FAYETTEVILLE — Given another opportunity with the bases loaded, Jack Kenley delivered for the Razorbacks.

After grounding into a fielder’s choice to end a threat in the first inning, the junior sent a two-out single up the middle to put Arkansas up for good and spark a 10-3 win over Memphis on Wednesday.

“Basically I decided since I didn’t get it done the first time that it was about time that I get a ball through,” Kenley said. “Thank goodness it got through the pitcher’s legs. It was a big momentum shift in the game.”

That was just the start of a seven-run inning for Arkansas, who did all of its damage in the fifth with two outs. It has become a trend, as the Razorbacks have scored 20 of their 28 runs and are hitting .308 since the start of the USC series in those situations.

Considering Kenley had a couple of those hits out west, it made sense that he’d do it again back home in Fayetteville. With the bases loaded in the first inning, though, he hit an easy ground ball to the shortstop.

“That was really frustrating because I feel like we had their left on the ropes,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We’ve done a pretty good job this year to find a way to make contact and drive in runs with two outs.”

The win improved the Razorbacks to 6-1 on the season with a three-game series against Stony Brook coming up this weekend.

Memphis’ Fifth-Inning Implosion

After throwing three straight scoreless innings after a shaky first inning, Memphis starter Danny Denz gave up a one-out single to Trevor Ezell in the fifth. It was a two-out walk to Trey Harris on his 86th pitch that finally chased him from the game. That’s when Arkansas pounced.

The Tigers were clinging to a 2-1 lead when Kenley came to the plate with the bases loaded. His single gave the Razorbacks the lead and then things got weird.

Kenley took off on a 3-1 pitch and Memphis catcher Jason Santana tried to throw him out, but no one was covering the bag. His throw went into center field, allowing Casey Opitz to score from third. Making it even worse is that the pitch was ball four, so it wouldn’t have ended the inning anyways if a fielder was there.

Following a Nesbit stolen base, Christian Franklin hit a slow roller to the shortstop and beat the throw for an infield single. Incredibly, both runners scored to give him two RBIs.

The inning seemed to be over when Casey Martin hit a grounder to first, but the ball hit the bag and bounced away from the Memphis fielders to allow him to reach on an infield single of his own. That extended the inning to give the slumping Heston Kjerstad an at bat and he drove in both runs with a single up the middle.

“You know we got a little lucky there,” Van Horn said. “The ball Martin hit spun and hit the bag or the inning’s over. Then Kjerstad ends up driving in two more runs. Just some tough at bats.”

Razorback Debuts

Finally healthy after two separate injuries caused him to miss most of the preseason practices this spring, freshman Trey Harris made his collegiate debut as Arkansas’ designated hitter.

Batting in the 5-hole, the Little Rock native went 0 for 3, but did draw a couple of walks - including the free pass that started the big fifth inning.

Van Horn said it was the first live pitching he’s seen this spring, other than a couple of at bats in the indoor facility, so he was pleased with what he saw.

“He showed me some pretty good plate discipline really, taking those walks,” Van Horn said. “He’s probably disappointed, but I saw some good things. He just needed some time.”

That seven-run outburst enabled Van Horn to stick to his plan of using several freshman pitchers, which included Patrick Wicklander getting his first career start.

Other than a two-run home run by Santana, the freshman left-hander was solid for the Razorbacks. He gave up two earned runs on three hits and one walk while striking out four in three innings.

Sophomore Zebulon Vermillion pitched two shutout innings, allowing only one hit, before turning things over to the freshmen.

“We had a couple of the older guys down there just in case we needed them,” Van Horn said. “Fortunately we scored some runs and it gave us an opportunity to relax a little bit and felt better about getting some of these young left-handers on the mound.”

Freshman left-hander Caden Monke made his debut in the sixth inning and didn’t get off to a great start, hitting Cale Hennemann with a pitch and later had a wild pitch that moved him to second.

However, he settled in and ended up striking out the side. He actually got Nick Vaage to look at strike three to end the inning.

“With Caden, it’s not all about velocity,” Van Horn said. “He’s got tremendous movement on his fastball. It just cuts all over the place. It’s hard to square it up and they didn’t.”

After one inning of work by Jacob Burton, a freshman who debuted against Eastern Illinois, the Razorbacks turned to another freshman left-hander in Evan Taylor.

It took him 18 pitches because the first two batters worked the count full, but he also struck out the side. He and Monke joined Wicklander as Arkansas freshmen to accomplish the feet in their debut innings.

“He was throwing the ball 92, 93 miles per hour on a 35-degree night,” Van Horn said about Taylor. “He’s got a big arm and sometimes it gets away from him a little bit, but he’s got a really good breaking ball. You saw when they were swinging at it when it was coming out of his hand, they didn’t recognize it.”

Van Horn brought in one more freshman left-hander, Liam Henry, to close out the game. The Tigers seemed to square him up pretty good. Pinch hitter Nick Jones launched a home run, but the other hits were right at defenders for outs.

Possible Doubleheader

With freezing temperatures and possible winter precipitation in the forecast for Sunday, Arkansas and Stony Brook could play a doubleheader on Friday. Nothing is official, but Van Horn mentioned it was being discussed during his postgame comments with the media.

Other Tidbits

~The paid attendance was 6,990, but temperatures in the 30s and a steady mist led many of them to stay home and the “tickets scanned” number was 1,175.

~Arkansas has dominated its series with Memphis over the last quarter-century. The Razorbacks have now won 12 of the 13 matchups since 1994, with the lone loss being a 5-4 decision at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

~For the second time in three games, Arkansas stole five bases. Ezell had two, with Martin, Nesbit and Franklin each stealing one apiece. That gives the Razorbacks 20 stolen bases through seven games after stealing only 39 all of last season. “We took advantage of some guys that weren’t real quick to the plate,” Van Horn said. “We kept getting runners in scoring position and I think the speed definitely bothered them and probably led to an error or two.”

~Martin extended his hitting streak to seven games with his infield single off the first base bag. He is the only Arkansas player who has hit safely in every game this season.

~With a 2-for-5 performance at the plate Wednesday, Ezell improved his team-high batting average to .385, while Franklin added two RBIs to give him a team-high nine for the season.

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