Razorbacks Top Tigers
Arkansas players gather around home plate to congratulate junior left fielder Derrick Bleeker after Bleeker scored following his two-run triple in the Razorbacks' 6-3 win against Missouri on Tuesday night at Baum Stadium. Photo by Logan Webster.
No. 18 Arkansas extended its winning streak to three games by defeating future Southeastern Conference foe Mizzou 6-3 Tuesday night in front of 4,245 fans at Baum Stadium.
Junior left fielder Derek Bleeker led the Razorbacks (32-13) with three hits and two RBIs.
“I was just trying to be real frisky at the plate,” Bleeker said. “Just try to get aggressive and get after some pitches and make sure my timing is on time.”
Bleeker had a two-run triple in the second inning and doubles in the sixth and eighth.
“He smoked those two balls,” Van Horn said. “It was good to see.”
The Hogs got on the board quick in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead when senior shortstop Tim Carver scored on a sac fly from sophomore first baseman Dominic Ficociello.
The Razorbacks struck for four runs in the third to extend the lead to 5-0 over the Tigers (23-20).
The big inning started with a single from junior designated hitter Jacob Mahan. Senior third baseman Matt Reynolds then singled to left field, advancing Mahan to second.
Senior second baseman Bo Bigham also singled and an error by the Tigers allowed Reynolds to advance to third and Mahan to score.
Then Bleeker tripled to right field, driving in Reynolds and Bigham. Freshman catcher John Reeves’ single through the middle scored Bleeker to stretch Arkansas’ lead to 5-0.
Morris’ RBI double in the bottom of the sixth scored Bleeker and gave the Hogs a 6-0 lead.
The Tigers scored their first two runs in the top of the eighth inning off freshman right-hander Chris Oliver.
Missouri sophomore second baseman Dillon Everett scored on a wild pitch while junior pinch hitter Gavin Stark was at bat. Freshman catcher Patrick Quintanilla singled through the left side of the infield, scoring Stark and cutting the deficit to 6-2.
The Razorbacks started sophomore right-hander Nolan Sanburn, his third start of the season. Sanburn (3-1) struck out seven batters, walked two and allowed one hit and no runs in four innings.
“I just I felt like I almost just turned into a pitching machine when I got out there in the third and fourth inning,” Sanburn said. “Just throwing a lot of strikes, getting ahead of guys.”
Junior left-hander Tyler Wright relieved Sanburn in the fifth and struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.
Oliver came out of the bullpen in the eighth inning, but was relieved by right-handed sophomore Brandon Moore after recording just one out.
Moore closed the game and allowed one hit and a ninth-inning run.
The Razorbacks will conclude the midweek series with Missouri on Wednesday at 3:05 p.m. in Baum Stadium.
“It’s a really good two-game series match-up between two pretty good teams,” Van Horn said. “As a team, we are just trying to continue to get better because we feel like we are starting to play some really good baseball.”
