College Baseball

Spanberger's single in 9th winner

Arkansas designated hitter Chad Spanberger bats during the Razorbacks' game against Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas designated hitter Chad Spanberger bats during the Razorbacks' game against Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A late rally helped Arkansas avert its worst start in 41 years.

Freshman Chad Spanberger hit a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth and Arkansas edged Southeast Missouri 4-3 in front of an announced crowd of 2,054 on Tuesday night at Baum Stadium.

ARKANSAS VS. SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE

WHEN 3:05 p.m.

WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville

RECORDS Arkansas 10-8, SE Missouri 8-9

SERIES Arkansas leads 6-4

RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by affiliates. Check local listings.

INTERNET www.arkansasrazorba…. com

THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY Southeast Missouri, 3:05 p.m.

THURSDAY LSU, 6 p.m. (SECN)

FRIDAY LSU, 8 p.m. (SECN)

SATURDAY LSU, 2:05 p.m.

SUNDAY Off

MONDAY Off

TUESDAY vs. Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m., Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock

The victory ended the Razorbacks' six-game losing streak and averted the team's worst start to a season since 1974.

Arkansas (10-8) led off its final at-bat when Joe Serrano singled with one out. Andrew Benintendi walked, then Spanberger's single scored Serrano to end the game.

"We look to veterans for some leadership, and Serrano got the big hit there with one out in the ninth," Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said. "It looked like they didn't want any part of Andrew, and then the freshman delivered a big base hit for us and we got a win.

"It's good to win. Losing is bad when you lose five, six or seven in a row and all you want to do is win no matter how you get it. Hopefully this will get us going a little bit."

The Redhawks (9-9) were in prime position to take a lead in the top of the ninth against Arkansas reliever Josh Alberius when Andy Lennington led off with a single and Brandon Boggetto walked. Jacob Stone relieved Alberius, and a sacrifice bunt from Scott Mitchell gave Southeast Missouri runners at second and third with one out.

But Razorbacks catcher Alex Gosser, who entered the game in the seventh, picked off Lennington with a quick throw to third and Stone struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Barnes to end the Redhawks' threat.

"Missed opportunity having runners at second and third and not being able to execute," Southeast Missouri Coach Steve Bieser said. "That's a result of a missed sign on a squeeze. The runner at third didn't take off, and the hitter didn't think he was coming so he pulled back on the bunt.

"You can't have those types of things happen this time of the year."

Arkansas had a hunch the squeeze play was on, Van Horn said.

"We felt they were going to run a play and Coach [Dave] Jorn called an expand away pitch and Gosser, who is not scared, picked the guy off," Van Horn said. "That turned it our way and we got the big strikeout."

The Redhawks had the game's momentum through six innings, using a two-run, three-hit sixth inning to grab a 3-1 lead. The scoring included RBI singles from Garrett Gandolfo and Lennington, but both runs were unearned thanks to two Arkansas errors.

The Razorbacks tied the game in the seventh with their first rally of the night, which started when Clark Eagan and Serrano led off with back-to-back walks. Benintendi cleared the bases with a bloop double that fell between the left fielder and third baseman, tying the game at 3-3.

"I liked the way we battled," Van Horn said. "We got behind, and we have been behind a lot. We found a way to score a run."

The Redhawks struck first, turning two talks off McKinney in the first inning into a 1-0 lead when Dalton Hewitt hit a two-out single to right.

McKinney handled Southeast Missouri from there, retiring the side in order in the next four innings before being relieved by Lance Phillips in the fifth inning.

Arkansas responded and tied the game at 1-1 in the first when Benintendi laced a one-out double to left field and scored a batter later on an RBI double from Chad Spanberger.

That would be all the scoring the Razorbacks would do against Southeast Missouri starter Garrett Stockton, who struck out 5 and walked 3 in 6 innings.

"I thought we played hard and competed," Bieser said. "They had a little flare down the left-field line and a ground ball through the hole and we missed a couple of opportunities to execute and when you don't execute against a good team like Arkansas you're going to lose the game. We had the opportunity and didn't take advantage of it."

SUN BELT

MISSOURI STATE 11, UALR 3

UALR (6-9) led 2-0 after an inning and a half, but lost to Missouri State (11-6) on Tuesday afternoon in Springfield, Mo. The Trojans swept a doubleheader against Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday, but couldn’t win a third game in a row Tuesday.

Missouri State tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second inning and took a 4-2 lead in the third inning. The Bears added two runs in the fifth and four in the eighth.

Kyle Barret led the Trojans, going 3 for 3. Petr Sila and Hayden Martin each went 2 for 4.

MEMPHIS 5, ARKANSAS STATE 2

Alex Gunn gave up three hits in six innings to lead Memphis (10-4) past Arkansas State (8-9) at FedExPark in Memphis.

Gunn struck out seven and walked two. The Tigers scored four runs in the first three innings as the Red Wolves couldn’t mount a comeback.

Zach George and Matt Burgess each had two hits for ASU.

SOUTHLAND

OKLAHOMA STATE 3, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 1

Oklahoma State (14-6) used 11 hits to beat Central Arkansas (11-4) at Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.

The Cowboys led 2-0 after five innings before the Bears cut the lead to 2-1 on Nate Ferrell’s single in the sixth inning. Oklahoma State added an insurance run in the eighth inning with Gage Green’s RBI single.

— Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sports on 03/18/2015

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