Hogs beat SEMO in Game 2 behind 4 HRs, Noland

FAYETTEVILLE — Noah Niznik kept Arkansas’ bats mostly quiet for five innings Friday afternoon, but things quickly unraveled for him in the sixth.

Sandwiched around a triple by Brady Slavens, Cayden Wallace and Charlie Welch each hit two-run home runs to break a tie and give the Razorbacks some breathing room in a 7-3 win over Southeast Missouri State.

“I think we just figured him out a little bit,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It just took a little bit of time, but he’s a good pitcher. He’s crafty, doesn’t throw the ball in the middle of the plate too much. That’s what got him through the first few innings and then after that, he made a few mistakes and we hit him.”

Coming into the inning, the left-hander had allowed just two hits and was cruising. Niznik consistently got ahead of Arkansas’ hitters by attacking the outside part of the plate and needed just 64 pitches to get through the first five innings.

It seemed like he might work around Robert Moore’s leadoff bunt single in the sixth, getting two quick outs, but Wallace crushed a pitch that landed in the left field bullpen to give the Razorbacks a 4-2 lead.

Arkansas was a foot or two away from getting back-to-back home runs, but Slavens’ deep shot to left-center hit off the wall and bounced away from the center fielder for a stand-up triple.

Niznik wasn’t so lucky in the next at bat. Welch turned on his 2-1 pitch for a monster home run that cleared the seats beyond the left field bullpen to make it 6-2 and chase the SEMO starter from the game.

It was the junior college transfer’s first hit with the Razorbacks, as he was making his first start and had flown out in his previous two at bats. That pull-side power, though, was something Van Horn had seen during the fall.

“He’s a guy I’ve had targeted a little bit to be a DH against some left-handed pitching,” Van Horn said. “He took a couple of decent swings his first couple of at-bats, but he didn’t get cheated that last one. That ball was rocketed out of here, so it was good to see him get his first hit as a Razorback, and it was a big one for us.”

Before falling apart in the sixth, the only blemish on Niznik’s line came in the third inning. After retiring the first eight Razorbacks in order, he gave up a line drive single to 9-hole hitter Dylan Leach in his first collegiate at bat and then Moore followed with a two-run bomb that tied the game.

The three two-run shots provided all the scoring Arkansas needed, but Christian Franklin added an opposite-field home run to lead off the eighth inning. That means all seven of the Razorbacks’ runs came via the long ball Friday.

They have now hit six home runs in two games against SEMO after hitting just one during their 3-0 start in Arlington, Texas.

Noland’s Debut

Finally, in the fifth game of the season, Connor Noland made his first appearance of 2021 and it came in a pretty tough spot.

Last year’s Friday night starter, the right-hander didn’t earn a spot in the rotation and didn’t even get on the mound down in Arlington last weekend.

Pitching out of the bullpen for just the second time in his Arkansas career, Noland inherited runners on the corners with just one out and the top of the order coming up in the fourth inning of a 2-2 ballgame.

He managed to get the Razorbacks out of the jam unscathed on just four pitches, as Peyton Leeper hit a line drive that Slavens snagged at first base. Slavens then stepped on first for a double play because the runner took off on the pitch.

“I was throwing a two-seam on the inside to him just trying to get a jam shot to get a double-play ball,” Noland said. “He got the barrel out there, and luckily, we've got Brady Slavens out there with the glue glove ready to do anything.”