Long Ball Hurts Razorbacks in Oxford
OXFORD, Miss. – Ryan Cisterna had two hits for the Arkansas Razorback baseball team including a solo home run in the sixth inning but it wasn’t enough as Arkansas fell to the Mississippi Rebels, 12-4, on Friday night at Oxford-University Stadium.
The Razorback loss drops them to 24-18 overall and 7-11 in Southeastern Conference play while Mississippi improves to 28-15, 11-8 in league action.
“We got runners on but just couldn’t get the big hit,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We couldn’t get the big hit and they did.”
Arkansas’ day started off on a bad note when Ole Miss hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning with two outs. Both Rebel hitters jumped on the first pitch thrown to them Arkansas starter Dallas Keuchel.
The Hogs would get one back in the top of the second on a strange play with one out in the inning and runners on first and second, Scott Lyons would fly out to right field but Brett Eibner would tag on the play at second and make a dash to third. The throw from the right fielder would get caught up in Eibner as he slid and bounced into the Ole Miss dugout allowing Eibner to score.
The Razorbacks tied the game at three in the top of the fifth with a two out rally that started when Chase Leavitt reached base on an error by the shortstop. Ben Tschepikow would follow with a single to shortstop to put runners at first and second. Arkansas’ next batter, Logan Forsythe, hit a towering pop up near the third-base bag which was lost by the Rebel players and fell to the infield dirt for a double, scoring Leavitt. An intentional walk to Jeff Nutt would be followed by a walk to Casey Coon which plated Arkansas’ third run and tie the game.
Arkansas’ two runs in the top of the fifth was followed four by Mississippi in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs and a runner on first, Ole Miss got a single to left field which was followed by a single to right which scored the first run. The next batter crushed a 1-2 pitch over the left-center field wall to make it a four-run inning.
Down by four, Cisterna got one run back for the Razorbacks with his second hit of the game, a bomb over the left-center field wall.
The Rebel bats continued to spray the ball to all parts of the field through the final three innings as they tacked on an additional five runs to make the final score 12-4.
The Razorbacks and Rebels continue their three-game series on Saturday afternoon with a 4:00 p.m. start at Oxford-University Stadium. For more information regarding Razorback baseball or University of Arkansas athletics please visit www.hogwired.com.
