Black team clinches series with 9-3 win

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Derrick Bleeker collected a pair of hits and three RBI as the Black team clinched the Fall World Series Wednesday evening at Baum Stadium with a 9-3 victory over the Cardinal team. Kyle Robinson added two RBI and starter Jason Fuqua pitched six solid innings in the win. The Black team won the best-of-five series, 3-1.In the top of the third, Jason Fuqua walked the first three Cardinal batters of the inning to load the bases for the first real scoring opportunity of the game. Fuqua recorded the first out when Tim Carver popped out to third. The next batter, Zack Cox, hit a sharp grounder toward the middle but Ben Crumpton stretched to glove the ball and flip to second to begin the inning-ending double play.Having escaped trouble, the Black team responded with two runs in the bottom of the third to take an early lead. Crumpton led off the inning with a base hit to right field and advanced to second on a passed ball. Collin Kuhn reached when he was hit by a pitch from Cardinal starter Geoffrey Davenport. With Andy Wilkins at the plate, Crumpton stole third and came around to score on an errant throw from Davenport on the pickoff attempt. Kuhn advanced to third on the throwing error and came in to score on an RBI fly out by Wilkins.The Cardinal team got on the board to tie the score after a two-run homer by Bo Bigham in the top of the sixth. Carver led off the inning with a single up the middle. With one down, Bigham knocked a Fuqua offering over the left-field fence to knot the score at 2-2.The Black team came right back with three runs in its half of the sixth, all with two outs. Robinson drew a walk to start the charge and Travis Sample followed with a single down the line in right field. Robinson moved to third on the play. Tom Hauskey singled through the right side to plate Robinson. Bleeker lined a shot to right center to plate the two runners ahead of him and pulled into third with a two-run triple.The scoring continued for the Black team in bottom of the seventh with three runs crossing the plate to stretch its lead, 8-2. Matt Reynolds and Wilkins had back-to-back singles to put runners at first and second with one out. Brett Eibner doubled down the left-field line to bring Reynolds home and move Wilkins to third. Robinson followed by lifting a fly ball to deep center field allowing two runs to score on the catch.The teams traded runs in the eighth to give the game its final score. In the top of the inning, Jarrod McKinney picked up an RBI for the Cardinal team with a fly out to left field to plate Cox. The Black team got the run back on a one-out blast to left center off the bat of Bleeker, his third home run of the series.The Fall World Series wraps offseason workouts for the Razorbacks. Arkansas begins its 2010 season with a three-game series against Ball State at Baum Stadium played Feb. 19-21. The Razorbacks play their first seven games at home. For more information, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.