FAYETTEVILLE — A day after winning in blowout fashion, Arkansas found itself in a battle it ultimately lost Wednesday afternoon.
In was an RBI double by Lenni Kunert in the eighth inning that gave Northwestern State the lead and Tyler Smith put the exclamation point on the Demons’ 10-7 upset win over the No. 6 Razorbacks with a two-run home run off Matt Cronin in the ninth.
The loss snapped Arkansas’ six-game winning streak and came a day after it beat the Demons 19-2, meaning the teams split the two-game midweek series at Baum-Walker Stadium.
"They didn’t really surprise us," Dominic Fletcher said. "We knew they were a good team and we beat them, so we knew they would come out ready to play and put up a good fight today."
Smith had a herculean game for Northwestern State, going 3 for 4 with three home runs - all with two outs - and seven RBIs.
That matched a single-game school record for long balls set 11 years ago and his RBI total was the highest for the Demons in a decade, one shy of a school record.
“Honestly, I don’t even know where that came from,” Smith said. “But I just got in good counts, put barrels on them and that’s all I can ask for.”
It was actually a sacrifice fly by Smith that gave Northwestern State the first lead of the day, coming in the first inning after Sam Taylor's leadoff single and Jeffrey Elkins' double.
Starting pitcher Jerry Maddox couldn’t hang on to the lead, though, as he struggled with his command. He walked the first three batters of the game to load the bases and then Fletcher made him pay.
On a 1-0 pitch, the junior hit a high fly that bounced off the top of the right field wall and over for a grand slam - the Razorbacks’ fourth of the season (joining Christian Franklin, Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin).
"I think that was the first one I've had that's ever done that," Fletcher said. "I wasn’t sure it was going to get out. I thought it was going to hit the middle of the wall, but it carried out of here."
That seemed to indicate Arkansas was picking up where it left off in its 17-run win Tuesday night, but reliever Peyton Graham momentarily stopped the bleeding.
The right-hander, who came into the game with a 4.91 ERA, used strikeouts of Fletcher and Matt Goodheart to end threats in the second and fourth innings, respectively.
Meanwhile, Northwestern State managed to tie it up and take the lead with three-run third and fifth innings. Smith's first home run of the day tied the game at 4-4.
It was the second one that head coach Dave Van Horn probably regrets the most, though, as there was a base open with runners on second and third. A balk by Elijah Trest gave the Demons the lead, which is when - looking back - he should have intentionally walked him, especially considering he had a 3-1 count.
"That was the time we probably should have put him on," Van Horn said. "Hindsight is 20/20, put him on. ... Hats off to him. He had a great day."
The first four runs were charged to Arkansas starter Marshall Denton, who allowed five hits in three innings, with the next three against Trest in his two innings of work.
Arkansas answered in the fifth by finally getting to Graham. After back-to-back singles by Fletcher and Kjerstad, Jack Kenley drove them in with a triple and then scored on a Jacob Nesbit sacrifice fly to tie it up at 7-7.
The Razorbacks had an excellent opportunity to break that tie in the seventh when Kjerstad led off the inning with a double and then moved to third on a ground out by Kenley, but reliever David Hodo struck out Nesbit and Casey Opitz to strand the runner 90 feet away.
He was one of eight runners Arkansas left on base and one of three stranded on third.
"(Smith) hit three home runs and drove in seven runs and we couldn’t overcome it," Van Horn said. "We had a couple of chances to maybe break the game open or maybe extend a lead and we just didn’t get that big hit."
That left the door open for the Demons in the eighth, when Kunert hit his go-ahead double off Liam Henry.
A two-out double by Martin in the bottom of the eighth proved to be the Razorbacks’ last opportunity to score, as Northwestern State retired the final four batters to seal the victory.
SEC play resumes this weekend with a series against No. 20 Tennessee. Friday and Saturday’s games begin at 6:30 p.m. and will streamed on SEC Network-plus, but Sunday’s is at 4 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network.
Other Tidbits
~The paid attendance was 7,626, with a “tickets scanned” number of 2,051. The threat of rain and the afternoon start on a workday likely kept many fans at home.
~Goodheart stretched his on-base streak to 20 games with a walk in the first inning, but his 14-game hitting streak came to an end with an 0-for-3 day at the plate.
~With a fifth-inning single, Kjerstad extended his hitting streak to 14 games. That matches the longest of his career, which he originally set last season.
BOX SCORE
SUBSCRIBE to HawgBeat and get access to exclusive prospect interviews, the best recruiting network in the industry, inside scoops on recruiting and team news, videos, podcasts and much more.
Join the discussion on THE TROUGH, the Arkansas Rivals premium message board for thousands of Hog fans.
