RADIO: HawgSports Tuesday segment on Drivetime sports
Hogs lose late lead but walk off Warhawks in extras, 10-9
Arkansas earned a two-game sweep of the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in a 4-0 shutout behind the arm of freshman Caleb Bolden on Wednesday afternoon in Baum Stadium.
Bolden gave the Hogs a career-high seven innings of scoreless work, striking out five batters and earning the victory. Fellow freshman Heston Kjerstad went 2 for 4 on the day and blasted a solo homer over the scoreboard that went an estimated 430 feet. The Razorback defense put together a complete effort, avoiding any errors.
ULM compiled 7 hits in the game but failed to bring anyone home. Braedon Barrett was the only Warhawk with multiple hits, going 2 for 3 with a double. Starter Richard Hebert dropped to 2-2 on the year after giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in three innings on the mound.
Here's how the Diamond Hogs pitched their fourth shutout of the season:
THE WINNING INNINGS
Sensational freshman Heston Kjerstad kicked off the bottom of the second by annihilating a solo home run over the scoreboard in right center, his eighth of the year, to give Arkansas a 1-0 lead. An RBI groundout to second from Grant Koch pushed the advantage to 2-0 Hogs.
Braedon Barrett hit a leadoff double in the top of the third and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. He then attempted to steal home when Bolden's pitch hit the backstop, but Koch recovered quickly and tagged Barrett out at home.
Following two singles and a groundout, the Warhawks placed runners at the corners with one out in the top of the sixth, but Bolden forced Chad Bell to ground into an inning-ending double play to keep the score 2-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, Fletcher scored from third on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 Arkansas. Evan Lee, off an impressive performance on Tuesday night, then hit an RBI single, scoring Jordan McFarland and extending the Arkansas lead to 4-0.
Bolden exited after seven scoreless innings and gave way to Cody Scroggins who held ULM hitless in the final two frames, preserving the 4-0 shutout victory.
KEY QUOTES
Dave Van Horn on Wednesday's performance:
"Really good job by our pitcher, Caleb Bolden. We were hoping to get four or five out of him, but he really got it rolling there in the sixth and seventh...Played really good defense which is something that we needed...Offensively, we did just enough."
Van Horn on playing a clean game after Tuesday night's errors:
"Who knows? Baseball. Just kind of the way it works sometimes. Some days you score too much and the next you don't score...It's such a mental game. The weather was good and the wind wasn't blowing too hard. It was tough fielding the ball last night."
Van Horn on Kjerstad's hitting success:
"I wouldn't call it a tear because he's just a good hitter. If you make a mistake and leave it in the zone a little bit, he usually doesn't miss it...To go on a streak like this, you usually have to have a little bit of luck, but there's a lot of skill there."
Van Horn on Isaiah Campbell's bullpen this week:
"It went good. He'll be back on the roster. As of now, I don't think he'll be starting. I don't know if there'll be enough pitches there...We'll have to figure that out tomorrow."
Heston Kjerstad on his 430-foot homer:
"I knew I had squared it up, hit it pretty good. Off the bat, I knew it was going out. I surprised myself a little bit with how far it was going out past the scoreboard...I think that one was the farthest I've ever hit."
Blaine Knight on using last year's tough outing against Auburn as motivation for this weekend:
"I'm going to treat it like I have every other Friday night...I'm going to come out and attack and compete and see what I can do...The way I see it, they got lucky last year. They caught me on an off night. I don't see that happening twice."
STAT OF THE GAME
Heston Kjerstad continued his hot streak, recording a hit in his 14th straight contest. The freshman phenom went 2 for 4 with a monstrous solo shot in the bottom of the second inning.
While Arkansas didn't put up stellar numbers in potential scoring situations, the Warhawks were even worse. The Hogs held ULM to 1 for 9 with runners on base and blanked them with runners in scoring position (0 for 2).
Surprisingly, both teams combined to issue only 2 walks all game long, resulting in a game time under three hours. Arkansas pitchers struck out seven and walked only one batter all day.
WINNING PITCHER
Caleb Bolden (Arkansas): 7.0 IP (94 pitches), 7 H, 5 K's, 0 BB, 0 ER
UP NEXT...
No. 19 Auburn visits Fayetteville this weekend for a three-game conference series starting on Friday, April 6. Game one is scheduled for 6:30 pm (CDT). The first two games can be seen on SEC Network+ while Sunday's finale will be televised nationally on SEC Network.
