After leaning on its pitching in the first game, Arkansas got several clutch hits to clinch its series at USC on Friday.
Six of the Razorbacks’ runs came on four two-out hits by three different players in their 8-6 win over the Trojans in Los Angeles. With the win, they have clinched a road series for the first since since May 2017 at Texas A&M..
It was actually the other two runs that put Arkansas up for good, as Casey Martin crushed a two-run home run that cleared the netting over the left field wall in the fifth inning.
Christian Franklin’s two-run double off the wall with two outs in the sixth briefly gave the Razorbacks a three-run lead, but USC answered with a two-run single by CJ Stubbs off reliever Kevin Kopps in the home half of the inning.
As Arkansas squandered multiple opportunities to add insurance runs, putting runners on third with less than two outs in the seventh and eighth innings, the Trojans threatened to tie it up a couple of times.
Stubbs moved to second when the throw went to the plate on his aforementioned hit, but he was caught trying to steal third base. It was one of two runners Opitz gunned down on the base paths, while Arkansas had five successful steals.
After retiring the next four batters, Kopps gave up back-to-back singles to start the eighth, putting the go-ahead runner on base. He got out of the jam, though, when Jamal O’Guinn grounded into a double play and Brandon Perez grounded out to second, stranding the tying run in scoring position.
Once again with a runner on third, Jack Kenley finally gave the Razorbacks their sought-after insurance run by hitting a single through the right side with two outs in the ninth.
That was more than enough for Matt Cronin. A day after throwing 20 pitches in a four-out, four-strikeout save, the preseason All-American closer retired the Trojans in order for his second save in as many games.
The ninth-inning knock was actually Kenley’s second big two-out hit of the game, as he also had a triple that scored two runs in the fourth. He finished the day 2 for 5 with three RBIs.
That made it a one-run gave after a disastrous third inning by Arkansas’ defense. Heston Kjerstad let a ball roll under his glove on a single and Isaiah Campbell threw wide on a sacrifice bunt as USC pushed four runs across the plate.
Only one of those runs was earned, but Campbell also put the runners on that scored on Stubbs’ single in the sixth. He was charged with all six runs - three earned - on six hits and two walks while striking out five in 5 1/3 innings.
Making his first appearance since 2017 after missing all of last season because of Tommy John surgery, Kopps allowed only three hits in 2 2/3 scoreless innings before turning it over to Cronin.
Playing less than an hour from his hometown, Dominic Fletcher staked Campbell to an early lead with a two-out double in the first inning.
It was a rough night for Kjerstad. In addition to the error, the preseason All-American saw his four-game hitting streak end by going 0 for 5 with four strikeouts.
The Razorbacks will try to complete their second straight sweep to open the season at 8 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will be streamed on the Pac-12 website again and can also be heard on the Razorback Sports Network.
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