Arkansas Finds Life in Doubleheader Sweep of SLU
That’s more like it.
After a rough 6th inning in Friday’s series opener that saw Southeastern Louisiana score all seven of their runs, No. 3 Arkansas shook off the loss and walked into Baum-Walker Stadium ready to play.
After a great pitching performance by freshman Hagen Smith in game one and a hot streak at the plate in game two, Arkansas earned the doubleheader sweep over the Lions Saturday, 4-2 and 11-1 respectively. The Razorbacks are now 7-3 on the season, and will begin preparing for their four-game weekend set with Illinois-Chicago that will begin next Thursday.
Here’s a look at how Arkansas earned the sweep:
Game One- Arkansas 4 SLU 2
Arkansas catcher Michael Turner (12) throws back to the pitcher against Illinois State during an NCAA baseball game on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
Graduate senior Michael Turner broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 7th inning when he nailed a two-run homerun to lift Arkansas to a 4-2 win in game one over Southeastern Louisiana.
Arkansas grabbed a run each in the 3rd and 4th innings to jump ahead, 2-0. Stovall scored Zack Gregory in the 3rd inning on a double. The second run was plated by Peyton Stovall when he singled home Chris Lanzilli in the 4th.
The Lions came back to tie the game on a two-run blast by Preston Faulkner, which looked to shift momentum towards their favor until Turner hit his home run to put the Razorbacks back in front for good.
Arkansas got a great outing from Hagen Smith on the mound. Smith allowed just two hits and two earned runs in 7.0 innings of work in game one, striking out a season-best nine batters. His strongest inning came in the 3rd inning. After allowing a leadoff single, he proceeded to sit down the next three batters by strikeout.
Zebulon Vermillion allowed a walk in his otherwise strong 8th inning, while Brady Tygart grabbed the save in his first outing as a Razorback.
Game Two- Arkansas 11 SLU 1 (8 innings)
Arkansas batter Cayden Wallace (7) against Illinois State during an NCAA baseball game on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
It only took 25 innings for the bats to wake up… but, hey, the Razorbacks will take it.
After scoring a run each in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th innings, Arkansas’ offense exploded to score four runs in the 7th inning to create separation from Southeastern Louisiana in game two.
Jalen Battles led off the inning by grabbing two bags on the first pitch, and scored one at-bat later on a single by Brady Slavens to extend the Arkansas lead to 4-0. Slavens later scored on an RBI single by Michael Thomas, who added his 4th RBI of the day on a single to left field that moved the lead to 5-0. Jace Bohrofen joined the party by scoring Cayden Wallace on a single. Lastly, Kendall Diggs earned an RBI by reaching base on a bases loaded walk. After the dust settled, the Razorbacks had extended their lead to 7-1.
The fun did not stop there, as the Razorbacks scored four more runs to put the run-rule into effect in the 8th inning.
A Wallace single was sandwiched in between walks to Zack Gregory and Michael Turner, and all three came home on a triple to the left field fence by Bohrofen, extending the lead to 10-1. He did not stay at third base long, as he scored on a wild pitch in the next at-bat, which would be the final run of the game.
Bohrofen, Wallace, and Robert Moore each collected three hits in the game. Bohrofen led the team with five RBI, Diggs was next in line with two RBI.
Jaxon Wiggins limited the Lions to just two hits in his 6.1 innings of work. Evan Taylor and Kole Ramage finished the game in relief, grabbing a strikeout each.
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