Arkansas Walks off to Take Game 1 Over Wright St.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Good afternoon and welcome to what has been a miserable day in Northwest Arkansas.
It's been the kind of damp, cold day that makes everyone want to stay inside and sleep, but that's not going to be an option for the Arkansas Razorbacks and Wright State Raiders.
As one old-timer put it to me this morning when I asked his thoughts on the odds the Razorbacks were going to play, "Dave [Van Horn] will have them out there in knee-deep water if he has to."
So here we are with high, wet winds that have driven the wind chill to below freezing most of the day, but everyone's knees appear to be not underwater, so settle in and appreciate the effort these players are suffering to bring you.
On a side note, because of the weather, we're not going to ask our photographers to shoot. We don't want them to ruin personal equipment that goes into the five digits in cost. However, we will continue to add in videos of major Razorbacks plays as usual.
The Weekend Rotation
Happy Birthday to Jordan Walsh
We want to just take a moment to wish a happy birthday to the basketball team's Jordan Walsh. While Anthony Black was in Baum-Walker for the mid-week thriller, it's highly unlikely Walsh will be braving the weather to spend his birthday taking in a bit of Razorback baseball.
May the mythical birthday wish granters give him a foul free game against Kentucky full of rebounds and tough baskets.
What About Wright St.?
The Raiders arrive in Arkansas from Dayton, Ohio carrying a 2-5 record. However, the Razorbacks can't be overconfident for two very big reasons.
1. The Hogs have struggled against teams where the perceived expectation was that it should be a relatively easy win.
2. Not only did Wright St. fly all the way to Hawaii to pick up a win, but they recently went into Lexington and dropped Kentucky, 12-9.
The Starting Line-Ups
First inning
(TOP)
Heavy wind blowing out today. If players can overcome the cold, there can be a lot of home runs today. Hagan Smith has taken the mound and we're about to start in front of a very small audience.
Justin Reimer gets on base 50% of the time, but against a fast working Smith, he's heading back to the bench 100% of the time with a strikeout to open the game.
Greenwell comes up and hits a hard grounder to Harold Coll who is starting in place of Bolton at short. He scoops it up and is able to beat a speedy Greenwell for the second out of the inning.
Gegrig Anglin comes up and perfectly places a grounder between third and short to trickle it into the outfield for the first single of the game.
On a side note, Smith is pumping fast balls in hitting mid-90s despite the cold.
Jay Luikart pops one up and we get to see right away what this wind is going to do. That ball would normally be in shallow left field, but it keeps going. It's all the way to the warning track for Jared Wegner to get the out on a ball that was very poorly hit.
This is going to be an adventure today.
Arkansas 0, Wright St. 0
Mid-Inning Break
THE NUMBERS SAY THE RAZORBACKS HAVE THE WRONG PLAYER
TAKING MOST OF THE SHOTS
First inning
(BOTTOM)
Josenberger hits a hard liner on the first pitch he sees to Anglin and the Hogs have one down before the umpire can even get fully crouched.
Bohrofen sees a strike on the first pitch, then watches four straight go by and the Razorbacks have their first runner of the game.
The pitcher Jake Shirk hasn't given up a home run, but with Jared Wegner up to bat with this wind, that might not last long.
Wegner misses under the ball and it pops up to right field. The right fielder has to run forever, but he's there and the Razorbacks have two down.
Slavens up and he hits a grounder to short that never even takes a tiny hop. Throw to second and we're scoreless after one.
Arkansas 0, Wright St. 0
Second inning
(TOP)
Smith starts out 3-1, then gets Sammy Sass to foul one of to force a full count. Next pitch is in the dirt and it rolls back toward the fence as Sass heads to first.
Andrew Patrick comes up and he looks thoroughly confused as he watches a strike go by on an 0-2 pitch. One away and the runner stays at first.
Smith goes to a full count against Parker Harrison and then nearly throws one to the back stop. What a snag by Rowland to avoid putting a runner on third on a wild pitch.
Smith challenges Luke Arnold with high heat over the middle of the plate at the letters and Arnold just can't catch up to it. That's the third K of the game for Smith
Smith throws a 2-2 pitch into the dirt that bounces off Rowland and carries back into the infield. The runners move second and third.
Now there's a pitch high and inside and the bases are loaded on three walks with two outs. That will bring the pitching coach to the mound for a quick talk.
