Hogs sweep Opening Day doubleheader vs. Eastern Illinois

FAYETTEVILLE — Finally facing someone other than their teammates, Arkansas’ hitters broke out by scoring 27 runs on 32 hits in a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Illinois.

The Razorbacks coasted to a 15-7 win in Game 1, which was postponed from Friday because of bad weather, and then poured it on late in a 12-3 win in the nightcap Saturday.

“I think the story of the day is that we got a lot of big hits,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We got some big two-out hits throughout the day, especially in the second game.”

Despite losing six starters from last year’s team, Arkansas’ offense launched four home runs in the opener. That is the most any of Van Horn’s teams have had in an opening game and it comes on the heels of a record-breaking season.

Arkansas can put the finishing touches on a sixth straight opening weekend sweep when it hosts the Panthers for the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday. The game will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning it can be watched online on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app.

Game 1: Arkansas 15, Eastern Illinois 7

Things could not have gone better for Isaiah Campbell to start the season, as he retired the first 12 batters he faced. Much like last season, though, it quickly fell apart for him.

He gave up back-to-back singles to start the fifth inning. Both runs ended up scoring on RBI hits by Ryan Knernschield and Wyell Woods. It looked like that’s all would score, but Trevor Ezell’s foot came off the first base bag on a play that extended the inning.

Dane Toppel pushed a third run across with a two-out bunt single before Campbell got out of it with a fielder’s choice on his 83rd pitch of the game.

“For me and (pitching coach Matt) Hobbs, we both thought my stuff was just as good in the fifth as it was in the first,” Campbell said. “They just kind of changed their plan - they attacked fast balls first pitch more.

“I was still making pitches, getting some weak contact. They just found some holes. I kept fighting, kept throwing strikes and got out of it.”

Luckily for Campbell, he had a pretty big lead to work with thanks to an eight-run fourth inning in which 12 batters went to the plate. That actually could negatively impacted his final inning because he sat for a while in a cold dugout.

All three of his runs were earned and came on five hits - all in the fifth inning. He also had five strikeouts.

“I don’t know if he just got cold over there or what, but he started leaving the ball in the middle of the plate,” Van Horn said. “When he made a mistake, I guess it was probably their second time through the order, they took advantage of some things.”

Offensively, the Razorbacks struggled their first time through the order against Eastern Illinois starter and preseason All-OVC selection Tyler Jones, going just 1 for 6 with three walks.

From that point on, they went 8 for 13 with five extra-base hits. After back-to-back shots by Casey Martin and Heston Kjerstad were caught on the warning track, Ezell - the graduate transfer from Southeast Missouri State - got the scoring started with a home run that landed in the right field bullpen.

The aforementioned big fourth inning was highlighted by true freshman Christian Franklin’s opposite-field home run to score three runs and Kjerstad’s 391-foot homer to score two more. Kenley kept it going by leading off the fifth with his first career home run, a 407-foot bomb that landed near the trees beyond the right field bullpen.

Those were part of an offensive performance that saw all nine starters get at least one hit and one run, with nine total extra-base hits. It was a surprising outburst based on Van Horn’s preseason comments that it would be more of a small-ball offense this year, but Campbell wasn’t surprised.

“Seeing ourselves during spring practices and stuff, you could tell the power was still there,” Campbell said. “We just have a lot of young guys that you saw the potential, they just couldn’t find it at the beginning of the spring. They kind of showed it today.”

It was actually an 11-run game at one point, but Eastern Illinois made the score appear closer than it was when Matt Mackey hit a pinch-hit three-run homer off freshman reliever Jacob Burton in the eighth.

Game 2: Arkansas 12, Eastern Illinois 3

All eyes were on Arkansas’ starting pitcher in Game 2 of the doubleheader, as true freshman and two-sport athlete Connor Noland made his collegiate debut on the mound.

Playing in front of about 5,000 fans, the right-hander from Greenwood was sharp the first four innings, allowing only four base runners and not letting any of them reach second. Noland admitted that his experience at quarterback last fall helped settle the nerves.

“There’s a lot of pressure when you go into a football game, especially with thousands of people in the stands,” Noland said. “Coming out for baseball, we still had a good crowd, but I’ve definitely had that experience and seen that many people, so it definitely made the transition a little bit easier.”

Similar to his predecessor, Noland ran into some trouble in the fifth. A couple of errors allowed two runners to reach and then he gave up a hit to load the bases. It could have been much worse, but Dominic Fletcher made a great play in center field to start the inning and rob the leadoff man of extra bases.

Noland notched his seventh strikeout for the second out of the inning to help his cause before Van Horn replaced him with reliever Kole Ramage. He left the field to a standing ovation.

“In the fifth inning, I kind of started to fall apart, not throwing fast ball for strikes and that kind of effected me,” Noland said. “I think everybody that pitches would say they would want to finish that out, but I could tell I was getting tired and I know coach saw that too.”

Two of those runners eventually scored thanks to a bases-loaded walk and infield single off Ramage, but they were unearned because of the errors. Noland’s day ended after 73 pitches and half of his four hits allowed didn’t leave the infield.

“I thought the zone was a little tighter on some pitches that we thought were close and we had them right there and he didn’t get them, but it didn’t phase him,” Van Horn said. “He just kept pitching and command started picking up really in the second and third for him.”

