Razorbacks can’t get key hits as Rebels even series with 4-3 win Saturday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas couldn’t string enough hits together Saturday afternoon as Ole Miss rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Razorbacks, 4-3, and force a deciding game three Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas (22-5, 6-2 SEC) scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning off home runs by Jack Kenley and Christian Franklin, but only had one other hit in the final five innings.

At the time of Franklin’s solo home run, the Razorbacks had the 3-1 lead, but saw it dwindle as the Rebels (19-9, 4-4 SEC) scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie it at 3-3.

In the top of the ninth, Ole Miss took the final lead of the game when Grae Kessinger doubled home pinch runner Carl Gindl to give the Rebels the 4-3 lead.

Arkansas went three-up and three-down in the bottom of the ninth as Ole Miss closer Parker Caracci picked up his seventh save of the season.

Sophomore Casey Martin went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, his second three-hit game of the year. Two of his three hits were doubles, setting a career high and extended his hit streak to five games.

Kenley, Franklin and Jacob Nesbit each had one hit in the game as well. Kenley’s home run was his fifth of the year, tying for the team lead, while Franklin’s was his fourth.

Freshman right-hander Connor Noland had a nice bounce-back start after not making it through two innings last week at Alabama. Noland gave up only two earned runs in 4.2 innings on Saturday against Ole Miss, scattering seven hits and striking out three.

Saturday’s loss drops Arkansas to 4-2 in one-run games this year and 3-1 in games that it has scored three or less runs. It also breaks a streak of seven-straight home wins dating back to March 10 against Louisiana Tech.

Razorback quotables

“It was just one of those games we never could get anything going, offensively. We couldn’t string together two hits. It was one hit here, one hit there, maybe a walk and a wind-blown home run. A couple of outs, we hit another wind-blown home run. Other than that, not much offense. We had a couple of chances early to score a run or two. I think we had a runner at third, less than two, we didn’t get him in. Had a first and second, nobody out, middle of the order out, we didn’t get anybody in. We had a couple of shots and we just didn’t do it. Give them credit. They pitched better than we did. But at the same time, we had an opportunity to stay in the game and win the game and we just didn’t do it on the offensive side.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on the 4-3 loss to Ole Miss

“I thought he threw the ball pretty good. He worked out of a couple jams and had a breaking ball really working well. He started spotting the fastball in on some of the righties and made a mistake. (Tyler) Keenan was going to be his last hitter if he got him out or not and he left a changeup first pitch. It was supposed to be down and away and it was kind of up and in. He clubbed it out of the park. But, he gave us a chance to win the game. When he came out of the game, we were winning. He gave us everything we wanted, so I’m proud of him for kind of bouncing back after a couple of weekends where he didn’t throw real well and he made a big move forward this week.” — Van Horn on Connor Noland

“A lot of times it comes down to Sunday. Probably about seven, eight times out of 10 weekends you’ve got to figure out how to win on Sunday to win a series. It’s always a big game on Sunday, no matter what the situation is, but when it’s 1-1 it’s obviously big for both teams.” — Van Horn on playing a rubber match on Sunday against Ole Miss

“I guess there’s no excuses as good as we’ve been hitting. It’s a little frustrating, but then again, that’s baseball. That’s just how it goes. That’s a good team we just played. They made good pitches and we didn’t make swings. That’s on us. We’ll come back tomorrow. We’ll figure it out and we’ll hit like we have been.” — Casey Martin on the offense’s struggles on Saturday

“Coach (Van Horn) preaches on Sundays, they (teams) win championships. We kind of preached on that a little bit. Even though today didn’t go as we planned, we’ll come out tomorrow and we’ll get the dugout in it, we’ll get the hitters in it and pitching will be there like always. I think we’ll show up and do what we always do just like last Sunday. You got to bring it on Sundays, that’s just part of the game.” — Martin on what it will take to win Sunday’s rubber match

Up next

Arkansas and Ole Miss will face off in the rubber match of the three-game series on Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m. and will be televised on SEC Network+.

Razorbacks split Saturday doubleheader with Bulldogs, Golden Lions

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas split its doubleheader on Saturday against Mississippi State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The Razorbacks fell to the eighth-ranked Bulldogs, 5-2, before sweeping the Golden Lions, 7-0.

Mississippi State took the doubles point to go up 1-0 in the first match of the day off of consecutive victories on courts three and one. Eighth-ranked Nuno Borges and his partner Strahinja Rakic defeated Oscar Mesquida and Adam Sanjurjo in a tightly contested match 6-4 to secure the point.

Mississippi State would jump out to a 2-0 lead with a win on the third court before Josh Howard-Tripp took Arkansas’ first court of the day on the second court, beating Niclas Braun 6-3, 6-3 to cut the lead to 2-1.

After a win on court four, the Bulldogs would clinch the match on court one as No. 2 Nuno Borges took the first set 6-3, before taking the second set 7-6(3), despite No. 52 Oscar Mesquida forcing a tiebreaker in the second set.

