MEMPHIS — Arkansas has enjoyed success against Memphis in recent years, which presented an opportunity Wednesday night for the Razorbacks to put a disappointing conference weekend behind them.
Reaching six Memphis pitchers for 16 hits, the Razorbacks snapped a twogame skid with a 12-4 victory before a pro-Arkansas crowd of 2,824 at AutoZone Park.
The No. 21 Razorbacks (20-9) beat the Tigers (10-18) for the eighth time in the past nine games. The only loss during that stretch was a 5-4 Memphis victory last season at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
The Razorbacks, who open a three-game SEC series at Ole Miss on Friday, were coming off an SEC series loss at home to Missouri last weekend. Missouri took two out of three after dropping its first seven SEC games.
NO. 21 ARKANSAS 12, MEMPHIS 4
The Hogs wasted no time taking out their frustration against Memphis, grabbing a 5-0 lead. The Tigers aided the Hogs by committing four errors and throwing three wild pitches.
“We got off to a good start, that was good to see,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “They made a couple of mistakes, booted a couple of balls, and we got a couple of timely hits and took advantage of some things.
“And it was good to jump up to a five-run lead because we haven’t had a lead in a while. It gave us an opportunity to relax a little bit.”
Cullen Gassaway, Clark Eagan and Grant Koch led the offense with three hits apiece. The Razorbacks scored in six of the first eight innings to build a 12-2 advantage.
“Coach called it a ‘Listerine game;’ you know, a game where you get the bad taste out of your mouth,” said Eagan, who scored three runs and drove in two others. “Hopefully we can get that winning taste back and get back on the right track.”
Arkansas is undefeated in three appearances at Auto-Zone Park, which is being considered for future SEC tournaments. Memphis is one of five cities that recently submitted bids to host beginning in 2017.
Eagan said it was comforting to take command early against Memphis, after failing to grab the early lead in eight of the team’s nine SEC games. The Hogs are 4-5 in the SEC.
“That was a great win coming off last weekend,” Gassaway said. “We knew we needed to get something going heading into Oxford this weekend. We swung the bats well, we pitched well, and the defense was good. It was a good team win.”
The Razorbacks took advantage of two early Memphis errors and several extra-base hits – including a deep home run to left by Luke Bonfield – to take a 5-0 lead after two innings.
Arkansas reached Memphis freshman starter Jonathan Bowlan (1-3) for four second-inning runs. Bonfield’s blast made it 2-0, and two batters later Koch hit a run-scoring double to right-center field to make it 3-0. Eagan followed with an RBI single, took second on the throw home and scored when Carson Shaddy’s routine grounder went through the legs of first baseman Jacob Elliott.
“I think we got on our heels early because we didn’t defend the field the first couple of innings,” Memphis Coach Daron Schoenrock said. “And their offensive approach was good. When we got a pitch up in the zone, they attacked it.”
The Tigers squandered an opportunity in the bottom of the third. When a two-out wild pitch by Razorbacks starter Isaiah Campbell moved Memphis runners Damo DeMatteo and Jake Overbey into scoring position, the Razorbacks called on Dominic Taccolini. Taccolini assumed a 1-1 count but ended the Memphis threat by getting Zach Schritenthal on a called third strike.
The Tigers reached Taccolini for two runs in the fourth when Elliott lined a two-run double to right-center field.
The Hogs added a run in the fifth on Rick Nomura’s double to the right-field corner to score Gassaway, and two more in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Eagan and a Memphis wild pitch that scored Koch for an 8-2 lead.
In the seventh, the Razorbacks pushed across two more runs with Gassaway scoring on another Tigers wild pitch and Michael Bernal’s sacrifice fly to deep left. Arkansas made it 12-2 in the eighth, with Eagan scoring on a wild pitch and Shaddy on an infield single.
Memphis added single runs in the eighth and ninth and finished with 10 hits.
LOUISIANA TECH 7, UALR 4
UALR (13-15) lost its third consecutive game, falling to Louisiana Tech (16-9) on Wednesday night at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.
UALR trailed 6-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning and cut Louisiana Tech’s lead to 6-4 on Ryan Scott’s tworun single. But the Trojans left the bases loaded after Louisiana Tech reliever Adam Atkins struck out Matt McDowell. Jordan Washam led Louisiana Tech offensively, going 3 for 3. Cody Daigle also had three hits for the Bulldogs. Zach Baker and Hunter Owens each had two hits for UALR.
Up next
NO. 21 ARKANSAS
AT NO. 15 OLE MISS
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Friday WHERE Swayze Field, Oxford, Miss. RECORDS Arkansas 20-9, 4-5 SEC; Ole Miss 22-7, 3-6
SERIES Arkansas leads 45-37 RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by affiliates. Check local listings.
INTERNET SEC Network-plus