Hogs' Kendall Diggs Walks Off Win Over Ole Miss to Even Series
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn made one of the biggest decisions of the season before he went home.
Talking with the coaches after a 4-2 loss Friday night, he told his coaches, simply, "I'm going to start Kendall Diggs tomorrow."
"Then I went in my office and hung out in there for awhile," Van Horn said Saturday night after a 6-3 win over Ole Miss on a three-run walk-off homer by Diggs, who came up big. "I wrote up the lineup before I went home. That was the lineup I went with."
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He didn't get back to Baum-Walker Stadium until the afternoon.
"I needed to get away for a little while," he said. "Sometimes you just gotta clear your head a little bit."
For eight innings Saturday night, he may have been wondering if it helped.
Arkansas had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a Brady Slaven's solo homer, but homers by Ole Miss' TJ McCants and Tim Elko in the second and third grabbed the lead.
Webb gave the Hogs a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth when he hit a two-run shot over the fence in left field. Jace Bohrofen was on first after being hit by a pitch.
Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images
Ole Miss threatened in the seventh, but didn’t score. In the eighth, Ole Miss pushed a runner across when the bases were walked loaded with no outs.
It looked like extra innings.
After Jalen Battles popped up to first base, Jace Bohrofen singled. Braydon Webb then walked.
Diggs, still looking for his first hit after making good contact, got his shot.
“It was a huge stage and I was ready,” Diggs said.
He got all of a 3-2 fastball and drilled it over the right-field fence. In the celebration he lost his shirt and had a bucket of water dumped on him while trying to do a post-game interview with ESPN2.
Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images
The win sets up a big game Sunday at high noon to win the series.
The Hogs will start Jaxon Wiggins, who is 5-1 on the year but with a whopping 5.55 earned-run average.
Ole Miss will put right-hander Derek Diamond on the mound. He's struggled at times with a 3-3 record and an even bigger 6.29 earned-run average.
It could be a high-scoring affair, but only if it follows the numbers
And that has been rare this season.
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