UA uses long ball to trump Missouri

Arkansas catcher Grant Koch hits a two-run home run against New Orleans on Wednesday night at Baum Stadium to lead a 5-2 baseball victory.
Arkansas catcher Grant Koch hits a two-run home run against New Orleans on Wednesday night at Baum Stadium to lead a 5-2 baseball victory.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- In the media notes, the Arkansas baseball team is dubbed the Soooieville Sluggers.

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The Razorbacks lived up that billing Sunday. Arkansas outslugged Missouri in the first half of Sunday's rubber match at Taylor Stadium and survived a furious comeback attempt from the Tigers. The Razorbacks clinched the series victory with an 9-8 triumph over No. 20 Missouri.

Arkansas (20-5, 5-1 SEC) snapped the Tigers' nation-leading 20-game winning streak Friday, and two days later, the Razorbacks handed Missouri (21-3, 4-2) its first series loss of the season.

It was also the first time that the Tigers lost a game in which they scored in the first inning. Missouri was 16-0 in those situations and grabbed a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly in the opening inning. Arkansas starter Josh Alberius escaped the early jam with no further damage.

Entering Sunday's action, the Razorbacks had cranked an SEC-most 33 home runs. The league's home-run machine wreaked more havoc.

In the second inning, Arkansas hit the ball all over the yard against Missouri starter Andy Toelken, who relies on guile rather than overpowering stuff and pitches to contact.

Dominic Fletcher, who was 3 for 5, lashed a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right field for a home run, and the Razorbacks strung together three consecutive singles to chase Toelken from the game.

"You look at his numbers and you know he throws strikes," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of Toelken. "Our whole plan was to attack."

Then, the Razorbacks cashed in on Missouri mistakes.

A dribbler by Luke Bonfield squirted by reliever Cole Bartlett. A charging Matt Berler reached down but came up empty and the Tigers were tagged with an error. Missouri committed another error in the seventh -- its 43rd of the season. Only Georgia (10-15, 1-5) has more errors in the SEC than the Tigers. The Bulldogs have 44 of them.

Catcher Grant Koch, next after Bonfield, ripped a three-run home run into the left-field corner to break the game open. Koch's eighth home run, which tied him with LSU's Greg Deichmann for top honors in the league, opened up a 7-1 gap for Arkansas.

During the Razorbacks loss Saturday, Missouri used three sixth-inning home runs to stem the tide. The Razorbacks returned the favor less than 24 hours later as Fletcher, Koch and lastly Carson Shaddy all went deep.

Shaddy, who pumped his fists all the way around the bases, connected for a solo home run that was carried by the wind to right field.

"Sometimes, we get carried away with the celebrations like I did today, but when the guys see that happen, they see the attitude that comes about with it," said Shaddy who had 2 hits and 2 runs scored in 5 at-bats. "The more attitude we have, the more passion we have for winning, the better off we're going to be."

After Shaddy's RBI ground ball in the seventh, Arkansas led 9-3. The Razorbacks nearly squandered that advantage in the late innings. Missouri had shown a flair for the dramatic this season with four-walk off victories and tried for a fifth one Sunday.

Arkansas closer Cannon Chadwick fooled Kameron Misner. Fortunately for Missouri, the dirt pitch pinballed off the backstop and into the netting behind home plate. Misner was safe at first base on what would have been a strikeout had the wild pitch not eluded Koch.

The Tigers scored two runs on the play and clawed back to a 9-7 deficit.

"It was one of those things ... it was the best strikeout I've ever seen," Missouri's Trey Harris said. "I'll take it, honestly."

With a runner on base, Robbie Glendinning sent a pitch into the power alley in the right center. His bid at a game-tying home run was caught on the warning track.

Missouri scratched across a run with two outs in the ninth after Ian Nelson poked a hanging slider into center field for a single. Connor Brumfield, who represented the go-ahead run, struck out looking on a 0-2 breaking pitch that painted the left side of the plate.

Alberius (2-3) picked up the victory for the Razorbacks. He scattered 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 run in 3 innings. Toelken was saddled with the loss.

"This is a game that 100 percent would have gotten away from us last year," Van Horn said. "We knew that they weren't done over there. ... It's just interesting. The game can turn on one pitch here and there. We felt like the zone got extremely tight there and I have no problem saying that. There were some pitches that were admittedly missed. It hurt us, but we held on."

Sports on 03/27/2017

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