It took No. 2 Arkansas just a little more than 24 hours to wrap up a series win over the Florida Gators at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville over the weekend, and there's one play from the action that fans are still talking about Monday morning — Peyton Holt's deke in centerfield during Game 2.
After Arkansas squeaked out a 2-1 win over the Gators on Friday, the team's had to play a Saturday doubleheader due to impending weather in Fayetteville on Sunday.
In Game 2, which was the first game of the doubleheader, Florida had bases loaded and just one out with the Razorbacks holding onto a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth inning. Gators' shortstop Colby Shelton hit a high fly ball to center that everyone watching just assumed would drive in a run as a sacrifice fly out. Not so fast, my friend.
Starting in centerfield for the fourth time this season, Greenwood native Peyton Holt deked out the runner at third (deke is short for decoy) by faking a catch, actually making the catch for the second out and then throwing a dart to Jared Sprague-Lott at third to allow Sprague-Lott to get the runner — Brody Donay — out at home in plenty of time.
"Right when the bases got loaded, an (at bat) before I was like, I could deke it if it's a fly ball right to me," Holt told Arkansas Athletics. "I felt like it was a good scenario to try it. Perfect ball. It was coming straight down, so just did exactly what we worked on. It worked out perfect."
Like Holt said, that play is something the Razorbacks work on. Head coach Dave Van Horn said it's something the outfielders have fun with.
"(Hitting Coach Nate) Thompson, he works with the outfielders, and he made that comment to me that Holt likes to play around with it," Van Horn said. "He faked like he was to catch the ball, and the ball wasn’t there yet and he deked the runner. And he started to run, and then the ball hit his glove, and he tried to go back.
"I mean, you saw it. There were probably a lot of people that didn’t know what the heck happened. And still don’t know what happened, and probably need to go back and watch a replay and have somebody explain it to them. It was just a real head’s up play. A real heady play."
That play was not only really cool — it was No. 1 on the SportsCenter Top 10 — to watch in general, but it was extremely important at that point in the game. Florida was unable to tie the game up, the inning was over and the Hogs were able to clinch the series with three more outs in the top of the ninth.
"We actually work on it when we do regular flyballs in practice," Holt said. "It was just the perfect scenario. When the bases got loaded, I ran through it in my head and it was like I actually have an opportunity to actually pull off a deke right here. Perfect fly ball, it was coming straight down, did it, threw it in and (Sprague-Lott) made a good throw home, got the guy and saved a run."
While a few people knew exactly what Holt was doing, most were still trying to understand what just happened right after the play. That included Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall.
"I mean… I got deked," Stovall said Saturday. "I was so confused. I remember just being around second and he did that thing with his glove. I thought he caught the ball. I was turning and looking at the runner at third to see if he was going. I turned around and the runner at second, he took off, slipped, tripped, went back.
"When Holt throws the ball to third and when you go back and watch it, (Sprague-Lott), he’s like confused. We had to yell at him to throw it home. It was a phenomenal play and a heads-up play. It was huge for us and I believe that was why we won that game."
For what it's worth, Holt said he would have thrown it home if he knew the runner was going to take off. It's safe to say Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan was not happy with the way his player handled it.
“It’s the big play that everybody is going to talk about, when he didn’t tag from third ” O’Sullivan said. “I don’t really have an explanation other than maybe he got deked by the center fielder. But at the end of the day you got back to the bag and if he catches it, you can walk home. if he drops item you walk home. I don’t really have a clear explanation, but obviously that as a big part of the game.”
A former junior college transfer from Crowder College, Holt hasn't been an everyday player this year for the Hogs. Last year was similar until he was needed to step up in place of the injured Stovall (torn labrum) at second base late in the season.
Now a senior, Holt is a true utility player who can play in the infield, outfield and even at catcher. The deke wasn't even his only big play that game, as the previous half inning (bottom seventh), he crushed a two-run homer 394 feet to left that gave the Razorbacks a 6-4 lead.
"I think he’s just really, really improved over the last couple of weeks," Van Horn said. "He’s just taken a lot of balls live in batting practice off live bats. That’s how you get better. You can run and catch fly balls from a fungo bat, a machine. But when you’re reading the ball off the bat, working on your first step, because that’s huge on those tough plays.
"He’s worked hard at it, and it's paid off. I think he likes center, because I think he just feels freed up out there. I think left field is harder to play than center field, just because of the angle of the ball and different things, but center, you just have to cover a lot more ground. He seems to have handled it pretty well so far."
Holt's .330 batting average ranks second on the team behind Stovall's .331, plus Holt owns a solid on-base percentage of .440.
Arkansas is going to need all hands on deck, including Holt, down the stretch with a road trip to No. 8 Kentucky this weekend, a home series against a red-hot Mississippi State team and then a trip to No. 1 Texas A&M to close the regular season.
Before the Kentucky series, the Razorbacks will host Missouri State on Tuesday and Wednesday at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. First pitch Tuesday is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
