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Arkansas rebounds at ‘Tony Gwynn’ with 5-2 win
Whether the Hogs won the game or San Diego State lost it, Arkansas came out on top, 5-2, with three runs in the ninth without getting a hit.
Arkansas’ 5-2 win over San Diego State on Saturday night didn’t come in a way fans should expect to see very often.
In reality, the Aztecs blew the game as much as the Razorbacks won it.
The Hogs found hitting a struggle again in California. Something about balls not carrying in the streams of wind close to the ocean or somesuch.
Heading into the top of the ninth they were tied at 2-2, didn’t get a single hit and still put three runs on the board.
Dave Van Horn earned his 600th win as coach of the Razorbacks. He gets a $75,000 bonus, but it’s a good bet that wasn’t on his mind in a game where even he probably had to be shaking his head if he felt nobody was watching.
Arkansas won the game by drawing four walks, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice fly and an error. San Diego State may have thrown that last one in just to try and fill out the scoresheets with every possible screwup.
It happened when Casey Martin dropped down a sacrifice bunt just to move a runner to third, then the Aztecs sailed the throw past first base.
That opened the door for a sacrifice fly by Jax Biggers and a bases-loaded walk to freshman Heston Kjerstad leading to what amounted to insurance runs.
By then Matt Cronin had come on to relieve starter Isaiah Campbell and he wasn’t going to blow a three-run lead.
Cronin has retired 18 straight batters if you want to go back to Wednesday in the win over Arizona. He took over from Campbell with no outs in the sixth, then proceeded to ring up five strikeouts in four perfect innings.
The Hogs had three hits in the game. One was a mammoth home run by Eric Cole in the sixth (it might have been in a street at Baum Stadium).
Arkansas’ only other run came on a sacrifice fly by Dominic Fletcher after Biggers started the game with a double.
The Razorbacks’ four-game trip to San Diego wraps up Sunday against San Diego with first pitch schedule for noon locally. It will be televised by CST.
