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FAYETTEVILLE — For nearly the entire nightcap, it seemed like Arkansas was destined to split Thursday’s doubleheader against Illinois-Chicago.
After exploding late in Game 1 for a 12-4 win over the Flames, the Razorbacks needed four runs in the eighth to escape with a 5-4 victory in Game 2 on a long day at Baum-Walker Stadium.
“It was a really good job by our whole team making a little bit of a run there late,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Finally got a couple of big hits. That second game was I would say one of the more frustrating games that we’ve been involved in this year because nothing would go our way.”
With the wins, Arkansas improved to 9-3 on the season and ensured at least a series split against UIC, as the teams are scheduled to play four games this weekend. The Flames, meanwhile, fell to 4-7.
Here are quick recaps of each game and some key takeaways from the doubleheader…
Game 1: Arkansas 12, UIC 4
Arkansas jumped on the Flames early, with Chris Lanzilli hitting a first-pitch RBI single to drive in Cayden Wallace with two outs in the first inning.
From there, though, both starting pitchers settled in and runs were hard to come by. In fact, UIC left-hander Nate Peterson retired 13 straight Razorbacks after that hit by Lanzilli.
“You have to give their lefty credit. Peterson,” Van Horn said. “He was everything that we had heard. He was really good. I felt like that was an SEC Friday night type of game.”
It wasn’t until the sixth that Arkansas finally got to him and put up a crooked number. Zack Gregory got things started with a leadoff walk and the the only out Peterson recorded came on a sacrifice bunt.
Before he came out of the game, Peterson — an Oklahoma State transfer — gave up a two-run single to Michael Turner and two-run double to Brady Slavens. The latter of those hits chased him, but Arkansas wasn’t done.
Given new life when catcher Cole Conn dropped a pop up behind home plate, Jalen Battles crushed a 386-foot home run to drive in two more runs and cap the six-run inning that blew the game open.
The Flames managed to get to Connor Noland for three runs in the seventh and then tacked on another in the ninth, but still didn’t make a dent in the Razorbacks’ lead.
That’s because Turner notched an RBI in the seventh and Arkansas got two more long balls in the eighth — a leadoff homer by Brady Slavens and a three-run blast by Wallace.
Game 2: Arkansas 5, UIC 4
UIC never put together a big inning against the Razorbacks in the nightcap. Instead, it just scratched across a run here and there while building a 4-1 lead.
A pair of doubles in the fourth inning and a two-out solo home run by Ryan Nagelbach in the sixth were the highlights, but the Flames also turned leadoff free passes into runs in the first and seventh innings.
