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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ bats have typically taken a few innings to get going this season, but that wasn’t the case Friday night.
The Razorbacks jumped on Mississippi State for six runs in the second inning and cruised to an 8-1 win to open the series at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It is their seventh straight win in the series, which is strange considering the Bulldogs have made back-to-back College World Series appearances — including winning it all last year — despite being swept by Arkansas.
“It’s hard to beat anybody two games in a row when they’re really good and they’ve been really good,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s baseball. Sometimes it just happens. … We’ve just played well against them.”
Early on, it seemed like Arkansas might get off to another slow start at the plate because it squandered a perfect opportunity to strike first in the opening inning.
An error and a walk put the first two Razorbacks on base, only for Michael Turner, Chris Lanzilli and Robert Moore to fall behind 0-2 and fail to do anything. Turner grounded into a fielder’s choice back to the pitcher and the other two struck out.
Luckily for that trio, they didn’t have to wait long for redemption.
After a two-run home run by Jalen Battles gave it the lead in the bottom of the second, Arkansas staged a two-out rally. Cayden Wallace reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error and then Peyton Stovall drew another walk.
Given another opportunity, Turner and Lanzilli hit back-to-back RBI singles and Moore drove both of them in with a two-run triple to blow the game open and make it 6-0.
“We were a little disappointed in the dugout that we had runners on first and second with nobody out, and we didn’t score,” Van Horn said. “Then (in) the big inning we manufactured things, got a couple of big hits, got a couple of balls that were hit in perfect spots.
“In this game, you have to have a lot of things go your way and that inning a lot of things went our way. It’s not like we crushed a lot of balls. We split a gap with a ball that scored two, and Michael hit a ball between the first basemen and second basemen that kind of had eyes. It was one of those days where the first half of the game, a lot of things went our way.”
The Razorbacks left the bases loaded twice and stranded 12 total runners, including nine in scoring position, but did get another home run by Battles in the third inning and a sacrifice fly by Turner in the seventh.
That was plenty of run support, as Connor Noland and the bullpen effectively shut down the Mississippi State lineup.
Here are several other key takeaways from the win…
Another Gem from Noland
He may not be as heralded as his predecessors, but it might be time to start talking about Noland as a bonafide SEC ace.
The senior right-hander turned in his fourth quality start of the season Friday, limiting the Bulldogs to just one run on four hits and no walks while striking out six in seven innings.
Van Horn said his success stemmed from working ahead most of the night and, for the most part, having great command throughout the game, which is key when your team jumps out to a big lead.
“The fastball command was the biggest thing for me,” Noland said. “And then I figured out the curveball about the second inning and felt like I could throw it for strike whenever I needed it. And just got ahead in the count.”
