FAYETTEVILLE — Cody Scroggins’ career at Arkansas has taken him several places - around the infield as a freshman, to the bullpen and finally the starting rotation - but one place he had never been was the postgame interview room.
That changed in Sunday’s series-clinching 11-0 win over Louisiana Tech, as he turned in his best outing for the Razorbacks with 11 strikeouts in six innings, both of which were career highs.
As he settled in to speak to the media, he started whispering with teammate Casey Martin.
Scroggins: It’s my first time (in here)… First time I actually did decent.
Martin: You did more than decent.
Scroggins: I mean, yeah… But which camera do you look at?
Those nerves weren’t apparent on the mound. After a first-pitch fastball got away from him and hit the first batter he faced, Scroggins settled in and allowed only three more base runners - two hits and a walk - the rest of the way and none of them reached second base.
“He just had a great game,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He kind of just pounded the bottom of the strike zone. I’m super happy for him and he gave us what we needed.”
Before Sunday, Scroggins’ longest outing was just 3 2/3 innings at USC and his longest scoreless outing was 2 1/3 innings against South Carolina in the 2018 Super Regional.
It was particularly cool for the redshirt junior to turn in the performance against the Bulldogs, the team he was pitching against when he tore his UCL in 2017. The injury required Tommy John surgery.
“Obviously you are never going to forget that day it happened, that you just took a big step back in your career,” Scroggins said. “You know what pitch it was on and who you were playing and stuff like that, but it really didn’t factor that much into me today.”
Van Horn was pleased that Scroggins kept his emotions under control and said his mound presence was excellent. It helped that he could throw his fastball wherever he wanted to.
“A lot of times his slider is his go-to pitch when he’s behind because he just seems to be able to throw it for a strike when he wants to,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s almost like he has a strikeout slider pitch and a get-me-over slider pitch…but today, the fastball, he was locating it in and out, all over the place.”
The outing almost assuredly secured Scroggins’ spot in the rotation for the start of SEC play next weekend against Missouri. Before then, though, Arkansas is slated to play a pair of midweek games against Western Illinois.
First pitch of Tuesday’s game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday’s game will start at 3 p.m. Both games will be streamed on the SEC Network-plus, meaning they can be watches on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.
Martin’s Homer
Jack Kenley’s bloop single just over the shortstop’s glove got the scoring started in the second inning, but it was Martin who gave the Razorbacks a comfortable early lead.
After watching a changeup go by to make the count full, the sophomore unloaded on a fastball for a three-run home run. It had an exit velocity of 103 miles per hour and landed in the seats just behind the left field bullpen, 394 feet away.
“It looked like the pitcher tried to bust him in and fool him because he had thrown him a couple of changeups the previous two pitches,” Van Horn said. “It was about belt high and I just felt like Martin recognized it and obviously hit the ball about as hard as you can hit it.”
That put the Razorbacks up 4-0 and allowed Scroggins to start “relaxing and playing catch with the catcher.”
Breaking it Open
Arkansas tacked on another run in the sixth inning thanks to a triple by Kenley and sacrifice fly by Jacob Nesbit and then broke it open with a six-run seventh inning.
Heston Kjerstad’s double scored the first run of the inning and the rest came on four RBI singles and a wild pitch. The most notable hit in the inning was off the bat of slumping sophomore Matt Goodheart.
Expected to be Arkansas’ designated hitter this season, the junior college transfer came into the game hitting just .200/.259/.240 and had seven strikeouts in 25 at bats. He and slumping junior Jordan McFarland (.188/.263/.188 with seven strikeouts in 16 at bats) had even lost the starting job to freshman Trey Harris.
Van Horn decided to give him another opportunity with a pinch-hit at bat in the seventh and Goodheart “didn’t mess around.”
“Got him a knee-high fastball and drove it right back though the middle,” Van Horn said. “The game’s pretty mental. You’ve got to think you’re good, you’ve got to think you can do it and hopefully that’ll help him.”
Other Tidbits
~The paid attendance for Sunday’s game was 7,572, while the “tickets scanned” number was 2,747.
~Sunday was Arkansas’ first shutout victory since a doubleheader sweep of South Carolina on April 14 last season. The Razorbacks won those games 3-0 and 2-0, with Matt Cronin earning the save in both.
~In his first plate appearance of the game, Casey Opitz drew a full-count walk to start the second inning. It was actually his fourth straight plate appearance to result in a walk, dating back to Friday’s game.
~Right-hander Elijah Trest became the 16th pitcher and eighth freshman to get on the mound this season. Pitching the ninth inning, he preserved the shutout despite a leadoff error by striking out the side. Fellow freshmen Patrick Wicklander, Caden Monke and Evan Taylor also struck out the side in their debut innings.
~Trest was one of three relievers who threw a scoreless inning in relief of Scroggins. The other two were Kevin Kopps and Taylor.
~Nesbit conjured up memories of Luke Bonfield when he reached on catcher’s interference in the second inning. Bonfield, of course, was the king of drawing catcher’s interference. He had seven in 2017 alone and one last season, as did Dominic Fletcher.
~One pitcher the Razorbacks will be without for their midweek series - and the SEC opener - is freshman right-hander Jacob Burton, who is serving a mandatory four-game suspension. He was ejected after hitting a Louisiana Tech batter in the head with a pitch in the ninth inning Saturday.
BOX SCORE
