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Getting runners on base wasn’t Kentucky’s problem Sunday afternoon. It just couldn’t do anything once they reached.
Arkansas forced the Wildcats to go just 1 for 16 with runners on, resulting in 11 left on base, and beat them 3-1 to complete a sweep on SEC opening weekend.
The trio of Jaxon Wiggins, Evan Taylor and Brady Tygart actually allowed at least one base runner in all nine innings and worked around it each time. Kentucky’s lone run came on a Ryan Ritter solo home run in the seventh.
“You just kind of learn about your players’ mentality and how they respond in games in tough situations by watching,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “When they get in that situation, how do they perform?
“All three of those guys performed really well with runners on base. It’s a credit to their toughness and I think (pitching coach Matt) Hobbs does a tremendous job with those guys in the mental part of the game.”
That was extremely important to Arkansas’ success Sunday because its offense didn’t provide nearly as much support as it did the first two games of the series, when the Razorbacks scored a combined 15 runs.
Unlike each of those games, Arkansas failed to score in the game’s opening inning. Kentucky starter Tyler Bosma retired the first six Razorbacks of the game on just 21 pitches.
It wasn’t until Jalen Battles led off the third inning with a line drive single into center that Arkansas had its first base runner and Braydon Webb followed with a 442-foot, two-run blast into the Hog Pen. The swing, which gave the Razorbacks a 2-0 lead, had a 111 mph exit velocity, according to the UA’s TrackMan system.
“I was in a hitter’s count and he threw something low and in,” Webb said. “And I mean, I didn’t miss it, so felt good.”
Arkansas manufactured an insurance run the next inning, as Robert Moore drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third when catcher Alonzo Rubalcaba’s throw went into center field. That set up an RBI opportunity for Battles, who laid down a perfect bunt single on a safety squeeze.
It seemed like the Razorbacks might be able to add to that lead in the seventh, but Moore swung at the first pitch he saw and popped out to strand the bases loaded.
Luckily for Arkansas, it didn’t end up needing those runs and still came away with a tight victory that stretched its winning streak to 11 games and improved it to 16-3 overall with a 3-0 mark in SEC play.
“I think what we’ve done is we’ve just played solid baseball,” Van Horn said. “We’re not super hot by any means. What I mean by that is, yeah, we’re getting our wins, but it’s not like we’re just pitching our rear end off or just killing it offensively. We’re just playing solid baseball right now, trying to get into a little bit of a groove.”
Here are a few other key takeaways from the win…
Wiggins Bounces Back
He was far from perfect, but Wiggins turned in another quality start for the Razorbacks. He scattered four hits and four walks across six scoreless innings and had a career-high eight strikeouts to earn the win.
“He didn’t get rattled, made some big pitches,” Van Horn said. “His stuff was good. There were some really good pitches he didn’t get that put him behind some hitters, but six innings, four walks, a guy throwing that hard - they’d have to square it up pretty good.”
