Ole Miss 7, Arkansas 1
Dominic Ficociello had the bases loaded in the second with Arkansas trailing 4-1, but he flew out to center field. The Hogs' offense went silent after that.
IN A NUTSHELL
Things started off well for Arkansas on Friday night in the Razorbacks’ SEC opener. Then the Hogs ran into a Wahl.
Ole Miss junior ace Bobby Wahl shut Arkansas down after the second inning, pitching seven innings of three-hit ball as the eighth-ranked Rebels beat the 15th-ranked Razorbacks in the first game of a three-game series at Baum Stadium.
Wahl (5-0) didn’t allow a hit after the second inning and struck out five. Scott Weathersby pitched the final two innings, allowing just one base runner and no hits.
Arkansas freshman starter Trey Killian struggled, giving up five hits and seven runs – all earned – in three innings, walking two with no strikeouts. The Rebels’ No. 9-hole hitter, Preston Overbey, hit a wind-aided grand slam in the second, and Ole Miss got a solo shot from Scott Orvis in the third.
The Razorbacks struck first in the bottom of the first. Jacob Mahan led off with a double down the left-field line and advanced to third on Dominic Ficociello’s groundout. Tyler Spoon drove him in with an RBI single.
After Overbey’s shot in the second, the Hogs again got their leadoff man on base when Matt Vinson singled, and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jake Wise and Mahan walked to load the bases, but with two outs, Ficociello flied out to center.
Arkansas’ offense couldn’t do anything after that.
STATS THAT MATTER
7,135 The actual attendance Friday. There were 8,934 tickets sold.
97 Pitches thrown by Wahl in seven innings.
70 Pitches thrown by Killian in three-plus innings. (He faced three batters in the fourth.)
19 Consecutive games in which Spoon has made it on base.
12 Consecutive victories for Ole Miss.
1.84 Wahl’s ERA after five starts.
0 Runs allowed by Arkansas reliever Landon Simpson in five innings. He gave up five hits and struck out four.
WHO’S HOT
Wahl. The 6-3, 210-pound right-hander has allowed six hits and one run in the past 13 innings (a two-game stretch).
WHO’S NOT
Killian. Or at least he wasn’t Friday. Before that, no complaints at all. He was coming off seven innings of no-hit ball against San Diego State last Saturday and had given up just six hits in 21 innings.
NOTEWORTHY
** Home plate umpire Scott Erby went down to the ground in the fourth after being struck in the head by a foul ball. He was down for maybe a minute, and got up looking somewhat dazed. But after immediately being checked out by medical personnel along the first-base line, he returned to the game.
** Game 2 of the series is Saturday at 2:05 p.m. Central. Senior left-hander Randall Fant (0-0, 0.90 ERA) will start for Arkasnas. Junior right-hander Mike Meyers (2-0, 1.52) will get the start for Ole Miss.
QUOTEWORTHY
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn on Killian: “I think Trey just didn’t have command of that breaking ball today and the change-up was just OK. The zone was tight early. Had some close calls that didn’t go his way. Looked like he got frustrated, and they fouled off a lot of pitches. He hung a breaking ball there in the second inning that we thought it was a fly ball and it got up in the wind and it blew out of the park. We were in big trouble down 4-1 to Bobby Wahl.”
Van Horn on Wahl: “Obviously he was very good. He was really good after the second inning. Seemed like he just got stronger and stronger. We didn’t get a hit after the second inning. Very impressive and has got great stuff.”
Van Horn on Simpson: “He did a great job. We put him in a role just hoping that he could just get us through that first inning and gave us a few more innings, obviously, and gives us a chance to catch up. He did his job. The offense didn’t do their job because we didn’t do much. Credit Wahl for that.”
Spoon on Wahl: He was pretty much putting the fastball wherever he wanted. .. He was good tonight obviously. Coach kind of summed it up. We didn’t get a hit after the second inning. I think that kind of explains it.”
Spoon on having a six-game winning streak snapped: “Can’t lose two in a row, Coach (Todd) Butler always says. We’re going to bounce back tomorrow, play them again. We’ve got three games. We’re going to take the next two from them.”
- Robert Turbeville
- Arkansas Insider - Hawgs247