AUSTIN, Texas -- Christian Franklin thought he had lifted a deep fly ball to left field to give the University of Arkansas a sacrifice fly and a two-run lead in the second inning at Texas on Tuesday night.
Nope. The majestic shot drifted just over the wall for a grand slam that propelled the No. 9 Razorbacks to an 11-4 victory over the No. 15 Longhorns.
Arkansas (18-2) won its seventh consecutive game and its program-best fifth in a row over the Longhorns (15-8) before a crowd of 6,208 at Disch-Falk Field.
Heston Kjerstad added a tape-measure home run during the Razorbacks' early onslaught and Dominic Fletcher hit two doubles in Arkansas' 11-hit attack.
"Off the bat, I was just thinking it's a sacrifice fly and happy that I got some good barrel to it to get us another run, and then the left fielder just kept drifting back further and further, and it eventually went over the wall," said Franklin, who increased his team RBI lead to 23.
The grand slam had two sets of drama, as Franklin nearly passed teammate Jacob Nesbit, who had run back to first base in case he needed to tag up. Franklin apparently got one foot past Nesbit just past the bag, and the umpiring crew upheld the home run call on review.
"We've played well," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "I don't know. It's not like we have something on them. ... Tonight, we felt like we were due to hit because we didn't really hit all weekend. We won three games, felt fortunate to do that. I think our hitters were a little frustrated. They got some pitches early and they didn't miss them."
The teams will wrap up the two-game series tonight at 6:30.
"That was a tough one," Texas Coach David Pierce said. "Bottom line is you can't pitch from behind and walk guys, especially against good-hitting ball clubs."
Every Razorback except leadoff man Casey Martin had scored a run by the fourth inning and every Arkansas batter had reached base when Trevor Ezell walked to lead off the fourth inning.
Arkansas middle reliever Kole Ramage (5-0) picked up the victory behind Patrick Wicklander, who threw three shutout innings before running into trouble in the fourth.
Ramage retired all nine Texas batters he faced on 29 pitches in the fifth through seventh innings.
"Coming out of the bullpen, I knew I kind of had every pitch going," Ramage said. "I just came out and attacked these hitters. They were getting a little aggressive because they were coming off that inning where Wick kind of got a couple hits off of him."
Sophomore Zebulon Vermillion retired the final six Texas batters.
Neither team scored after the fourth inning, but there were major eruptions in the first few frames.
Texas 6-9 right-hander Jack Neely (0-1) breezed through the first inning on five pitches -- all strikes -- but the Razorbacks ambushed him in the second.
Fletcher stroked a double into the right-field corner to open the frame and Casey Opitz's ground ball to the right side moved him to third. Matt Goodheart's infield single crossed up the first and second basemen and drove in the game's first run.
Jack Kenley and Nesbit worked consecutive walks to load the bases and bring up Franklin, who launched his third home run and the Razorbacks' first grand slam since Hunter Wilson did it against Florida in last year's SEC Tournament.
"It's one of those things, you hit a ball that high with the wind blowing like that -- he hit it good, had backspin -- it was going to travel," Van Horn said. "But the runner started to come back to tag. A little risky there. So, as the hitter obviously you're used to running hard. He's got to keep his head up. It was about as close as it can be. He has to pass him 100 percent [for an out to be called]. I was told that he might have had a foot past him, but his body wasn't past him."
Texas left fielder Eric Kennedy kept drifting back to the wall before the ball cleared it by a few feet to make it 5-0.
One out later, Kjerstad hammered a first-pitch Neely fastball that went an estimated 435 feet.
"Crushed," Van Horn said. "It was a no-doubter. It wasn't really wind-aided. It was going to go no matter what. But he got all of that one. He's been a little frustrated on the power numbers. He's been getting his hits, batting average has climbed a little bit, but at the same time he hasn't hit the ball out of the ball park like he can"
That put the Razorbacks up 6-0 and they kept up the attack from there.
Today’s game
NO. 9 ARKANSAS AT NO. 15 TEXAS
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Central
WHERE Disch-Falk Stadium, Austin, Texas
RECORDS Arkansas 18-2; Texas 15-8
STARTING PITCHERS TBA
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
TV Longhorn Network
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY at Texas, 6:30 p.m.
THURSDAY Off
FRIDAY at Alabama, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY at Alabama, 2 p.m.
SUNDAY at Alabama, 1 p.m.
MONDAY Off
TUESDAY at Missouri State, 6:30 p.m.
Sports on 03/20/2019