 1 on Saturday. The Hogs took control of both games early on Sunday and easily completed the sweep. Dave Van Horn was complimentary of his team.
"I mean obviously, good to win two games in one day," Van Horn said. "We came out, I thought in the first ballgame, and kind of kicked the ball around. It was a well-hit ball, but (Nolan) Souza makes that play 99 out of 100 times and we turn a double-play there… They ended up scoring a couple of runs and they took advantage of it. We had another play where we didn’t make a play. We had somebody picked off, and they scored again a couple more times. You take away those two plays, and we played pretty good. Weather’s not great, obviously. Bad as far as temperature and a little slick. I liked the way we pitched, for the most part. A couple of our starters got into some jams and they fought their way out. Didn’t give up big innings. Gave up a run or two and that was it, and then we’d come in and counter. Just about every time they scored, we’d score and usually score more. I don’t remember all of the details of the first game since we just finished the second game, but I liked the way our guys played. They competed hard, stayed into it and they know the importance of winning league games, and you could kind of see that.
"Then, second game, after two games previously that you score a lot of runs, you’re just thinking maybe things aren’t going to go your way. You’re going to have to really play well, and they scored early on us. I thought Landon (Beidelschies) battled out of that first inning. Only gave up one and then we come in and punch in five. I think (Carson) Boles hit a homer. The three-run homer that gave us five, it was good to see. I mean, we scored 50 runs in three games. We scored 50 runs in less than 24 hours, pretty much. You know, it’s because our hitters, they battle and make you throw strikes for the most part. Got a lot of big two-out hits. Pitchers didn’t walk very many people. I just told the team, even our relievers were coming in with good leads. The game’s for the most part over, and they didn’t just come in there and go through the motion. Man, they pitched, and that was really good to see. It gives the coach confidence, the players confidence, and I liked what I saw from the bullpen the last three games."
In the first game, Arkansas held a 6-4 lead after 3 1/2 innings, but exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to put the game away. Charles Davalan hit two home runs and knocked in seven runs in the game. He hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the second. His grand slam came as part of the big explosion in the fourth. Cam Kozeal was 2 for 2 in the first game knocking in a pair of runs as well.
In the second game, Kozeal hit two home runs and plated six runs. As Van Horn mentioned earlier, Boles did blast a three-run homer. Davalan added two more hits in the second game and knocked in one run. Van Horn has seen Kozeal and Davalan really take off at the plate in recent games including this weekend.
"Well, I mean, to me that’s a super easy question to answer," Van Horn said. "Those guys have been amazing. Davalan just seems like he’s always on base. He’s scored 50 runs this year already and he’s got double-digit homers. Got 50 hits. Kozeal was in-and-out of the lineup early and just, you know, wasn’t going to be denied for the most part. Just got better and better. Now he’s really hitting, and if you make a mistake he hits it pretty hard all over the field. He’ll fight you with two strikes, and his RBI count, he’s up to like 37 and probably 10 days ago, two weeks ago he might have had 18 or something. I don’t know. He’s driven in a lot of runs lately. Started innings. Finished innings with big hits. Finished off games, honestly. Those two hitters have been really good the last couple of weeks."
Kozeal moved up to third in the batting order in the last game on Sunday. Is that something fans could see more of though Van Horn did sit Logan Maxwell in that game?
"Well, when I took Maxwell out of the game because we’re trying to keep him healthy and his hamstring got a little tight," Van Horn said. "That’s why I moved him up. I did move him up anyway from 6 to 5 because he’s been swinging it, maybe to protect one of those right-handed hitters because I just felt like I needed to for the first game. Yeah, we got a lot of guys that can hit in the middle of the order, and they’re showing it."
In the first game on Sunday, Arkansas sent three pitchers to the mound. Aiden Jimenez (4-0) picked up the win. He followed Gabe Gaeckle to the mound. Jimenez worked 2.0 innings. He allowed no hits or runs while striking out a pair. Steele Eaves pitched the seventh. Beidelschies worked 4.0 innings. He allowed five hits, four runs, walked a pair of fanned six. In his one inning, Eaves allowed one hit and struck out one while also not allowing any runs.
The second game saw Landon Beidelschies, Christian Foutch, Cole Gibler and Carson Wiggins go to the mound. Foutch (2-0) was the second pitcher to take the mound. He struck out two in his inning of work. Beidelschies worked 4.0 innings. He allowed four hits, two runs, walked one and struck out seven. Foutch, Cole Gibler and Carson Wiggins didn't allow a hit or runs while on the mound. The four combined to strike out 12 Missouri hitters. Wiggins allowed the only other walk by an Arkansas pitcher.
