FAYETTEVILLE — The Diamond Hogs have accustomed themselves to late-inning drama recently, but none was required Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The only thing Arkansas had to do to secure the series-opening win against Louisiana Tech was hold onto it, as leadoff batters made their way aboard with regularity. Six reached in eight trips to the plate, and four came around to score en route to a 7-4 decision over the Bulldogs.
"We couldn’t get that big blow that blew the game open, maybe a bases-clearing double," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. "We’ve gotten a lot of those hits this year. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes, but I was really glad to see that we kept fighting and finding ways to put a little pressure on ‘em."
Arkansas ace Hagen Smith found himself with another high pitch count after just one inning, issuing two walks but emerging with a zero after 20.
Razorback center fielder Tavian Josenberger wasted no time getting the line moving for the Razorbacks, roping the first pitch he saw to center for a single. It proved unfruitful, however, after he was caught stealing and the inning reached its end after just seven pitches from left-handed starter Jonathan Fincher.
The bottom of the second inning also began with a single, but it yielded a much different result. First baseman Brady Slavens and designated hitter Kendall Diggs’ knocks both gave way to a two-run homer — one from right fielder Jace Bohrofen with a launch angle just below 40°, and the other from catcher Parker Rowland, a 404-foot shot to center and his first from the right side.
"I was just looking for a fastball in the middle of the plate and trying to put a good swing on it," Rowland said. "I ended up connecting with it."
Two flyouts to end the second hardly slowed the Hogs’ momentum, as their first three batters reached in the third. Diggs hit into a fielder’s choice, stretching the lead to 5-0, but Rowland’s nine-pitch at-bat resulted in an inning-ending double play. Still, Fincher’s pitch count had climbed to 68.
All the while, Smith quietly assembled a no-hit bid, which he carried into the fifth.
“I thought Hagen did a great job,” Rowland said. “In my eyes, I don’t think he had his best stuff, but I think he competed as well. He did a great job and kind of got in a groove there in like the second, third and fourth."
Louisiana Tech finally found its way onto the scoreboard, thanks to second baseman Dalton Davis’ two-run single in a two-strike count with two away. Smith finished the fifth with a three-run cushion to complete his outing, which featured four hits, four walks and seven strikeouts.
Smith’s teammates bolstered his chance to earn his third win of the year with a sixth run in the home half of the fifth. Left fielder Jared Wegner singled to become the fourth leadoff man to reach base, and the third such player to score when Diggs hit a sacrifice fly to left.
Right-hander Cody Adcock fanned the first two Bulldogs he faced as the first guy out of the bullpen in the sixth, but the next two batters collected hits to cut the lead in half. First baseman Karson Evans, who recorded the first Louisiana Tech hit of the afternoon, took Adcock 398 feet to the seats above the visitors’ bullpen to cap off a memorable collegiate debut.
"He’s strong," Van Horn said. "I mean he’s really put together. Big kid, and they probably just felt like they wanted that right-handed bat in there against a lefty, but then he ended up hitting a home run off a right-hander. First pitch, he jumped that fastball, probably looked like it was down the middle, in, and I mean, that ball stayed straight. He hammered it."
Leading 6-4, Arkansas loaded the bases once more in the bottom of the sixth, but third baseman Caleb Cali turned in the team’s third unsuccessful at-bat in two innings.
The Bulldogs instantly upped the pressure with a walk and a single to chase Adcock. Righty Dylan Carter got the call for his fourth appearance in six games, and he defused the situation using just nine pitches.
Second baseman Peyton Stovall stepped in for the Razorbacks’ fifth plate appearance with the bases loaded, but like Diggs in the fifth, he only managed a sac fly. Wegner’s 101-mph lineout to center stranded the 10th and 11th runners of the afternoon.
"We did a great job of getting their pitch counts up, working their pitchers hard and then like I said, we just didn’t get that big hit that kind of put that game away," Van Horn said.
Neither team had much to work with in the eighth inning, and the volume did not bother Carter, who came back to finish his second straight nine-out performance. A 1-2-3 ninth sealed the victory for the Hogs and earned him his first career save.
"It was after the seventh inning he came out, Coach Hobbs told me that we had six more outs to get and that I was the one that needed to finish the game," Carter said. "That was the goal."
The Razorbacks and Bulldogs are scheduled to return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium. Unlike Friday’s contest, it will stream live on SEC Network Plus, accessible through the ESPN app.
