Vanderbilt right-hander Drake Fellows outdueled University of Arkansas ace Isaiah Campbell as the No. 7 Commodores opened a marquee series with a 3-2 victory over the No. 10 Razorbacks on Friday.
The Commodores (26-8, 8-5 SEC) ended a long run without a loss by Arkansas weekend-opening starters before a crowd of 3,465 at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn.
UP NEXT
ARKANSAS BASEBALL
At Vanderbilt
WHEN Noon Central
WHERE Hawkins Field, Nashville, Tenn.
RECORDS Arkansas 25-9, 8-5 SEC; Vanderbilt 26-8, 8-5
STARTING PITCHERS Arkansas RHP Connor Noland (0-1, 4.59 ERA); Vanderbilt RHP Kumar Rocker (2-4, 5.90)
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
TV SEC-Network Plus
SHORT HOPS
The start time for today’s game was moved to noon after originally being scheduled for an 8 p.m. broadcast on ESPNU. … The Razorbacks turned a nifty 3-6-1 double play in the bottom of the second inning after Ethan Paul reached on a strikeout-wild pitch. Trevor Ezell fielded catcher Philip Clarke’s chopper on one hop and made the throw to the second-base bag, where shortstop Casey Martin fired back to Isaiah Campbell at first for the twin killing.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
TODAY at Vanderbilt, noon
SUNDAY at Vanderbilt, 1 p.m.
MONDAY Off
TUESDAY UA-Pine Bluff, 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY Off
THURSDAY Miss. State, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
FRIDAY Miss. State, 6:30 p.m.
Vanderbilt increased its home winning streak over the Razorbacks (25-9, 8-5 SEC) to four consecutive games, improved to 19-3 at home and pulled within a half game of SEC East leader Georgia. Arkansas dropped out of a tie atop the SEC West.
Fellows (7-0) threw 107 pitches in seven innings. The 6-5 right-hander scattered 7 hits, 2 walks and 1 earned run while striking out 9.
Campbell (6-1) allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and no walks while striking out 9 and throwing 98 pitches in 7⅔ innings.
The loss by Campbell was the first by an Arkansas starter in a weekend-opening game in nearly two years. The last instance came when Ole Miss hung a loss on Blaine Knight in a 9-1 victory on April 27, 2017.
The teams will match up again today at noon, rather than the original start time of 8 p.m. because rain is in the forecast in Nashville tonight. The game will not be broadcast on ESPNU as originally scheduled, but will be available streaming on watchESPN.com and SEC Network-Plus.
The Razorbacks stranded nine runners to Vanderbilt's three and could not fully capitalize on a big scoring chance in the eighth inning against the Commodores' bullpen.
Trailing 3-1, Arkansas loaded the bases against lefty reliever Zach King with one out when Dominic Fletcher was hit by a pitch, and Matt Goodheart and Jack Kenley drew consecutive walks.
Tyler Brown relieved and was greeted by Jacob Nesbit's RBI grounder to first as Arkansas pulled within 3-2, but Brown struck out Casey Opitz and worked a perfect ninth to post his seventh save.
"We had a couple of opportunities ... where we just needed a big hit," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We had the bases loaded and one out down two and we hit a ball off the end of the bat, and then we have a called third strike."
The Razorbacks hopped on top with a lone run in the second inning after Kenley got on board with a one-out single to left field. With a hit-and-run on, Nesbit grounded out to shortstop as Ethan Paul's only play was to first base.
Opitz hit a ball up the middle, just out of the reach of Fellows and second baseman Harrison Ray to score Kenley.
"We got a big hit from Opitz with two outs, but other than that we didn't hit with runners in scoring position," Van Horn said.
Arkansas held the lead until the bottom of the fourth inning. J.J. Bleday, the SEC home run leader, singled to right on a full-count pitch with one out. Paul followed with a shot near the left-field line that got just under the glove of the diving Christian Franklin and rolled to the wall for an RBI double.
Philip Clarke then drilled a ball just inside the first-base bag that rolled toward the right-field corner for an RBI double and a 2-1 Vanderbilt lead. Campbell got out of the inning without further damage by retiring Ray on a check-swing strikeout and getting a grounder to second from Stephen Scott.
Arkansas left two runners on base in both the fourth and fifth innings. Fellows walked Kenley and Nesbit with two outs in the fourth but struck out Opitz to get out of the inning.
With two outs in the fifth, Heston Kjerstad got on with a bunt single to shortstop, then Casey Martin reached when the second baseman Ray could not field his shallow pop up for a single. Fletcher grounded out to second base to end the half inning.
Fellows made some of his best pitches to escape a jam in the sixth after Goodheart led off with a double off the left-field wall. Kenley singled to deep shortstop, but Goodheart could not move up on the play. Nesbit's ground ball to Paul led to a force out at third base, then Opitz smacked a hard-hit grounder to Ray that he turned into a double play.
The Commodores extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth when Austin Martin's blooper hit the right-field line for a triple. He scored on Bleday's sacrifice fly.
Arkansas outfielders Kjerstad and Franklin both made diving catches in the top of the seventh inning. Kjerstad came up quickly in right field and made a sliding catch to retire Ray on a shallow fly for the first out of the inning. Franklin dove head first in the left-center gap to pluck a sinking liner from Ty Duvall just off the field turf for the final out of the inning.
Sports on 04/13/2019