In the final court, Jose Dominguez Alonso would win on five 6-4, 6-4 over Florian Broska for a 5-2 final score against the Bulldogs.

In the day’s second match, Arkansas cruised passed the Golden Lions of UAPB with a 7-0 sweep.

Competing only five athletes, UAPB forfeited the third court in doubles and the sixth court in singles. The doubles point was secured on the second court as Pedro Alonso and Josh Bortnick garnered a 6-1 victory over Simon Lewis and Kameron Myers.

Owning a 2-0 victory in singles, Enrique Paya defeated Kameron Myers 6-0, 6-0 to put Arkansas within one point of clinching the match.

Adam Sanjurjo would clinch the match on court two with a 6-0, 6-1 win as the Hogs would win the final three courts for a 7-0 final.

Doubles Results – Order of Finish (3,1)
1. No. 8 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MS) def. Oscar Mesquida/Adam Sanjurjo (AR) 6-4
2. Maxim Verboven/Enrique Paya (AR) vs. Gregor Ramskogler/Trevor Foshey (MS) 5-5, unfinished
3. Florian Broska/Niclas Braun (MS) def. Alex Reco/Jose Alonso (AR) 6-3

Singles Results – Order of Finish (3,2,4,1,6,5)
1. No. 2 Nuno Borges (MS) def. No. 52 Oscar Mesquida (AR) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
2. Josh Howard-Tripp (AR) def. Niclas Braun (MS) 6-3, 6-3
3. Strahinja Rakic (MS) def. Alex Reco (AR) 6-4, 6-3
4. Trevor Foshey (MS) def. Enrique Paya (AR) 6-4, 6-4
5. Jose Alonso (AR) def. Florian Broska (MS) 6-4, 6-4
6. Gregor Ramskogler (MS) def. Maxim Verboven (AR) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4

Arkansas 7, UAPB 0
Doubles Results – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. Oscar Mesquida/Enrique Paya (AR) def. Le’Derrien Ledbetter/Thomas Harris (UAPB) 6-2
2. Pedro Alonso/Josh Bortnick (AR) def. Simon Lewis/Kameron Myers (UAPB) 6-1
3. Josh Howard-Tripp/Adam Sanjurjo (AR) def. No player/No player (UAPB), by forfeit

Singles Results – Order of Finish (6,3,2,1,4,5)
1. Oscar Mesquida (AR) def. Le’Derrien Ledbetter (UAPB) 6-1, 6-0
2. Adam Sanjurjo (AR) def. Simon Lewis (UAPB) 6-0, 6-1
3. Enrique Paya (AR) def. Kameron Myers (UAPB) 6-0, 6-0
4. Pedro Alonso (AR) def. Thomas Harris (UAPB) 6-0, 6-1
5. Josh Bortnick (AR) def. Junius Ross (UAPB) 6-0, 6-1
6. Maxim Verboven (AR) def. No player (UAPB), by forfeit

Kentucky rolls past Razorbacks on Saturday to even series at Bogle Park

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas dropped game two of its series to Kentucky on Saturday, 16-2, after four errors and some hot hitting by the Wildcats.

Arkansas now stands at 24-10 overall, 5-6 in conference play.

Up next

No. 13 Arkansas and No. 18 Kentucky will fight for the series Sunday at 1p.m.

Sunday’s game will be available for streaming on SEC+. Live scoring will also be available for fans, links for both are below.

How it happened

• A passed ball and Razorback error put the Hogs behind early, trailing 3-0 after the first frame.

• Starting pitcher Mary Haff was relieved with two outs in the first inning after a collision at home plate during a scoring play. Junior Lauren Graves entered and struck out the final Wildcat, swinging.

• Seven Wildcat runs crossed in the second off seven Kentucky hits and three more errors by the Arkansas defense. Five of those runs were scored with two outs on the board.

• The Hogs scored their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the second, off the bat of senior Ashley Diaz, whose single up the middle brought in Nicole Duncan and Keely Edwards.

• The Razorbacks gave up no additional errors, but Kentucky’s offense stayed hot, with six runs over the third and fourth innings. The fifth inning was the only inning UK did not score a run.

Notables

• UK’s 16 runs is the most runs allowed in a single game by Arkansas since April 16, 2016 when the Hogs gave up 23 runs to #3 Auburn in game two of the series.

• Three Razorbacks saw time in the circle today: Haff, Graves, and senior Katie Warrick. Combined, the trio dished out three strikeouts and three walks.

• Today’s run-rule defeat was the second of the season, after the Razorbacks dropped game two of the series to Ole Miss (12-0).

Morris recapping Saturday’s scrimmage, won by defense … again

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Chad Morris was glad the offense didn’t have turnovers Saturday, but the defense once again won the sought-after belt for winning the day.

Craddock on Jones’ good day, ‘families’ within team working well

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked after Saturday’s scrimmage about quarterback John Stephen Jones, the “family system” within the team.

