Hogs' lefty looks better than he feels in first start

FAYETTEVILLE -- Kacey Murphy was feeling ill when he took the hill for his first college start Wednesday.

The sophomore left-hander for the Arkansas Razorbacks didn't show it during five quality innings as the Razorbacks routed Louisiana-Monroe 11-2 before an estimated crowd of 1,822 at Baum Stadium.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (10-3) beat the Warhawks (4-10) by nine runs for the second consecutive day, sweeping the two-game series and improving to 8-0 at home.

Arkansas' Jake Arledge went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI from the leadoff spot, and he turned in a defensive gem with a catch as he crashed into the right-field wall. Luke Bonfield was 3 for 3 with a pair of RBI, and Dominic Fletcher provided a three-run home run in the first inning to give Murphy an early cushion.

Murphy (1-0) struck out a career-high 9 and faced the minimum of 12 batters through 4 innings while commanding his fastball, slider and change-up.

"I've just been under the weather the last couple of days, with the long road trip, I guess," said Murphy, a 6-footer and former Rogers Heritage standout. "Like coach said in the meeting, 'If you're not feeling well, it brings out a new concentration level.' "

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said Murphy benefited from pitching ahead in the count.

"He was using three pitches," Van Horn said. "Obviously a fastball, but then he was throwing really good change-ups to the right-handers and throwing a breaking ball to some of the lefties and mixing a breaker a little bit to some of the righties. But he mixed it up really well and kept them off balance."

Said Murphy: "I commanded the change-up early, and then I went to my slider, and that's when I started getting the strikeouts."

Murphy struck out the side in the second inning and whiffed seven of eight Warhawks during one stretch.

"Unbelievable. He struck everybody out," Arledge said. "We were kidding around in the outfield that this guy was going to strike out and sure enough, he struck out."

The Razorbacks did all their damage in three innings, including a five-run fifth.

Arkansas got busy early against Louisiana-Monroe left-hander Kyle Backofen (0-3). Arledge led off with a single, Bonfield singled with one out, and Grant Koch drew a two-out walk after Bonfield was caught stealing. Fletcher then hit a three-run home run just inside the right-field foul pole to give the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead.

Fletcher was guessing first-pitch curve ball because he saw Backofen throw a couple of them early to Chad Spanberger.

"I just saw it was hanging a little bit, and I tried to hit the ball hard," Fletcher said of his third home run of the season.

"Fletcher didn't waste any time," Van Horn said. "He got a hanging breaking ball and hit a laser down the right-field line. We knew right when it left the bat that it was out of the park and it was going to stay fair."

Arkansas shortstop Jax Biggers reached on a one-out single in the second inning, stole second and scored on Arledge's single to left field. After Spanberger's single, Bonfield's double to the gap in right-center field brought in both runners for a 6-0 lead.

Murphy ran into trouble in only his final inning.

Louisiana-Monroe's Chad Bell drew a one-out walk and scored on Blake Buckman's double, then Buckman came around on Brady McGehee's single up the middle as the WarHawks drew within 6-2.

Arkansas came back with a five-run response in the bottom of the frame, featuring five singles and a Biggers double against Chase Cater, who was chased with two outs after Koch's RBI single.

Arledge held onto a looping foul ball after sliding feet first into the right-field wall and banging his head to retire Johnny DeLaCruz for the final out of the fourth inning.

"That was one of the best catches I've seen all season," Fletcher said.

Louisiana-Monroe center fielder Nathan Reynolds made a spectacular catch for the first out of the bottom of the fourth, diving head first at full extension to deny Jaxon Williams a hit.

The Razorbacks play host to Rhode Island (5-6) and ace lefty Tyler Wilson at 3 p.m. on Friday to start a three-game series.

VANDERBILT 9,

CENTRAL ARKANSAS 1

Vanderbilt (9-5) jumped on the University of Central Arkansas (6-8) early, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning Wednesday to sweep the midweek series at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn.

The Commodores loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first after a four-pitch walk and two singles. Reed Hayes was then hit by a pitch, giving Vanderbilt a 1-0 lead and keeping the bases loaded. Ethan Paul had an RBI groundout and Jason Delay had a two-run single, increasing the lead to 4-0, and advanced to second base on a throwing error by Dusty Wright. Harrison Ray followed with an RBI single for a 5-0 lead, which chased UCA starter Kaleb Schmidt. Ross Rogers replaced Schmidt and gave up a single to Connor Kaiser before getting Jeren Kendall to fly out to end the inning.

Vanderbilt added two runs in the third inning, as well as single runs in the sixth and eighth innings. Central Arkansas' lone run came in the fifth inning on Hunter Strong's two-out RBI single.

Kaiser was 2 for 3 to lead the Commodores, who finished with 11 hits, while Stephen Scott was 2 for 4 with 1 run scored. The Bears managed six hits, but no player had more than one. Chandler Day earned the victory for Vanderbilt after allowing UCA's lone run on 5 hits over 5 innings, while Schmidt took the loss for UCA after allowing the 5 first-inning runs -- 4 of which were earned -- on 4 hits in just two-thirds of an inning.

SUN BELT

ORAL ROBERTS 8, UALR 1

Noah Cummings, Brent Williams and Dylan Snypes finished with three hits each as Oral Roberts defeated the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to wrap up a five-game home stand at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.

Oral Roberts scored two runs with two outs in the first inning, coming on an RBI single by Williams and an RBI double from Cummings. Matt Whatley's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning gave the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. Danny Mitchell had an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning for UALR's lone run.

Cummings broke the game open with a two-run single in the seventh inning for a 5-1 lead, then Oral Roberts added three runs in the ninth on an RBI groundout, a wild pitch and an RBI single from Williams.

UALR (6-7) managed just seven hits and left five runners on base. Oral Roberts finished with 14 hits as a team and could have done more damage, leaving 10 runners on base. Matt McDowell (0-4) took the loss on the mound after allowing 2 earned runs on 7 hits with 1 walk and 1 strikeout over 4 innings.

Sports on 03/09/2017