Smith is really struggling with location. He is missing badly on everything. He is now up to 30 pitches this inning. He finally gets a fast ball to stick in there and it's a bases loaded full count.
There's a high chopper to Coll. He runs up on it, makes a nice throw on the move and the Razorbacks avoid disaster.
Arkansas 0, Wright St. 0
Mid-Inning Break
THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME ARKANSAS FANS
GET TO SEE CALIPARI COACH KENTUCKY IN PERSON
Second inning
(BOTTOM)
Peyton Stovall will start the inning for Arkansas. Stovall hits a screamer that Reimer backhands along the outfield grass at short, throws one into the dirt and Greenwell makes an amazing dig at first to get the out.
Diggs comes up and he gets a hold of one that is gone by a mile, but it carries foul. He then takes a home run cut that snaps his neck on a full count pitch that would have been a ball and there are now two down.
Cali, whose first hit as a Hog was a home run Wednesday, rips into one that gets up in the stream and there's no doubt. It goes over the camera guy in center and carries into the outfield pond. It's now 1-0 Razorbacks.
Rowland tries to keep things going, but hits an easy grounder to second and that will do it for the second.
Arkansas 1, Wright St. 0
Third inning
(TOP)
Smith again struggling with location. He walks Greenwell on four straight pitches. Smith rebounds with a tough inside pitch that jams Anglin. The slow grounder to third takes away the option for the double play, but Cali is able to get the out at first.
Smith gets behind to Luikard, but battles back and throws two strikes to get the second out of the inning and his fourth strikeout of the day.
Sass hits a high chopper to third. Cali comes up on it and tries to make a quick throw. It bounces out of Slavens' glove and Sass is safe.
Smith starts working fast again to Patrick, who is currently the most dangerous hitter in this Wright St. line-up. Three pitches and he's gone. Smith went high and in and got him swinging.
Arkansas 1, Wright St. 0
Mid-Inning Break
ACTIONS BY KENTUCKY IN JANUARY INVITE RAZORBACK FANS
TO BE EXTRA CREATIVE WITH SIGNS THIS SATURDAY
Third inning
(BOTTOM)
Coll comes up for what will be his first official at-bat as a Razorback. He's had issues with his back that have kept him from getting a chance to play.
On a full-count pitch, Coll extends his arm and drops a perfectly placed hit into shallow left for a lead-off hit.
Josenberger is up and he lifts one to right field that is caught for an easy out.
Now Bohrofen comes up and is immediately hit in the back of his calf.
A ball in the dirt gets away from Sass a little and Coll is safe at third easily. Wait, here's a throw down to second and Bohrofen is out. He didn't get the lead Coll did and got caught for the second out.
Wegner faces four pitches, one that narrowly misses him, and walks with literally no chance to see anything close enough to reach.
Slavens comes up with two on and he pops one up on a ball off the end of the bat. That will be the third out. Wait, no. That one got way up in that wind and got just enough of a boost to barely clear the fence in left and Slavens has a 3-run homer.
Now Stovall turns on one and there will be no wind needed. Hurricane force winds could have been blowing in and that one would have been gone. He hit it a ton. He snapped his entire body around and caught a belt high pitch that still may not have landed. It's now 5-0 Arkansas.
Diggs hits a high grounder to second, the throw to first is in time and we're heading to the fourth, but not before the Razorbacks put on a show.
Arkansas 5, Wright St. 0
Fourth inning
(TOP)
Smith rocks and fires through four pitches and sits down Harrison swinging for his fifth strikeout of the day.
He's not wasting any time and that wildness is gone. Arnold with an easy fly to Josenberger out in center and Fisher strikes out swinging and in maybe a couple of minutes, we're headed to the bottom of the fourth.
Arkansas 5, Wright St. 0
Fourth inning
(BOTTOM)
Cali with a hard hit ball deep to center. Patrick is trying to get to it. He dives, lays out and makes a magnificent catch and there's one down.
Rowland grounds out on an easy one to second and Coll grounds to second on the first pitch he sees and we're out of the bottom of the fourth on only four pitches.
Arkansas 5, Wright St. 0
Fifth inning
(TOP)
Smith comes back out to the mound to pitch the top half of the fifth in a game that is absolutely flying. We're on pace for a 2-hour game.
