No. 2 Arkansas erupted for six runs in the top of the seventh on its way to an easy 10-3 win over No. 8 Kentucky Friday night in Lexington.
Kentucky took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, but then the Hogs tied it in the fifth and scored three in the sixth to go up 4-1 before blowing the game open in that big seventh inning. Dave Van Horn and the Razorbacks got a big pitching performance from Hagen Smith. Smith (9-0) got the win after working six innings. He allowed three hits, one run, walked a pair and struck out 14 finishing with 101 pitches.
"Like I told the team, great pitching performance by Hagen," Van Horn said. "A lot of contributions offensively up and down the lineup. It was just a really good team win on the road. Hagen’s stuff was amazing, especially from about the third inning on. He ramped it up a little bit. He was amazing."
Kendall Diggs, who has been in a long slump, broke out with two hits and four runs batted in. Peyton Stovall also had two hits and plated two runs. Those two played a big role in the Razorbacks breaking the game open as did catcher Cody White who also contributed two hits. Van Horn was pleased to see Diggs snap out of a slump for at least a game.
"It was big," Van Horn said. "I commented to the team afterwards that just to get him going a little bit … He drove in four runs, he got the big hit that gave us a two-run lead. Then had another hit there later. It was a big run at the time. Yeah, we need him. Just kind of put him down there in the order hoping those guys would get on in front of him and he would have an opportunity to drive in some runs, and he did it."
In the top of the fifth, White doubled to start the inning. After an out, White scored when Stovall doubled to left field allowing the Hogs to tie the game. In the top of the sixth, Peyton Holt and Ryder Helfrick walked with one out. Diggs, who was 0-2 at this point, came up and doubled to right field allowing both Holt and Helfrick to cross the plate. Diggs scored when pinch hitter Ross Lovich doubled to right field.
The seventh inning started with Jared Sprague-Lott walking. Ben McLaughlin then hit a one-out single to left field. Holt then was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Following a strikeout for the second out, Diggs singled to plate both Sprague-Lott and McLaughlin also moving Holt to third base. White singled to plate Holt. Lovich then walked. Stovall then walked to force in a run. Sprague-Lott walked for the second time in the inning and also forced in a run. Lovich scored on a wild pitch. Van Horn liked what he saw from the bats in the sixth and seventh inning.
"Holt maybe drew a walk," Van Horn said. "I don’t know. McLaughlin slapped one down the line the other way and we were off and rolling a little bit. I don’t remember exactly what went down there. But we also took some walks too. There was a couple of 3-2 walks that drove in a couple of runs and we also got a couple of big hits. But I just think guys were patient, tried to wait him out a little bit.
"The key when you put together an inning like that, you have to get some help. They usually make an error or walk and we got the walks. But we didn’t hit into a double play. We just laid off some borderline pitches when we were ahead in the count and that’s what spurred some guys on and got a couple of bit hits and some walks and there you go. I mean we popped six runs like that and finished the game off pretty much right there the way our bullen’s been pitching."
Will McEntire pitched the seventh and eighth innings. He allowed one hit, struck out three and walked a batter while not allowing any runs. Dylan Carter worked the ninth allowing two runs on one hit, walking two and struck out a hitter. Van Horn praised the former Bryant standout following the game for giving the Hogs those two innings.
"I think he threw good the other day too," Van Horn said of McEntire. "You know we wanted to get him out there in the mid-week. I think we had a decent lead when we got him out there, but we just wanted him to throw. I think it was Tuesday. We needed to throw him on Tuesday to have him available to throw on Friday, which was tonight obviously. Then we were able to get him out of there after 38 pitches, 39 pitches and possibly be able to use him for an inning maybe tomorrow or even Sunday. One of the two."
Kentucky (33-10, 16-6) finished the game with five hits and left seven on base. Starter Trey Pooser (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season. Pooser, the first of five Kentucky pitchers, worked 5.1 innings, allowing four hits, three runs, all earned, walking a trio and striking out four.
