Hogs manage to avoid ‘trap game’ against UCA on Tuesday night

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In the end, Arkansas got a win Tuesday night and that’s what mattered.

Central Arkansas came into the game not with a particularly great record, but they did beat Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., and Arkansas State in Jonesboro in mid-week games earlier in the year.

Those have been dangerous on occasion for the Razorbacks, but not this time. But it was a little close at times.

“Today was kind of a trap game a little bit with us heading out to Georgia tomorrow,” coach Dave Van Horn said later. “It’s not like we have another day. We knew UCA would give us a really good shot today. I think they played a doubleheader on Saturday, so they got to rest a little on Sunday. I don’t know how their travel was, but they fought us hard. They did a good job.”

Cody Adcock started and the junior right-hander from Texarkana, Ark., gave the Hogs a solid four innings in his second straight mid-week start. He gave up just a single run in the first inning, but a lot of that was his own doing. He plunked Mason King and Evan Hafley on back-to-back pitches, King scored on a fielder’s choice at first on a play that pulled Peyton Stovall off the bag when he had to cover. That gave the Bears a 1-0 lead.

“I missed twice, big, arm-side and hit two guys,” Adcock said later. “One of them ended up scoring. Honestly, that’s not acceptable for me. I thought I did alright, but I can’t allow that to happen because if that happens on a weekend, we might lose that game.”

It didn’t last long. Back-to-back singles by Caleb Cali and Ben McLaughlin to lead off the bottom of the second inning, then Harold Coll got his only hit of the game, but delivered a run. Hudson Polk followed with a single and Tavian Josenberger delivered a two-RBI single, giving the Hogs a 3-1 lead.

After that interesting start, Adcock settled down and gave up just one hit on 52 pitches in a start that showed continued improvement in the pitching depth for the Hogs.

“That was a big start for me,” Adcock said. “A lot of people might look past that game, but to me, it was like, ‘These guys are coming in here to play us, so I’m going to bring the smoke to them.’ They battled me the first couple innings, but I seemed to find a groove, and I’m confident.”

For the longest it looked like it might hold up all the way. UCA scored a pair of runs in the seventh, then the Hogs got a double from Kendall Diggs, Cali followed with a single and Brady Slavens delivered a two-out RBI single before Coll was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Polk worked a walk that brought in another run and a 6-3 lead.

Parker Coil and Christian Foutch worked the middle four innings (two each or order) and Austin Ledbetter closed out the ninth inning, giving up just one hit.

The Hogs hit the road this weekend for a three-game series with the Georgia Bulldogs beginning on Thursday night. First pitch from Foley Field is set for 6 p.m. (Central) and will be televised on the SEC Network.