Reimer works Smith to a full count. Smith goes conservative and throws a fast ball up over the heart of the plate and Reimer sends it up and over the bullpen out in left. That is the first home run Smith has given up this year and it's now 5-1.
Smith is now in the 90s on pitch count. He responds to the home run by throwing two straight strikes to Greenwell before he gets him to ground to second.
He then walks Anglin on five pitches to put the first runner of the inning on board. If he stays in, he will be throwing his 99th pitch and it looks like Van Horn is going to allow it.
Smith starts off with two balls and then comes back with five straight strikes. He gets Luikart to ground to second. They say Stovall tagged Anglin and go the throw just barely in time to end the inning.
The Raiders are going to appeal the tag at second.
The out has been overturned and that will be it for Hagan Smith. He's too far into the pitch count to finish the inning.
The Hogs will call on Dylan Carter to finish it out. He was the only stable arm Van Horn could find in a dramatic extra innings game on Wednesday. Carter went 2 1/3 in 30 pitches that night.
Carter comes down the pipe on Sass and he barely missed what would have been a double down the third base line that would have also brought in a run.
Carter wins the battle. He gets Sass on a check swing of a breaking ball outside and in the dirt.
Arkansas 5, Wright St. 1
Mid-Inning Break
AFTER EARNING MORE PLAYING TIME
WITH MUSSELMAN'S RAZORBACKS, FORD LAND SEC AWARD
Fifth inning
(BOTTOM)
Josenberger will lead off the inning as the Razorbacks are back to the top of the order.
He hits a chopper that has a lot of top spin and Josenberger is hauling. Anglin comes in and the ball spins out of his hand as he tries to transition it and the lead-off hitter is on with the error.
Borofen strikes out with a hard swing at a change-up, but the swing does enough to delay things that Josenberger is able to get a steal at second.
That brings Wegner to the plate who has been begging for any kind of pitch that he can swing at. This Raiders pitching staff has been careful to give him absolutely nothing to swing at.
Wegner fouls one off out of frustration, then the catcher frames in two pitches low and outside that the home plate umpire buys for a pair of highly questionable strikes and Wegner heads back to the dugout with a strikeout.
Slavens, whose home run that crept over the wall is listed as officially 346 feet, will come to the plate. He's looking to bring in Josenberger and he turns on one to right center that gets down to bring in Josenberger. It's now 6-1.
Wright St. was playing back because of the wind and he burned them.
Now Stovall is up and he puts a charge into this one. It's heading way back into right-center. It's off the top of the wall and shoots back into the outfield with a lot of velocity.
That allows Slavens to score easily as he turns third with something that looks like a pacifier in his mouth. That makes it 7-1 as Stovall cruises into second with a stand-up double.
Diggs, who also have home run power, watches four straight balls to put the force back into play. Wright St. will finally start to get some arms up in the bullpen.
Cali, who hit a monster home run earlier in the game, fouls a breaking pitch off the bone in his lower left leg and he's down. He is in a lot of pain. This is taking a while for him to shake it off.
Cali is finally back to the plate and he watches strike three on curve ball that touched the outer part of the strike zone. Shirk is now through five full innings on 86 pitches.
Arkansas 7, Wright St. 1
Sixth inning
(TOP)
Carter is back on the mound and he gets Patrick on a 3-2 count that probably should have been a walk. Rowland bailed him out on it with a sneaky framing of the pitch. Then, after going 1-2 to Boston Smith, Carter throws three straight balls and the Raiders have a runner on first.
Arnold with a single to left field and Smith is safe on the head first slide into third. Runners are now at the corner with one out.
Dane Thomas will pinch hit and he gets one up into the wind that carries to the track in front of the Burger King sign. Bohrofen makes the catch, but has no chance at getting Smith at the plate, so Wright St. will get a run to make it 7-2.
That's two outs.
Reimer hits a weird bunt that floats in the air and drops in on a difficult play at third. The throw to first is late.
However, Carter rushes over to third to cover and Slavens throws to him after failing to get the out at first and Carter puts the tag on Thomas. Hogs get out of the inning on a crazy play.
Arkansas 7, Wright St. 2
Sixth inning
(BOTTOM)
Laisure comes on in relief for the Raiders.
Rowland is able to get a good hit on one to right-center, but the catch is made near the track.
Now Coll hits one to the same spot and this one has a shot. The catch is made at the wall in front of the 365 sign and very quickly there are two outs.
