Pratt turns back Cougars

 Arkansas relief pitcher Jordan Pratt celebrates after working out of an eighth-inning jam Saturday night in the Razorbacks’ 6-4 victory over Washington State at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Pratt came in with a 5-4 lead and the bases loaded and retired three consecutive batters to end the threat.
Arkansas relief pitcher Jordan Pratt celebrates after working out of an eighth-inning jam Saturday night in the Razorbacks’ 6-4 victory over Washington State at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Pratt came in with a 5-4 lead and the bases loaded and retired three consecutive batters to end the threat.

— It was a reliever’s worst nightmare.

Bases loaded, no outs, your team clinging to a onerun lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and the cleanup hitter waiting to bat.

But Jordan Pratt didn’t flinch, and he saved the game for Arkansas.

Pratt, a junior righthander from Harrison, got Washington State’s Matt Fanelli on a popup, struck out Michael Weber swinging and got Shea Vucinich on a flyout as the Razorbacks held on to beat the Cougars 6-4 on Saturday night in the NCAA Regional at Baum Stadium.

“I got a little nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Arkansas starter Drew Smyly, who went seven innings and improved to 9-1, said of the eighth-inning jam Pratt inherited. “But Jordan just pitched lights out.

“He bared down and got the job done.”

Washington State - which was the home team by virtue of winning a pregame coin toss - had cut Arkansas’ lead to 5-4 on Derek Jones’ base-loaded walk when Pratt came in from the bullpen to relieve Geoffrey Davenport in the eighth.

It appeared the Cougars were on the verge of tying the game or taking the lead, but Pratt wouldn’t let them.

Fayetteville Regional

“You’ve got to tip your hat to him,” Washington State Coach Donnie Marbut said. “He made pitches.

“We had the guys that we wanted up in that situation and it just didn’t happen, but good for him.”

Pratt didn’t make it sound complicated.

“I just threw strikes, just tried to hit my spots,” he said. “It worked out.”

Pratt was Arkansas’ fourth pitcher in the eighth inning.

“My adrenaline was pumping,” he said. “There’s not a better feeling than picking up a teammate, because I’ve been in the same situation they have before and I know how they feel.

“I was just glad to go in there and pick them up.”

Weber hit a home run in the seventh inning before striking out against Pratt in the eighth for the second out.

“He made a good sequence of pitches,” Weber said. “He went up with the fastball, and then threw two backdoor sliders, and then came back with another fastball up that I ended up chasing.

“He had some good pitches, but I should have put the ball in play.”

Pinch-hitter Ryan Peterson led off the bottom of the ninth with a doublefor Washington State, but Pratt kept him at second by getting the next three batters, capped by defensive replacement Matt Vinson’s diving catch in left field off a drive by Patrick Claussen.

It was Pratt’s second save of the season. The first was at Ole Miss on May 7.

“We always have a lot of confidence in Jordan,” said Arkansas outfielder Collin Kuhn, whose home run in the ninth inning gave the Razorbacks a 6-4 lead. “For him to come in and get that first out [in the eighth] was huge, and then the fans started to get into it, which really helped.

“Then he got the strikeout, which was awesome, and we knew he just had to get one more out to get out of the inning and he got the job done.

Sports, Pages 28 on 06/06/2010

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