Runs were a little harder to come by early in the second game. Arkansas scratched a pair across in the second with RBI singles by Jordan McFarland and Zack Plunkett - the two Game 2 starters who didn’t start the first game - and added two more runs in the third on sacrifice flies by Ezell and Fletcher.

Jacob Nesbit had a two-out, two-run single in the sixth that loomed large when Eastern Illinois scored again in the eighth. The Panthers wouldn’t get any closer than three runs, though, because Arkansas exploded for six runs in the bottom of the inning.

It was actually McFarland who capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run single of his own. He had really struggled in three weeks of practice leading up to the season, going just 1 for 21 with 14 strikeouts in six and a half scrimmages open to the public.

“I think it’s no secret…I didn’t have the hottest preseason,” McFarland said. “I’m just grateful to be playing baseball, most of all, and that kind of made it a lot easier for me, just taking a step back and realizing it’s a long season. I’ve definitely learned from the first two years I’ve been here.”

Van Horn said it was encouraging to see McFarland go 2 for 4 with three RBIs because of that slump, but he knew he was capable of it.

“He’d been struggling really bad the last couple of weeks in our scrimmages and up and down in batting practice,” Van Horn said. “Some of his rounds you’re like, ‘Wow, look at that,’ and then some it’s like, ‘Wow, what happened?’”

Eastern Illinois starter Michael YaSenka kept the Razorbacks at bay in his five innings of work. Although he ended up allowing four earned runs on five hits and one walk, he did have a pair of perfect innings against Martin, Kjerstad and Ezell, including the first inning when he struck all three of them out to start the game.

Scroggins Update

Redshirt junior Cody Scroggins was the first pitcher out of Arkansas’ bullpen in 2019, coming on in the sixth inning of Game 1. A leadoff single to Hunter Morris ended up leading to a run, but he did get out of a jam by striking out Woods.

The Bentonville native likely would have pitched another inning, but complained of arm stiffness once he got back to the dugout and the coaches didn’t want to risk it.

“He didn’t get injured, we were just being really cautious with him because he said his arm kind of stiffened up a little bit so we got him,” Van Horn said. “He wanted to go back out there, but when you say something you can’t take it back, and he said something and we said you’re not going back out there.”

Saving Cronin

Rubber-armed Marshall Denton - who formerly went by Angus - finished off both wins for Arkansas. The side-armer from Beebe pitched the ninth inning in each game and allowed a two-out single before getting out of them unscathed.

That means the Razorbacks didn’t have to use preseason All-American closer Matt Cronin, who had a school-record 14 saves last season.

Van Horn said they were going to use him in the second game of the doubleheader, but then Arkansas scored six runs to make it a nine-run game.

“We told him he was still going in unless we punched in a couple more and then we decided not to bring him in,” Van Horn said. “We have another game tomorrow and we’re going to try to win that one.”

First Time at First

With his shoulder not completely healed from offseason surgery, Ezell started both games at first base so he wouldn’t have to make any long throws.

It was a position he had never played, even in high school, and he didn’t even really practice there much until the week leading up to the opener because he was testing his arm at second in the scrimmages.

“It was definitely different,” Ezell said. “I definitely gained some respect for first basemen after that, but I just tried to be instinctual about it and not think about it too much.”

There were a couple of times he didn’t make a tough scoop on throws in the dirt and once when his foot came off the bag before a throw got to him, but he wasn’t charged with any errors and didn’t make any super costly mistakes.

Battling the Cold

The rain that forced Friday’s game to be postponed cleared out of Northwest Arkansas, but the cold temperatures stuck around. Some of the early innings were in the low-40s, but most of the day it was in the 30s.

McFarland said there was definitely a difference in how it felt when he was on the bench in Game 1 compared to when he got to play in the second game.

“The first game, I was freezing along with all the other guys in the dugout,” McFarland said. “Our toes were cold and all the legs were cold and freezing.

“Then after my first at bat, I came back to the dugout and was like, ‘Man, I’m hot.’ All the guys in the dugout were giving me a hard time because they were still freezing.”

Other Tidbits

~Saturday’s paid attendance was 8,838, with 4,809 tickets scanned. That second number is not a reliable attendance number, though, because the self-scanning system does not always mean every ticket gets properly scanned.

~With the win, Van Horn remains undefeated on Opening Day at Arkansas. The Razorbacks have now won 25 straight openers. Their last loss came in 1994, a 7-3 defeat at TCU.

~Arkansas didn’t strike out a single time in the first game, a rare feat in today’s game. It was the first time they went without a strikeout since a 7-6 win over Troy on Feb. 28, 2010.

~In Game 1, Ezell caught a pop up in foul territory for the first out of the third inning. The play drew a louder-than-usual cheer from the crowd because it was similar to the play that would have won the national championship last season.

~Making his first appearance at shortstop, Martin committed two errors and had another play that could have been ruled as error in Game 2. He was perfect on two chances in the opener. “The second game I think he’d tell you it didn’t go very good,” Van Horn said. “He had a couple of balls stung at him pretty good, had a slow roller play and the play that really (hurt) was the throw. He’s got to make that throw every day.”

BOX SCORE (Game 1)

BOX SCORE (Game 2)