Josenberger goes down swinging and the Hogs are retired, 1, 2, 3.
Arkansas 7, Wright St. 2
Seventh inning
(TOP)
Greenwell with an easy liner to center field and Josenberger makes the play.
Anglin with an easy hit ball to center field and Josenberger makes the play for a second out.
Luikart rips a hard shot into left and Wright St. will try to put together a two-out rally.
Now Sass pumps one up the middle and the Raiders are cooking with runners at first and second.
The hitting coach will come out to talk with Carter. Meeting is over and he goes 2-0 to start off Patrick who hit a pair of home runs in the win over Kentucky.
Carter comes back with a pair of strike and then paints the heat on the outer part of the plate to get Patrick swinging to end the inning.
Arkansas 7, Wright St. 2
Mid-Inning Break
HOGS NEED A REPEAT PERFORMANCE OUT OF THEIR INTERIOR PLAYERS IF THEY HOPE TO TAKE DOWN KENTUCKY
Seventh inning
(BOTTOM)
Bohrofen comes up to lead things off and strikes out on a spine twisting swing at a 1-2 pitch to bring Wegner up with one out.
Wegner gets nothing worth swinging at and he will slowly walk to first.
Wegner steals third easily on what ended up being a wild pitch. Wegner didn't know that though. As he slid and popped up, he glanced back and realized what had happened and immediately regretted not staying up and rounding second.
Slavens walks on four straight pitches and that will trigger a visit to the mound. It looks like Laisure will stay in. This may have more to do with giving the bullpen time to warm up on a cold day than anything else.
That brings up Stovall with runners at first and second it looks like they don't want to pitch to him either. There's a wild pitch that Stovall barely avoids and Wegner moves to third while Slavens jogs in at second.
The infield now moves in on the grass.
After fouling off three straight pitches after going 2-2, Stovall golfs a low line drive back up the middle and he drives in a pair of runs to make it 9-2 Hogs with one out.
Stovall held at first, so the double play is still a possibility as Diggs comes to the plate.
Diggs walks on four pitches, including a wild pitch on the last one and that's going to be it for Laisure.
Garrett Simpson comes in for Laisure and he will face Cali with runners on first and second with only one out.
Cali paints the line over the bag at third on a top spin line drive that carries well out into left field. Stoval scores with no throw and Cali becomes the winning run by way of run rule.
Coll hits a hard grounder that kicks up into shallow right field that might bring this one to an end. The Raiders pull it together and get he out at first and that keeps Cali at third.
That brings up Coll who hits a routine grounder that is scooped up by the pitcher and we're going to have to play another inning. The Hogs had a chance, but just couldn't get the winning run in from third.
Arkansas 11, Wright St. 2
Eighth inning
(TOP)
Parker Coil will take the mound for the Razorbacks and he will face freshman Lucas Johnson who is up for a pinch hit.
He blasts a hard line shot right over Coil's head into shallow center field on a 2-0 count and the Raiders are looking to make a late game comeback.
Coil battles back for a full count against another pinch hitter in Stoner. He has now thrown five consecutive strikes as Stoner fouls off three in a row.
Make that six. Coil throws one on the outside corner and it looks like Stoner was looking for a breaking pitch as he was clearly behind on his swing. The strikeout gives Coil his first strikeout of the game.
Thomas is up and he hits a hard grounder that Slavens has to dive to his knees to smother. Coil gets off the mound fast and has to make the catch on the flip at a dead spring to get the out as Thomas was hauling it up the line. Coil barely got there in time, but he did, so there's two down.
Coil battles his way back to another full count, this time against Reimer. Reimer hits what looked like it would be an easy high bouncing grounder, but it's just barely out of reach as it trickles into the out field between outstretched gloves at short stop and third.
Coil stays calm though. He gets Greenwell to ground out to second on a play that looked like Stovall made it much harder than needed to be on the throw to first.
Arkansas 11, Wright St. 2
Mid-Inning Break
IS IT OK FOR YOUTH LEAGUE COACHES
TO STEAL PITCHING SIGNS?
Eighth inning
(BOTTOM)
Wright St. gets a pair of quick outs, but after an entire game of not pitching anything Wegner might be able to hit, the Raiders make a mistake.
Wegner launches one deep to center field that goes just left of the scoreboard and this one is immediately over. The Hogs win it by run rule, 12-2.
FINAL STATS
