Kentucky evens series with 11-3 win over Arkansas
The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (40-8, 17-6 SEC) are now tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference with No. 8 Kentucky (34-10, 17-6 SEC) after the Wildcats earned an 11-3 win over the Hogs on Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky.
Arkansas starter Brady Tygart struggled to locate pitches as the junior starter gave up five earned runs on six hits in three innings. Tygart walked three and struck out just two before he was relieved by Gage Wood, who gave the Hogs 4.2 solid innings of work with six strikeouts and three earned run allowed on three hits.
"Oh, I mean that was just a huge plus," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said of Wood postgame. "I talked about that after the game. I mean, Gage didn’t just eat up innings, he’s getting ready to take somebody’s job. I loved what I saw."
Kentucky managed to even the series by out-hitting the Hogs, 11-8, and six of the Wildcats' hits came with runners in scoring position. Arkansas left eight runners on base and it was just 3-for-17 at the plate with runners on.
"We played some good defense," Van Horn said. "Hit some balls hard, didn’t have much luck. We still have an opportunity to win the series tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll play a little better."
Arkansas put a pair of two-out baserunners on in the top of the first against Kentucky starter Dominic Niman, who stranded both without more drama. In the bottom half, Tygart struggled to locate as he allowed a single, hit a batter, walked one and added a wild pitch while still managing to leave the bases loaded.
Niman issued a one-out walk to Arkansas freshman Nolan Souza, who scored five pitches later via a two-run homer that White sent 431 feet to left-center to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. The Kentucky starter worked through control issues to get out of the inning before the Hogs could strike again.
Tygart looked to be in prime position to strand a pair in the bottom of the second with a deep fly to left from Pitre, but left fielder Ross Lovich was unable to make the routine catch at the wall and the Wildcats plated a pair on what was ruled a two-RBI double.
"The ball got up in the air and it was hit a little better than you think on the swing," Van Horn said postgame. "He just drifted back and back. About the time he was about ready to catch the ball he hit the fence. It ended up being a mistake and it was a tough one."
Another RBI double from Kentucky's Devin Burkes gave the home team a 3-2 lead after two innings.
After Tygart allowed the first two batters in the bottom of the fourth to reach, the Razorbacks turned to right-hander Gage Wood in relief. Wood issued a walk to load the bases, and then the next three Wildcats recorded RBI knocks to extend their lead to 7-2 after four innings.
Wood looked pretty dominant by striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth for Arkansas to keep the deficit at five runs.
Niman issued a one-out walk to Kendall Diggs in the top of the sixth and that prompted Kentucky to bring in right-handed reliever Robert Hogan, who struck out two in a row to strand Diggs. Wood worked another scoreless frame in the bottom half for the Hogs.
Arkansas put together back-to-back two-out hits against Kentucky reliever Travis Smith in the top of the seventh, but the Hogs squandered the opportunity and stranded the runners. Again, Wood worked a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh and added two more strikeouts to his name.
The Wildcats brought right-hander Ryan Hagenow on in relief to work a scoreless top of the eighth. Wood was relieved by veteran righty Koty Frank after hitting a batter with one out.
Frank put two more on to load the bases, but then picked up a strikeout and was seemingly going to get out of the inning until Nick Lopez lined a bases-clearing double to right field that made it a 10-2 lead for the Wildcats. Mitchell Daly hit an RBI single to right in the next at bat to give Kentucky an 11-2 lead going into the ninth.
Hagenow returned to the mound in the top of the ninth for the Wildcats and gave up a run on an RBI groundout from Peyton Stovall before he shut things down to secure the 11-3 win.
Up next, the Razorbacks and Wildcats will meet for Game 3 of the series at noon CT Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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