FAYETTEVILLE -- Jacob Stone earned some much-needed redemption.
The senior right-hander, who had a disastrous ninth inning in a one-run loss to Auburn on Saturday, excelled in his first career start Tuesday night, allowing one hit in five innings as Arkansas beat Mississippi Valley State 8-1 in front of an announced crowd of 2,012 at Baum Stadium.
"I'm not sure if I'll ever start again, but I had fun doing it," Stone said.
It was quite the contrast from Saturday. Stone entered that game against Auburn with one out in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the ninth before committing an error, walking a batter and then hitting back-to-back batters to score the go-ahead run in the Tigers' 3-2 victory.
"Saturday was pretty embarrassing, individually and for the team," Stone said. "No one wants to get walked off like that."
Knowing he'll be needed out of the bullpen in more stressful situations the rest of the season, Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he and pitching coach Dave Jorn decided not to waste any time getting Stone back on the mound.
"We know he's a lot better pitcher than he's shown and we wanted to get him on the mound as soon as we could to get his confidence up," Van Horn said. "I know he felt bad about what happened [Saturday]. We knew if he threw well then obviously he's going to gain a lot of confidence, so we just wanted to get him out there and let him throw 60-70 pitches.
"We wanted him to start a game and not come in in a tight situation. He just seemed under control tonight, and that was good to see. I think he gained a lot of confidence. I hope it loosened him up and got him ready for the weekend.
"He proved to himself and everyone else that he deserves to be out there with games on the line."
Stone (2-2) struck out five and retired the final 10 batters he faced. He threw 65 pitches.
"I knew I needed to get out there and get a good rebound appearance," Stone said. "It was good to get out there and compete like I know I can and get the win."
Arkansas (17-15) used a good offensive outing to set the tone early, outhitting the Delta Devils 11-3, including a 4-for-5 performance from Tyler Spoon.
The Razorbacks, who have outscored Mississippi Valley State 49-6 in seven meetings, wasted no time taking control of the game with a three-run, three-hit first inning.
"The lead was huge," Stone said. "It definitely gives the pitching staff as a whole a lot of confidence. We had the momentum the entire game, and that definitely puts your heart at ease. You're not pressing to make perfect pitches. You just attack them and get quick ground ball outs and get back into the dugout."
Arkansas got to Mississippi Valley State starter Tyler Case (3-4) quickly, using singles from Joe Serrano and Spoon and an RBI single down the left-field line from Cullen Gassaway.
That lead grew to 5-0 in the second inning on an RBI triple from Andrew Benintendi and an RBI double from Spoon.
A towering two-run home run from Gassaway made it 7-0 in the fifth.
Mississippi Valley State (6-20-1) picked up its second hit and lone run in the sixth when Kalik May homered to left field off Arkansas reliever Josh Alberius.
Arkansas' final run came in the eighth on an RBI infield single from Chad Spanberger.
Alberius struck out three in three innings of relief, and freshman Kyle Pate worked a perfect ninth.
"Those were some pretty stressful games we just played," Van Horn said of the Auburn series. "Three tight ones, and we also lost a really tough game last Tuesday [to Missouri State]. We've been in a lot of tight games, so it was good to go out and get a lead and be able to play the game in a more relaxed atmosphere."
The Razorbacks wrap up their two-game series with the Delta Devils at 3:05 p.m. today before returning to SEC play Friday with a three-game series against Kentucky at Baum Stadium.
UAPB 14,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 9
Arkansas-Pine Bluff answered the University of Central Arkansas’ big inning with one of its own Tuesday night and extended its winning streak to four games as a result.
UAPB scored six runs in the top of the fourth inning after UCA scored six in the bottom of the third and outlasted the Bears in a victory at Bear Stadium in Conway.
Gabriel Munoz hit two home runs and drove in five for the Golden Lions (15-12), while Vladimir Gomez drove in three runs and Andre Davis drove in two more. UAPB battered four UCA (17-10) pitchers for 16 hits and scored all of its runs in the first five innings.
Logan Preston, Joey Pinney and Braxton Phillips homered for the Bears.
LOUISIANA TECH 9, UALR 7
Louisiana Tech (14-15) scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held off UALR (11-17) at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston, La.
The Trojans trailed 7-1 entering the top of the eighth, but Petr Sila’s RBI single capped a six-run inning to tie the game at 7-7.
Louisiana Tech took a two-run lead on Taylor Nichols’ RBI single, which scored Taylor Love and Conner Tobias.
Kyle Kirk and Tanner Rockwell had three hits each to lead the Trojans. Rockwell (0-2) took the loss in relief, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits in 1 inning.
Sports on 04/08/2015