Mound presence: NLR trip fruitful for pitchers

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Josh Alberius made the most of his trip home Tuesday night.

Alberius pitched two clean innings in relief and collected the victory as Arkansas eked out a 3-1 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in front of 7,327 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Alberius, a 5-11 junior from Little Rock Christian High School, entered the game in the seventh inning and struck out four of the six batters he faced. Senior Doug Willey pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his second save.

“It’s a great experience coming home,” said Alberius, who improved to 3-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 0.78. “It’s always awesome to pitch in front of your family and friends. It was a great crowd.”

Arkansas (21-12) snapped a three-game losing streak and won for only the second time in its past seven games. The Warhawks (13-20) managed only four singles against six Razorbacks pitchers. They struck out a combined 11 times and had only two runners to reach third base. Arkansas retired the final 12 Warhawks batters in order.

“I was pleased with the pitching,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “I thought they all did their jobs. [James] Teague had a little bit of an issue and gave up a couple of hits. … But our defense made some plays.”

The Razorbacks improved to 6-1 in games played at Dickey-Stephens Park.

“The fans were just incredible,” Van Horn said. “And I think they had something to do with how we played in the late innings. I like coming here, and I see no reason why we shouldn’t come here.”

Arkansas broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh when sophomore Carson Shaddy doubled, moved to third on an infield grounder and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Cullen Gassaway.

The Razorbacks added an insurance run in the eighth when pinch hitter Darien Simms, a left-handed freshman, lined a single to right that scored senior Michael Bernal.

“We left seven runners on in the first four innings, and that’s always a concern,” Van Horn said. “But we got solid hits when we needed them late.”

The Razorbacks left 11 base runners stranded and were 1 of 9 with runners in scoring position, but they collected three of their six hits in their final two at-bats to shake off the Warhawks.

“That’s the thing that’s been avoiding us, especially during our series with Ole Miss last weekend,” sophomore Luke Bonfield said of the Razorbacks’ inability to produce hits with runners in scoring position. “But I got that double in the fifth and Darien Simms came off the bench and hit the first pitch he saw for a base hit. That was a great hitting approach.”

Warhawks starting pitcher Chris Hunt hit four batters, the last of which cost him his lone run. Shaddy was hit by a pitch to start the fifth inning, and Bonfield followed with a line drive to left for an RBI double, giving the Razorbacks a 1-0 advantage.

Brian Barefoot, who entered the game with a .184 batting average, led off the Warhawks’ sixth inning with a lined single to center. After a wild pitch by Teague and an infield single by Cody Stone, Cade Stone’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1.

Bonfield picked up two hits and improved his batting average to a team-best .361. Leadoff batter Clark Eagan also had two hits.

Arkansas starter Blaine Knight, a freshman from Bryant, worked 3 innings, allowing only 1 hit while striking out 3 and walking 1. Junior Cannon Chadwick and freshman Barrett Loseke each pitched one scoreless inning. Teague gave up two hits and an unearned run in his one inning.

Sidearmed reliever Anthony Herrera (1-2) retired six of the first seven batters he faced for Louisiana-Monroe, but he gave up Shaddy’s leadoff double in the seventh and suffered the loss.

Hunt is normally one of the Warhawks’ weekend pitchers while Herrera is the team leader in saves with four.

“That was one of their better starters and their best closer,” Van Horn said. “Those were two pretty good pitchers.”