Arkansas loses no-hitter, beats Oral Roberts

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS --04/24/2012-- Arkansas shortstop Tim Carver is greeted by teammates after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of Tuesday night's game against Oral Roberts at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS --04/24/2012-- Arkansas shortstop Tim Carver is greeted by teammates after hitting a solo home run in the first inning of Tuesday night's game against Oral Roberts at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

— Tim Carver hit two solo home runs and seven Arkansas pitchers combined to allow just one hit as the No. 21 Razorbacks beat Oral Roberts 6-1 Tuesday night at Baum Stadium.

Arkansas lost a no-hit bid when Jose Trevino doubled off closer Barrett Astin with no outs in the top of the ninth inning. The Razorbacks allowed only four base runners through the first eight innings.

"You see it up there," said Arkansas starter Trent Daniel, who pitched three scoreless innings to earn his first win. "You try not to talk about it in the dugout, but we were anxious."

The Razorbacks (29-12) got all the offense they needed from Carver, who hit a home run to leadoff the first inning and added another in the fifth.

It was the second multi-home run game for the fifth-year senior, who has just seven career home runs. Carver also hit two home runs at California in 2010.

"It's not really my job to do that," said the shortstop, who atoned for two fielding errors with his bat. "I was just trying to stay through the middle and get a base hit. I stayed through the ball and it went out."

Arkansas went up 2-0 on a Jacob Morris fielder's choice in the second inning and 4-0 on a Derrick Bleeker RBI double in the sixth.

The Razorbacks led 6-0 heading to the ninth thanks to a 2-run single by Jacob Mahan in the bottom of the seventh.

After struggling to score recently, Arkansas has combined for 17 runs in back-to-back wins over Ole Miss and Oral Roberts.

"We got to run our offense and let guys hit and run," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "When you get the lead you can be a little more aggressive. That's what happened today.

"We played well the last two games."

Daniel sparked the big night on the mound for the Razorbacks, recording five of the team's 14 strikeouts.

"He kept everything down," Van Horn said. "He threw a couple of nice breaking balls to the left handers and kept his fastball down."

Oral Roberts (21-19) registered its only real threat in the top of the fifth inning, loading the bases on two walks and an error. But Arkansas' Nolan Sanburn struck out leadoff batter Logan Domenico to end the frame and keep the no-hitter intact to that point.

Sanburn pitched two innings, while Brandon Moore, Tyler Wright and Astin each pitched one for the Razorbacks. Colby Suggs recorded the first two outs of the eighth, while freshman Michael Gunn recorded a strikeout to keep the Golden Eagles hitless heading to the ninth.

"I was really impressed with Gunn," Van Horn said. "We were trying to put him in a situation where he felt like the tying run was on second. They all did a tremendous job. It was a fun game to coach offensively and I was proud of the pitchers."

The win was the Razorbacks' fifth-straight over the Golden Eagles.

Arkansas, which has lost three of its last four Southeastern Conference series since being ranked No. 3 nationally, will travel to No. 5 Florida for a three-game series this weekend.

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