Hamblin Cranks Two Home Runs as Hogs Pound Texas-Arlington 12-4
HONOLULU, Hawai’i – First baseman Danny Hamblin provided the power and RHP Charley Boyce returned to form on Wednesday as No. 11 Arkansas knocked off Texas-Arlington 12-4 at the First Title Rainbow Baseball Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.
“Charley was really sharp today,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He looked like the old Charley, spotting his fastball on both sides of the plate, and he was getting really good sink on his fastball. He never really threw his breaking pitch or changeup. He did it pretty much with the fastball all day.”
Boyce pitched a season-long 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits to improve to 1-0 on the season. He walked two and struck out three on 80 pitches. The win improved the Hogs’ record to 10-1 this season.
Danny Hamblin tied his career high with five RBI and tied the Rainbow Baseball Tournament record with two home runs. He finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and his second and third home runs of the season.
Stephen Robison turned in his best day as a Razorback on Wednesday with a career-high three hits, two RBI and two runs scored while tracking down several hard hit balls in centerfield. The Hogs pounded out 18 hits as a team on the afternoon with seven players recording multiple-hit games.
Robison, the nine-hole hitter, sparked the Razorbacks’ rally in the third inning with a leadoff-bunt single up the first base line. Clint Arnold followed with his second hit of the day, a double off the left-field wall. UTA hurler Kyle Gainley uncorked a wild pitch to score Robison and Hamblin lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Arnold and stake the Hogs to a 2-0 lead after three innings.
Arkansas extended the lead to 3-0 on the first triple of sophomore catcher Brian Walker’s career. The hard ground ball down the first-base line scored Chris Hollensworth, who singled to left-center earlier in the inning.
The Razorbacks extended the lead to 6-0 in fifth inning with a Hamblin solo home run, a RBI groundout by Matt Willard and a RBI single by Robison. Arkansas chased the Texas-Arlington starter Kyle Gainley (0-2) after 4.1 innings. He allowed six runs on 10 hits while walking two and striking out two.
UTA finally got to Boyce in the sixth inning with two runs on three hits, highlighted by a solo home run to left field by Adam Moore. The second run came around to score after Boyce was lifted for freshman Michael Wild who unleashed a wild pitch on his first delivery.
Arkansas scored a run in the bottom of the sixth and UTA countered right back with a single tally in the top of the seventh. The Hogs then put up a five spot in the bottom of the seventh inning highlighted by Hamblin’s second home run of the day, a three-run bomb to left-center field, to take a 12-3 lead.
Cobb then connected for his second home run of the day for UTA to leadoff the eighth inning off Hogs’ reliever Brett Bollman. Bollman pitched the eighth and ninth inning to finish things off for Arkansas.
Arkansas will face host Hawai’i at 10:35 p.m. on Thursday, March 2. The Hogs will send ace Nick Schmidt to the hill with his 3-0 record and 0.47 ERA. Listen live on the Razorback Baseball Radio Network or over the internet on the RazorZone at Hogwired.com.
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