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Published Apr 15, 2021
Hogs clobber 8 HRs, run-rule UAPB
Ryan Casper
HawgBeat Intern

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HawgBeat's coverage of the Diamond Hogs' Road to Omaha is brought to you by CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers, which has locations in Fayetteville and Russellville.

Four Arkansas batters hit two home runs apiece to propel the Razorbacks to a lopsided 26-1 win in a seven inning run-rule of in-state foe Arkansas Pine-Bluff on Wednesday.

The eight long balls were the Razorbacks' most in a game since they hit nine in the 2010 Fayetteville Regional against Grambling.

“We hit some balls extremely hard,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We just did a good job. We had to adjust to the pitching a little bit. It took us yesterday and today we got it going pretty good."

The onslaught started in the first inning, when Matt Goodheart hit a leadoff home run that went 450 feet and cleared the new building beyond the right field wall, and then the bats just kept hitting from there.

It was Goodheart’s first game of the year batting leadoff in the lineup. He finished the day 4 for 4 with five RBIs, a double, two home runs and two walks. He's now hitting .326, which leads all of Arkansas' regulars.

Van Horn had planned to use Braydon Webb in the leadoff spot, but he was a late scratch because of sickness and Goodheart - who hit leadoff during his lone season at San Jacinto J.C. - was a natural replacement.

“We thought about hitting him leadoff because he’s got such a good eye at the plate,” Van Horn said. “He's got experience leading off. I think he kind of likes it, obviously."

Brady Slavens, Cullen Smith and Charlie Welch were the other three who had two long balls Wednesday.

Like Goodheart's first one, Slavens also hit a moonshot. After knocking one off the building in right in the first, he put one over the scoreboard in the third.

Despite the wind blowing from left to right, both of Welch's home runs were pulled to left field. His 2-for-4 performance raised his season batting average to .367 in limited playing time, plus five of his 11 hits have been home runs.

He has slowly but surely been making his case for a spot in the starting lineup.

“Every time we put him in, he seems to get a hit or two, a home run," Van Horn said. "He’s a definite option, that’s for sure. Charlie hits left-handed pitching really good... But his time’s coming. He’s getting more at bats and I started him a game last weekend at Ole Miss.”

On the mound, Kole Ramage got the start and threw two scoreless innings, scattering four hits while striking out four. He threw 44 pitches and earned the win.

"Well, he did a nice job getting us off to a good start again," Van Horn said. "The key to this game, especially in the middle of the week, to getting off to a good start is you have to throw strikes. That’s what Kole did."

A total of seven pitchers came out of the pen for the Razorbacks after Ramage came out, with none throwing more than one inning.

Other than the home runs, arguably the most interesting part of the game was when reliever Nate Wohlgemuth came to the plate to bat in the sixth, as the DH position was lost earlier in the game.

Another pitcher, Heston Tole, was used as a pinch runner at one point and backup catcher Dylan Leach found himself playing right field late in the game. That was on top of several other Razorbacks starting in their secondary positions - such as Goodheart at first, Smith at second, Jacob Nesbit at shortstop and Cayden Wallace at third.

The game ended in the seventh because the coaches agreed on a mercy rule that would end the game if either team led by 10 after seven innings.

Arkansas will get back into SEC play Friday when it begins a three-game home series against Texas A&M. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and it will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus.

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