No. 8 Arkansas beats Illinois State in extras, 10-9
FAYETTEVILLE — For the second time this season, Arkansas sophomore Kendall Diggs hit a walk-off, this time an RBI double to left-center to score Peyton Stovall and give the No. 8 Diamond Hogs a 10-9 win in 11 innings Wednesday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Overshadowing the win in extras was when sophomore reliever Brady Tygart stepped off the mound and immediately called for the trainer while shaking his arm out after a pitch in the top of the ninth. Tygart exited the game to a dead silent atmosphere at Baum-Walker Stadium.
On a day where is seemed like the Diamond Hogs were just feet away on so many hits, they saw three straight get out of the ballpark in the bottom of the seventh inning go up by three and get the fans at Baum-Walker Stadium on their feet. Illinois State drove in four runs over the next two innings to send the game into extra innings.
Prior to the back-to-back-to-back solo shots, the Razorbacks had nine fly outs and a handful of them were to the warning track. The three longballs allowed Arkansas to overcome an 6-20 performance with runners on and 0-11 with two outs.
Arkansas used five pitchers in the contest, and all but one of them pitched with runners on, as the Redbirds had a batter reach base in each of the first nine innings until Dylan Carter worked a 1-2-3 top of the 10th inning.
Here's a recap of Wednesday's' victory for the Razorbacks, which was their sixth of the season.
The Redbirds scraped a run across in the top of the first on an RBI single that was lined to center by Adrian Flores. Starter Zack Morris managed to escape by stranding a pair of runners on a fly out to center.
Arkansas responded quickly as three-hole hitter Jared Wegner crushed a 433-foot two-run homer to left field to put the Hogs on top. An RBI walk by Caleb Cali extended the lead by one and chased Illinois State starter Thomas Harper. Jayson Hibbard induced a pair of outs on three pitches in relief of Harper and escaped a bases loaded situation.
Morris ran into trouble to start the second inning as the first three batters he faced recorded a hit and the Redbirds plated their second run, prompting Dave Van Horn to pull the left-hander and put in Koty Frank, who recorded three outs on three pitches.
Illinois State kept its trend going of having a batter reach base in each inning in the fourth. A two RBI single from Auggie Rasmussen put the Redbirds up 4-3, but Frank managed to get out of the frame without letting the deficit grow for the home team.
A solo home run from freshman left fielder Daniel Pacella off Frank put Illinois State up by a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Right hander Cody Adcock relieved Frank in the top of the sixth and he sat the Redbirds down in order after giving up a leadoff single.
The bottom of the inning saw the Diamond Hogs finally get to Hibbard on an RBI double from Rowland and that made way for right-hander Erik Kubiatowicz to relieve Hibbard. Josenberger hit into an RBI fielder's choice and Rowland scored to tie the game a 5-5 after six.
After Adcock faced just one more than the minimum in the top of the seventh, Arkansas hit back-to-back-to-back one-out home runs to go up 8-5. Each longball went to right field off the bats of Peyton Stovall, Kendall Diggs and Cali — whose homer was also his first hit of the season.
Brady Tygart relieved Adcock in the top of the eighth and he followed up a hit batsman by surrendering a two-run homer to the nine-hole hitter that cut the Hogs' lead to just one going into the bottom of the frame.
The Diamond Hogs took a 9-7 lead on an RBI single from Wegner that scored Josenberger and gave them a two-run cushion going into the top of the ninth.
Tygart's second pitch of the ninth inning was driven to the left field bullpen to cut the lead to just one run. Following a walk, Tygart induced a ground ball to short that resulted in a throwing error by John Bolton and the Redbirds scored on the play to tie the game at 9-9.
After shaking his arm out and immediately calling for the trainer, Tygart left the game with Baum-Walker silent as every Razorback fan was holding their breath. Righty Dylan Carter came on to induce a groundout and give the Hogs a shot to walk it off in the bottom of the frame.
Arkansas went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, and Carter worked the first 1-2-3 inning of any Razorback pitcher in the top of the 10th.
The Diamond Hogs couldn't muster up a run in the bottom of the 10th, and Carter worked around a one-out single to retire the next two in the top of the 11th. Stovall led the bottom of the 11th off with a double to right field and Diggs drove him home with the walk-off RBI double.
Up next, the Razorbacks will host Wright State for a three game series at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Friday and Saturday games will begin at 3 p.m. CT and Sunday's will start at 1 p.m. All three contests will be streamed on the SEC Network Plus.
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