Razorbacks report: Around the horn

No runs off Bolden in return

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --4/10/18-- Arkansas pitcher Caleb Bolden makes a pitch against Grambling State Tuesday night during their game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --4/10/18-- Arkansas pitcher Caleb Bolden makes a pitch against Grambling State Tuesday night during their game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas sophomore Caleb Bolden pitched three innings in Saturday's 10-1 victory over Eastern Illinois in his first appearance since June 2, 2018.

Bolden recorded his 9 outs on 45 pitches and gave up 3 hits in his first game since a brief relief outing in a 10-2 victory over Southern Miss in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional in 2018.

The right-hander from Texarkana, Texas, underwent Tommy John surgery in December 2018 and missed the 2019 season.

"It was really good to see Caleb come in, a year and a few months off of Tommy John," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "I think he topped out right around 90 [mph]. He just came in and threw strikes.

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"We just wanted him to come in there and get some work. We wanted him to throw, we were hoping right around 50 pitches, and he got to 45. But I'm sure that slowly that velocity is going to come up."

Bolden allowed three doubles, including two in the eighth inning, but he did not give up a run.

The Razorbacks turned in a sterling defensive play to keep the Panthers off the board in the eighth. Matt Mackey hit a one-out double to the left-field wall after Trey Sweeney's leadoff double. However, left fielder Curtis Washington delivered a strike to shortstop Casey Martin, and catcher Dominic Tamez went high to grab Martin's relay and tag the sliding Sweeney, who got a late break, out at the plate.

Mackey also led off the sixth with a double but could not come around to score.

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Pitch counts

Catcher Casey Opitz saw more pitches in one inning than shortstop Casey Martin saw all game.

Opitz fouled off five consecutive pitches before flying out during an eight-pitch at-bat to open the Arkansas fourth, then worked a seven-pitch walk after the Razorbacks scored six runs in the inning to give him 15 pitches faced in the frame.

Martin, given intentional passes in the third and fourth, saw 12 pitches in the game. He grounded out on his second pitch in the first inning, hit a first pitch pop-up in the sixth, then saw nine pitches in the eighth before ripping a double into the left-field corner for his first hit of the season.

Martin's double gave every Razorback starter a hit through the first two games.

"Sarcastic cheer from our dugout because they all like him obviously, and wanted him to get that over with and move on," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "He played great defense today. I mean his defense was special. He makes things look easy.

"He took some good swings yesterday. Today a little bit out front, but he hit a couple of balls hard and finally got something to drop."

Huge inning

Arkansas broke out for six runs in the fourth inning, the kind of offensive performance the Razorbacks think they're capable of repeating this season. Christian Franklin, Heston Kjerstad, Matt Goodheart, Jacob Nesbit and Cole Austin all drove in runs during the inning.

"We do expect to have an explosive offense this year," Nesbit said. "We weren't surprised by that six spot. That's what we look to do every day. We think we have the offense to do it."

Slick 'Wick'

Patrick Wicklander opened his season with five shutout innings for the Razorbacks.

The lefty gave up 3 hits and 2 walks on 77 pitches in his 5 innings.

Wicklander's college debut came against the Panthers last season, when he struck out three batters on 10 pitches.

"You know Wicklander will tell you he didn't have his best stuff," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "His breaking ball wasn't real sharp, he was behind in the count, velocity wasn't great. But he fought through it.

"Too many 2-0 counts, 3-1 counts. But he also had a couple of hitters he had 3-0 and he came back and got them, so that was good to see. But he fought through and gave us five innings, and we supported him pretty good."

Adams' debut

Freshman Blake Adams, a right-hander from Springdale Har-Ber, will make his collegiate debut today in the series finale against the Panthers.

"I expect to see a lot of strikes," sophomore Patrick Wicklander said. "He's going to go out there and compete. I feel like he's going to be our Sunday guy for the whole season, and if not he's going to be a big arm for us in the long run."

Web gems

Arkansas' corner infielders turned in two of the top defensive plays of the game.

Third baseman Jacob Nesbit had to charge toward the mound to field Grant Emme's grounder in the third inning, then throw sidearm to first base, where his throw nipped the speedy leadoff hitter.

First baseman Cole Austin trumped that with a diving stop to his right in the fifth inning to stop a hot shot from Trey Sweeney. Austin completed the standout play with a toss to pitcher Patrick Wicklander covering first base to rob the shortstop of a hit.

"I thought our defense was outstanding today," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "[Austin] is a really good defender. Jacob Nesbit's a really good third baseman, and Cole Austin's just as good. You could put either one of them on the corners and they both do a great job.

"You like it when an infielder will leave his feet and dive because you never know unless you dive sometimes. I didn't think he was going to get to the ball, and I had a pretty good angle from where I was."

Steal streak

Eastern Illinois catcher Ryan Knernschield threw out Casey Opitz on a steal attempt at second base in the second inning on Arkansas' first try of the season.

Opitz was thrown out for the first time in his career, as the swifter-than-average catcher went 7 for 7 last year.

Sports on 02/16/2020

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