Hog Calls

Benintendi's approach at plate big hit

Andrew Benintendi of Arkansas heads to third base against Mississippi Valley State during the first inning Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Andrew Benintendi of Arkansas heads to third base against Mississippi Valley State during the first inning Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Andrew Benintendi's biggest hit among his six hits in three SEC games against Kentucky was an opposite-field poke through the left side Sunday.

That must have been one big hit considering Arkansas' sophomore center fielder belted two home runs Friday. Friday's home run sequel, both were pulled over the right-field fence, took such prodigious flight into the night it disappeared from sight.

Even Benintendi, normally unassuming, paused with an admiring gaze before his home run trot.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it a little bit," Benintendi confessed.

That's what made Sunday's hit through the left side so big, and not just because it knocked in the first run of the Razorbacks' 7-3 victory.

Pull a monstrous home run like Benintendi enjoyed and a hitter can get tempted to try and pull everything.

Kentucky played him that way Sunday while pitching him outside, the most difficult pitch for a left-handed batter to pull to right.

Benintendi pulled his punch to poke it into left field, which extended a nine-game hitting streak.

"That was great," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "They left that hole open and he just took what they gave him. They were pitching him away and he drove it into left field and drove in the first run.

"That's how you stay hot. You just kind of take what they give you."

Signing with the Razorbacks out of Cincinnati as the heralded national high school player of the year, Benintendi had a decent freshman 2014 year but not for a national prep player of the year. He hit .276 in 61 games but waned by season's end.

"He's from the upper Midwest and he hadn't played year round and it was tough on him," Van Horn. "He faded a little bit."

Instead of playing summer ball, Benintendi devoted all last summer to the weight room.

When Benintendi reported "ten pounds heavier and much stronger," Van Horn knew his center fielder would hit far more than the the one home run he hit last season.

"I saw some video the other day of him last year and he looked like little to me compared to what he is now," Van Horn said in February. "He hit a ball yesterday three-quarters of the way up that scoreboard.

"We all love home runs, but I just want him to hit for an average. Don't try to hit home runs."

Benintendi is hitting for average, a team-leading .359. And he's text book on how to hit home runs without really trying, leading the nation with 13 although still insisting he's no home run hitter even after Friday's two belts.

"My approach is the same," he said. "I'm going up there trying to hit the ball hard and good things are happening."

They are happening, Van Horn said, because Benintendi doesn't try to do it all with every pitch.

"Whenever you're going good, you don't swing at bad pitches," Van Horn said. "He's just a good hitter coming of age."

Sports on 04/15/2015

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