Kentucky 11, Arkansas 3
No. 8 Kentucky got nice revenge on No. 2 Arkansas with an 11-3 win on Saturday in Lexington, but thanks to an outstanding pitching performance from Batesville's Gage Wood it wasn't a total loss.
Wood pitched 4.1 innings in relief of starter Brady Tygart, who struggled on the day. Wood allowed just three hits, three run, walked two and struck out six while throwing 79 pitches. Wood got a midweek start against Missouri State and pitched well. Following the game, Dave Van Horn had very high praise for Wood.
"Oh, I mean that was just a huge plus," Van Horn said. "I talked about that after the game. I mean, Gage didn’t just eat up innings, he’s getting ready to take somebody’s job. I loved what I saw. I thought he did a great job pitching Tuesday night.
"I mean really if you look at it he had one pitch going today. The breaking ball wasn’t there for him and he got them out with that fastball. It had good carry on it. They were having trouble hitting it and I thought he threw great. At the same time, he did save our bullpen for tomorrow and we’ve got them lined up. If things don’t go right early we’ll go straight to it."
Van Horn was asked did he mean long reliever, starter or what concerning Wood taking somebody's job?
"He’s already a long reliever and he could close too," Van Horn said. "So he’s going to get his opportunity to start a game. He started on Tuesday and he started for a reason. And today we let him go about 75-80 pitches for a reason. So yeah, we’ll see how this turns out."
Tygart (4-2) started and went three innings and took the loss. He allowed six hits, five runs, walked three and struck out two. Van Horn talked about Tygart's rough outing.
"Probably when you talk about Brady today, the issue would have been he just didn’t throw his fastball for a strike," Van Horn said. "Didn’t throw it where he wanted it and it made it very difficult to pitch, because they just started sitting on off-speed pitches. That’s how that went."
The Hogs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, Nolan Souza walked. Catcher Hudson White then sent a Dominic Niman pitch over the fence in left field. White also scored Arkansas' lone run the rest of the game when he walked to start the ninth. He took second and then went to third on a wild pitch. Peyton Stovall then hit a ground out to first that plated White.
But Kentucky scored three runs in the bottom of the second and then four in both the fourth and eighth innings. Kentucky finished with 11 hits to eight for the Razorbacks. Niman (8-3) went 5.1 innings to earn the win. He allowed five hits, two runs, a pair of walks and struck out four.
"Obviously we didn’t play our best game," Van Horn said. "I guess it started in the second inning when we punched in a couple of runs. Then [Kentucky] had a walk, or maybe a hit or two. But we had a chance to get out of the inning and they had a fly ball that just kept drifting. My left fielder [Lovich] drifted and he got tied up in the fence. It ended up costing us three runs unfortunately. Then there in the fourth, it was kind of the same thing. Walks and a couple hits. We just couldn’t get through that inning without cutting that down a little bit."
After missing last week's start due to an injury, lefty Mason Molina (3-1, 3.47) will get the start against Kentucky's Mason Moore (7-1, 5.08) on Sunday at noon. Van Horn was asked what he expects from Molina?
"Yeah, just to go out and attack, make them earn everything, throw his fastball for a strike," Van Horn said. "If he does that, he’ll be in good shape."
Kentucky 7, Arkansas 4
No. 8 Kentucky jumped on No. 2 Arkansas early and then managed to hold them off on its way to a 7-4 series-clinching win on Sunday in Lexington.
The Wildcats dropped the series opener 10-3 to Hagen Smith and the Razorbacks on Friday night, but bounced back to take the series. Kentucky won 11-3 on Saturday. Dave Van Horn was disappointed with Sunday's outcome.
"Looking back on the game, it kind of got away from us there in the fourth," Van Horn said. "(Mason) Molina just didn’t throw enough strikes. He had a really high pitch count for three innings … I don’t know … Just felt like we needed to go to Mac (Will McEntire). We were going to try to get an inning or two out of him, and it didn’t work out. He was fine. I think he threw, like, 35 pitches on Friday. He wasn’t on the board yesterday. We were getting him ready for today. Our whole plan was to get him through a couple — we weren’t planning on being down by a few runs when we brought him in, but we were."
