FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas entered Thursday night badly in need of an SEC series victory, and the Razorbacks took a step in the right direction by defeating Ole Miss 10-3 in the series opener in front of 2,632 at Baum Stadium.
It was the second consecutive victory for Arkansas (13-12, 2-5 SEC), but only its third in the past 13 games.
Today’s game
OLE MISS AT ARKANSAS
WHEN 6 p.m. WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville TV SEC Network RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by affiliates. INTERNET arkansasrazorbacks.…
"It's been a tough stretch for us the last couple of weeks, and we really needed to come out and get through this game and find a way to win," said Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn, whose team dropped its first two SEC series against Vanderbilt and LSU to dig itself an early hole in conference play. "You can't get it all back at once. We just have to keep our heads down and play well one inning at a time."
Arkansas is in the midst of playing five consecutive nights in three different cities. The Hogs lost to Memphis in North Little Rock on Tuesday, then defeated the Tigers in Memphis on Wednesday before driving through severe weather on the way back to Fayetteville and arriving home at about 2:45 a.m. Thursday.
"I felt like we were a little dead in pregame, but once the game started everything kind of clicked and we turned it on," Arkansas left fielder Joe Serrano said.
Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini and reliever Zach Jackson cobbled together a solid if not spectacular performance, holding Ole Miss (13-13, 3-4) to five hits through the first eight innings.
Taccolini pitched five-plus innings and Jackson came on in relief in the sixth and allowed only two hits to get the Hogs to the ninth. Taccolini and Jackson gave up a combined eight walks over the first eight innings but also had 13 strikeouts.
Lance Phillips pitched the ninth to close out the victory.
"It was a good night of just battling through some adversity," Van Horn said. "[Taccolini and Jackson] got in jams with the bases loaded a couple of times and had to pitch through it. We try to tell them it's damage control time, where you can give up that one or two but stay out of the big inning."
Serrano continued his surge over the past few weeks, going 3 for 5 while hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time. Serrano also scored two runs.
"We had a talk with Joe a couple of weeks ago and challenged him a little bit," Van Horn said. "He's a senior, and it's time for him to get it going. He's made a few adjustments and has responded well."
Andrew Benintendi stretched his hitting streak to eight games with a 2-for-5 night that included an RBI. Tyler Spoon, Cullen Gassaway and Brett McAfee all had doubles. McAfee finished 3 for 4 for the game.
Tied at 2-2 after four innings, Arkansas pulled ahead with three runs in the fifth and added three unearned runs in the seventh to take an 8-3 lead. Ole Miss crumbled defensively in the late innings, making four errors.
Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the first when Gassaway singled to drive home Serrano.
Ole Miss took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third as Taccolini struggled with his control, walking four batters, but the Hogs tied it at 2-2 in the home half of the inning when Bobby Wernes led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gassaway.
The Hogs broke it open with three runs in the fifth. Benintendi's single drove in Serrano to make it 3-2, and Benintendi came home on a double by Gassaway to make it 4-2. Tyler Spoon doubled to score pinch-runner Clark Eagan for a 5-2 advantage.
Taccolini lasted through two outs in the sixth inning, at which point he had thrown more than 100 pitches. He gave up only three hits but walked six and left with runners on first and second. Ole Miss pushed across a run to cut the lead to 5-3 before Jackson picked up a strikeout to end the threat.
Ole Miss loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but Jackson struck out three consecutive batters to get out of the jam. Ole Miss is now 2 for 34 with the bases loaded this season, the worst percentage in the SEC.
Arkansas sealed it in the bottom half of the inning with three unearned runs.
Eagan walked, and with two outs Chad Spanberger pinch hit a hard bouncing ball down the right side that was misplayed by Ole Miss first baseman Sikes Orvis before right fielder Cameron Dishon made another error tracking it down in the corner.
Dishon's error allowed Eagan to score and Spanberger to advance to second base. McAfee followed with a hard single up the middle to make it 7-3. McAfee stole second and scored on Michael Bernal's single to right field to make it 8-3.
Arkansas will send Trey Killian (0-1, 2.16 ERA) to to mound tonight to face Brady Bramlett (3-1, 1.54).
Killian pitched the third game in the LSU series but moves up to the No. 2 spot tonight, and Van Horn said he expects to have his ace back as the No. 1 starter by next weekend. Killian was slowed early in the season by an injury, but he turned in strong performances against Vanderbilt and LSU in his past two starts.
"We're happy with the way Trey has come along," Van Horn said. "We're excited to get him out there, and Ole Miss' guy has good numbers too, so it should be a good game. "
Sports on 03/27/2015