No. 2 Arkansas and Missouri were tied at 2 heading to the bottom of the third at a cold, damn Baum-Walker Stadium Saturday night when the Hogs erupted for a 19-1 scoring outburst while taking a 21-3 run-rule win over the hapless Tigers.
Arkansas scored two runs in the bottom of the third, then five in each of the fourth and fifth innings before plating seven in the sixth. Missouri did manage one in the top of the fifth. Dave Van Horn talked about the win afterward.
"It wasn’t ideal weather," Van Horn said in an understatement. "I thought the grounds crew did a great job giving us an opportunity to play. When you look at the game, I thought Zach Root didn’t have his best stuff, but he competed really hard. Missouri, you have to give them credit, they fouled off a lot of pitches. Took some borderline pitches and they got his pitch count up a little bit. On the other end, offensively for us, I felt like we did a really good job of getting their starter’s pitch count up. I think he threw 35-plus, 38 pitches, first inning. A lot of times you don’t recover from that, but he did. Came back to give them a few more innings and almost got him through the fourth, and then we strung together some things there. Ended up scoring some runs and got him out of the game. Just a good job up-and-down our lineup of battling, getting pitch counts up.
"Cam Kozeal had a great game. Four hits and five RBIs, and used the whole field. It was really good to see. Good to see Iredale have a nice day, you know because, we’re hitting, but it’s not like it’s 1-through-9. Some guys are struggling just a little bit right now. We need to get some guys rolling, but we’ve got enough to put together some good innings if you’ll take a walk, which we did like 13 or 14 times. Got hit by a pitch, I don’t know, another couple, three or four times, and that's how you score 21 runs on 14 hits. It’s a good win for us, but we’ve got two more to go."
Kozeal was hot at Vanderbilt last weekend and didn't slow down against the Tigers. He had four of Arkansas' 14 hits and did knock in five runs. Brent Iredale had two hits and plated a pair of runs. He hit a nice blast over the fence in the bottom of the fourth.
"I think what it did is, it just, it maybe gave some guys a little confidence and really gave us some momentum," Van Horn said. "It was a big swing. We scored two, but then we also, we left a lot of runs out there early. We were one hit away from breaking it open and having a five or six-run lead. Then they tied it, we get two back, to put five up in the fourth, we felt like we were in control there and then we did it again in the fifth. They just used some guys they don’t use a whole lot there at the end. Yeah, it was a big swing. Pitch before that, he fouled it off, and then he got one he could handle and he hammered it."
In addition to temperatures dropping most of the day on Saturday and flooding conditions in Fayetteville it almost seemed a miracle the game got played.
"Well, the grass was really wet," Van Horn said. "The ball would roll through it. Infielders were having to deal with throwing a wet ball across the diamond. Same with the outfielders, if it got there on the ground. It was misting the whole time. It was almost like we were in a cloud, but it was the same for both teams. We did a good job of handling the ball, and it definitely helped us."
Root (5-1) got the win despite as Van Horn said not having his best stuff maybe, at least in part, because of the weather. He worked 5.0 innings. Root allowed three hits, three runs, two walks and struck out seven. In his last inning, the top of the fifth, Root allowed a walk to the leadoff hitter. Peyton Basler followed with a double that plated Jedier Hernandez. However, Root retired the next three hitters on two fly outs and a strike out.
"Good pitchers find a way to get out of those and that’s how you keep your ERA down, it’s how you get to start, and you got more than one or two pitches in there you can get people out with," Van Horn said. "Missouri did a good job against him. They fought him. But he also came through big with a couple of big outs there in situations where they could have got the lead or got back in the game or whatever the situation was. We were really glad to see him get through that fifth inning because his pitch count was up there. Maybe one more hitter if he didn’t get that last one. I think he struck out a right-hander, had a lefty on deck. It was good. We came in and we score five runs."
Dylan Carter worked the sixth and then Will McEntire made his first appearance since a very disappointing outing against Missouri State. McEntire retired all three hitters he faced striking out two of them.
"Well, I commented on it after the game," Van Horn said. "I thought he did a great job. He pitched like we had a two-run lead instead of a big-time lead. He hit his spots. He even threw a changeup, he threw a big curveball to end the game, not just throwing the cutter. He got up to 90 mph. I thought Carter did a great job in his inning, as well. Those guys are still available tomorrow, if needed."
Six Missouri pitchers combined to allow 14 hits, walked 14, struck out 10 and hit four Razorback hitters. Starter Kaden Jacobi (2-4) took the loss. He worked 3.2 innings throwing 103 pitches in that time. He allowed eight hits, eight runs, walked four and did strike out seven Hogs.
Justin Thomas Jr. had two hits and knocked in four runs. Nolan Souza only had one hit, but plated three teammates. Ryder Helfrick also had two hits and got a pair of runs across the plate.
Arkansas will host Arkansas State (14-17) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