Wagner, Richardson recapping Saturday’s scrimmage, young players

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas offensive lineman Dalton Wagner and defensive lineman Gabe Richardson like what they see from younger players after workout.

Campbell, Fletcher, Goodheart talking about kicking off series with win

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorback pitcher Isaiah Campbell, designated hitter Matt Goodheart and centerfielder Dominic Fletcher recapping Friday night’s win over Ole Miss.

Van Horn talking about Razorbacks’ 5-3 win over Ole Miss

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn talked about how his team held on at the end to start the weekend series against the Rebels with a win.

Photos from early part of Razorbacks’ spring practice Friday

Andy Hodges
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Running back Rakeem Boyd was back for at least one period in the first four periods of Arkansas’ spring practice Friday in advance of Saturday’s scrimmage.

Here are photos from the first four periods.

Chattoo, Gilbert Advance To 110-meter hurdle final at Texas Relays

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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AUSTIN, Texas — Day three of the Texas Relays saw Arkansas capitalize on their opportunities, advancing there and on the west coast at the Stanford Invitational.

On the track, the Razorbacks first event was the prelims in the 4×100-meter relay. The relay of Josh Oglesby, Rashad Boyd, Kris Hari, and Roy Ejiakuekwu carried the baton to the tune of 40.71 — a season-best — finishing 13th-overall.

Prelims in the 110-meter hurdles featured Shakiel Chattoo (14.10q) and Tre’Bien Gilbert (14.11q), both of whom qualified for Saturday’s final in the event after finishing eighth and ninth, respectively.

Arkansas fielded both a sprint medley and distance medley relay on Friday afternoon. the SMR of John Winn, Rhayko Schwartz, Hunter Woodhall, and Kieran Taylor ran 3:22.00 for fourth-place, while Ethan Moehn, Kevin Wilkinson, Chase Pareti, and Cameron Griffith ran 9:53.91 for second-place in the DMR with Griffith posting the third-fastest anchor leg in the race at 4:08.73.

Erich Sullins finished 10th in the discus this Friday morning with a best throw of 51.49m (168-11) following his school record performance yesterday in the hammer.

Sam Kempka 17.48 (57-4.25) and Jeff Rogers 17.36m (56-11.50) finished seventh and eighth in the shot put while Laquan Nairn took seventh-place in the triple jump with a best mark of 15.57m (51-1)ʷ.

On the west coast at the Stanford Invitational, Colin O’Mara finished 11th in his heat of the 1,500-meters running 3:57.95. Kyle Levermore made his 2019 debut in the 3,000-meter steeplechase running 9:26.19 for 16th-place.

Arkansas returns tomorrow for the final day of the Texas Relays.

Robinson’s PR, Brown’s NCAA-leading time highlight Texas Relays’ third day

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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AUSTIN, Texas — No. 4 Arkansas pieced together a solid day three of the Texas Relays with several razorbacks setting personal-bests and advancing to the finals of their respective events.

The Razorbacks took the track for the 4×100-meter relay where Kiara Parker, Payton Chadwick, Janeek Brown and Kethlin Campbell ran 44.17 – the third-fastest in prelims – to advance to Saturday’s final.

Brown and Chadwick returned to the track for prelims in the 100-meter hurdles. Brown posted the fastest time in prelims at 12.98 – a time that would’ve ranked No. 1 in the NCAA entering the weekend – while Chadwick ran 13.33 advancing to the final with the eighth-fastest mark.

Kiara Parker (11.21/3.6+) and Kethlin Campbell (11.50/2.1+) will be in the final of the 100-meters after running the No. 2 and No. 5 times in prelims. Parker’s time tied for the No. 2 mark in the NCAA this season while Campbell’s time would’ve been the ninth-fastest time in program history had the wind been under the 2.0 meters per second allowable. Tamara Kuykendall (11.64/2.1+) and Tiana Wilson (11.65/3.3+) finished 12th and 14th, respectively.

J’Alyiea Smith finished eighth in the 400-meter hurdle final running 1:01.68.

In the field, Rylee Robinson posted a huge lifetime-best of 4.21m (13-9.75) clearing the first three bars of the competition before bowing out after three good looks at 4.31m (14-1.75). The PR for Robinson would’ve ranked as the fifth-best mark in the NCAA this season heading into this weekend.

On the west coast at the Stanford Invitational, Arkansas’ distance crew was hard at work.

Lauren Gregory posted an eighth-place finish in the 1,500-meters running a collegiate PR of 4:22.39. in the same event, Maddy Reed finished third in her heat at 4:21.53 that finished as a new personal-best. Staying with the 1,500-meters, Meghan Underwood used a fifth-place finish to set her collegiate PR at 4:26.33, while Quinn Owen used a fourth-place finish in her heat at 4:28.53 to set her collegiate PR.

Moving up to the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Rachel Nichwitz finished 13th in 10:28.26 in her season-opening race in the event.

In the 5K, Sydney Brown finished sixth in a quick 16:27.09.

Arkansas returns to Mike A. Myers stadium tomorrow for the final day of the 92nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

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