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FAYETTEVILLE — After cutting its deficit in half with one swing of the bat, Arkansas went down in order to drop its second straight series opener Friday night.
Braydon Webb ended the shutout and pulled the Razorbacks within two with a two-run home run in the eighth inning, but Brandon Johnson retired all six batters he faced to put the finishing touches on Ole Miss’ 4-2 win at Baum-Walker Stadium.
That may have ended the game, but the result was set in motion much earlier, when Arkansas failed to capitalize on leadoff singles in each of the first three innings.
The Razorbacks ran themselves out of the first, but were in prime position to put together big innings in the second and third thanks to leadoff singles by Jace Bohrofen and Webb.
Jalen Battles and Zack Gregory followed those hits, respectively, by working the count full against Ole Miss starter Dylan DeLucia. Unfortunately for Arkansas, both of them proceeded to swing at what appeared to have otherwise been ball four.
“Probably a couple pitches changed the game,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We went out of the zone a couple of times on full counts, nobody out, runner on first. You’ve got a runner on first and second nobody out, maybe twice early in the game. Maybe it changes.”
Arkansas also wasted a one-out double by Michael Turner in the fourth inning, ultimately starting the game 6 for 12 with no runs to show for it. An issue that has plagued the Razorbacks throughout the season was once again present Friday, as they went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 10 with runners on base.
That left he door open for the Rebels, who managed to score one run in the fourth and then got a couple of clutch two-out hits in the fifth to push their lead to 4-0.
“They did a good job just making contact and kind of hitting it where we weren’t,” Van Horn asaid. “They got a couple big hits there in the fifth that jumped that lead up from 1-0 to 4-0, and we couldn’t catch up.”
Here are a few other key takeaways from Arkansas’ loss Friday night…
Noland’s Outing
His final stat line might not be too impressive, but Connor Noland did manage to give the Razorbacks eight innings and preserve their bullpen for the rest of the weekend.
Ole Miss racked up 11 hits and four walks against the right-hander, but scored only four runs — all earned — despite the 15 base runners. Noland kept his pitch count down, too, throwing just 103 total pitches.
“I thought he gutted it up and gave us a quality start, even though we didn’t get the win,” Van Horn said. “He just didn’t have command of his breaking ball, especially early.
“You don’t ever expect him to be on every time, at least I don’t expect it, but he fought for us and he gave us eight innings and everything he had. So I was proud of him.”
A leadoff double by Kevin Graham in the fourth set the stage for the game’s first run, as Kemp Alderman drove him in with a single in the next at bat.
It was still just 1-0, though, when Tim Elko stepped to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners. He delivered an RBI double and Graham followed with a two-run single to give the Rebels even more cushion.
