Despite Ace Pitcher’s early struggles, the Razorbacks defeat the Dukes.
“I think both teams played extremely well for as cold as it was down there,” Van Horn stated. “Blustery. Both sides did a decent job of handling and fielding the ball. I have to give both teams’ pitchers credit for their heavy strikeout output.”
Arkansas standout Hagen Smith got off to a cold start because of the bitter cold. There was a lot of discussion in the offseason about increased command, but it was nonexistent in the first inning. Two walks and a hit-by-pitch put the first two Dukes on base in the first inning, forcing James Madison to force Smith to throw 42 pitches. The visitors took an early 3-0 lead when Ferwick Trimble blasted a three-run home run over the right-center field wall.
After just one inning, Smith’s afternoon was done, but not before the Razorbacks, with a little assistance from the weather, answered with two runs. Diggs should have been out with nobody on after a can of corn fly ball to right field, but the wind made it possible for him to reach on a lucky double. With RBI singles from Ben McLaughlin and Peyton Holt, the deficit was cut to 3-2.
After starting in place of injured Peyton Stovall, third baseman Jared Sprague Lott up the Hog season account for homers with a 43-degree launch angle moonshot over the left field wall, erasing James Madison’s lead one batter into the second. The Razorbacks took their first lead of the day (4-3) after White followed with a solo home run, leaving two hitters behind.
Sprague-Lott continued to have a fantastic day; he scored two runs with two outs in the third inning on a single to right, but the Hogs doubled up the Dukes 6-3 after he was caught in a rundown for the third out of the inning. Both teams calmed down, but Sprague-Lott finished the fifth on a high note with a running play up against the railing.“It was definitely a ton of fun to get out there with the rest of the guys,” Sprague-Lott commented. “The coaching staff and all of my teammates have worked really hard to get me ready over the past two weeks. Simply put, being outside was enjoyable.”
With a leadoff double to left-center to begin the sixth inning, which kept him one run short of the cycle, Trimble single-handedly kept the Dukes in the game. He later scored on two groundouts to make the score 6-4.
After throwing just 71 pitches and striking out six, McEntire’s productive performance came to an end with two outs in the eighth. Entering the game, Gage Wood struck out the last batter of the inning to give the team a two-run lead going into the seventh inning.
“I think I managed to keep it under control today,” McEntire remarked. “Up until then, I thought I was having some difficulty. I must give Hudson White, also known as Huddy, credit. Our strategy was sound; we were hitting our marks and blending in nicely.”
Despite having two runners in each of the seventh and eighth innings, the Razorbacks were unable to secure insurance runs and failed to close the gap. Gage Wood earned the save after finishing the game with two and a third shutout innings.