Molina (3-2) took the loss. He worked three innings, allowed three hits, three runs, walked a trio and struck out three. He had 67 pitches in three innings. Kentucky was up 3-0 when he left the game and McEntire entered in the fourth. McEntire, who was coming off two good outings in a row, simply didn't have it on Sunday. He worked 0.2 inning, allowed three hits and trio of runs with no walks or strikeouts. Van Horn talked some more about McEntire afterward.
"He threw pretty good on Friday, just didn't throw good today," Van Horn said. "The leadoff double, he left that pitch in the middle of the plate. Kind of watching the big screen out there, they showed a replay of the pitch from center field and it had a little bite to it, but it was right down the middle. Hitter did a nice job, just hit it up the middle, got behind it, shot it to right center.
"We haven't talked to him yet. No, we just got done playing. So conversation will be get some rest this week, get it going this weekend. Sometimes that's just what it is. You know, no excuses. We played a lot of games in the last four weeks. We've done pretty well. None of our midweek games have been against easy teams."
Christian Foutch pitched 1.1 innings and Gabe Gaeckle worked the final three innings. The two combined to only allow one run, unearned, on four hits over that span.
“I think Gaeckle knew he was going to be in there for a while," Van Horn said. "He was just trying to get them out. Wasn’t really worried about striking them out. Wasn’t trying to blow them up in one inning. It wasn’t like a save situation. It was really mature of him doing that.
"Christian threw the ball with some sink. The couple of times he left it up, that was the balls that were getting driven out there a little bit. When he kept it down, he got ground balls. He kept his pitch count down. I think he got four outs in 15 pitches or so. That was really good to see.”
The one run came when center fielder Peyton Holt mishandled a single that allowed Nick Lopez to race home. Arkansas had pulled to within 6-3 when the error happened.
"We came close," Van Horn said. "It hurt us them scoring that run in the seventh with the ball that kicked off of Holt’s glove a little bit. Because there was no rush in the outfield there. It looked like he rushed it there. There was a runner on first and just a single up the middle. So then instead of three we’re down four, with six outs to get.
"So that was a little bit disappointing. But really when you look at the series, we didn’t play great. We didn’t hit. We didn’t pitch very good after Friday. And they just beat us."
Peyton Stovall hit a solo shot over the fence in right field to the ninth. He had three hits on the day and catcher Hudson White had two more. White has struggled at the plate some this season, but had a good series against the Wildcats.
"I mean, we had two guys have a good series, and that was Stovall and White," Van Horn said. "If you’re just looking for offense, those guys were tough outs. They hit the ball hard. They got hits. You know, there were a couple of guys that walked a little bit for us, but as far as getting hits, not a lot of action there."
Kentucky starter Mason Moore (8-1) got the win. He worked five innings, allowed just three hits, two runs, walked four and struck out six Razorbacks.
"Well, he threw a lot of strikes," Van Horn said. "He had movement. He had sink. We knew that. Needed to get his pitches up. Stay off the low stuff. Fastball had some sink. Threw a lot of changeups. They have sink, so you had to see the ball up. When we did that, we made him pitch. We made him throw more pitches, but he really never gave up a big hit. Credit to him."
Kentucky (35-10, 18-6) now has the best overall conference record. Arkansas (40-9, 17-7) and the Wildcats were tied at top of overall SEC standings entering the weekend. The other top teams in the SEC are Tennessee (39-9, 17-7), Texas A&M (40-8, 16-8) and Mississippi State (32-16, 14-10). The Razorbacks have no midweek game before hosting Mississippi State beginning Friday night. It is final's week at Arkansas as well.
"It's probably beneficial this week," Van Horn said. "I don't know, the next week, I guess it's probably beneficial there as well because we play on Thursday. It really just depends on how you're playing, how you feel. But as many games as we played, it might be good for us to have a little downtime and just get them built back up again and see if we can make a push at the end."
Arkansas and Mississippi State will play Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday night at 6 p.m. and then Sunday at 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday can be streamed on the SEC Network+ and then Sunday's contest is slated for the SEC Network.
