FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas Razorback baseball team (13-8, 3-3 SEC) recorded its third shutout victory of the year Sunday afternoon, blanking Alabama (15-8, 3-3) 1-0 to capture the series win at Baum Stadium.
Stellar pitching the story of the day, as Chris Oliver (2-2) was dominate in 7.0 innings of work, allowing just four hits and facing two batters over the minimum. He recorded a career-high six strikeouts, and gave way to Michael Gunn who slammed the door with two perfect innings to earn his third save of the year.
Krisjon Wilkerson scored the only run Arkansas would need in the second inning. After a one-out triple off the wall in left-center field, he was knocked home on an RBI groundout by Bobby Wernes. Andrew Benintendi led the Razorbacks with two hits of the team’s five hits.
The Razorbacks return to action Tuesday, March 25 against Mississippi Valley State in doubleheader action at Baum Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 p.m. The two teams will then head to North Little Rock for a Wednesday contest at Dickey-Stephens Park at 6:35 p.m.
Coach Van Horn Quotes
Head Coach Dave Van Horn (opening statement) – “I’m Just really proud of the way the team played after what happened on Friday, giving up 17. They never quit. Played great yesterday, played excellent defense again today. Outstanding pitching. I thought, obviously, this was (RHP)Chris Oliver‘s best outing since he’s been here. He really pitched today. He actually changed speeds on his fastball, used his breaking ball a lot, mixed in a few change-ups. I thought he did a good job of keeping the Alabama off balance at least the first couple of times through. I think he got a little bit tired there. Coach Jorn and I were just trying to figure out if we were going to give him another inning. We looked at his pitch count and it was in the upper nineties, just figured it was time to go. (LHP) Michael Gunn was fresh, he has good stuff and has been waiting to get the ball all weekend. They hadn’t seen him. He made us look like we made the right move. Just proud of the team, it was a great series win for our team.”
Game Notes
- Chris Oliver recorded a career-long outing of 7.0 innings and faced just two batters over the minimum.
- The Razorbacks have won the series finale of both SEC series this season and three of their last four dating back to last season.
- The last time Arkansas shutout an SEC opponent was May 17, 2013 at Auburn. The last time the Razorbacks blanked a league opponent at Baum Stadium was against Georgia on April 8, 2012.
- The Razorbacks were hit by a pitch three times during the game and have been hit by 44 pitches this season. Arkansas has been hit by at least one pitch in seven straight games and in 18 of 21 games with multiple hit by pitches in 12 games. Tyler Spoon was hit by a pitch in the first inning, Jake Wise was plunked in the fourth inning and Brian Anderson in the eighth inning.
- Arkansas moved to 12-0 on the year when scoring first.
- Sunday’s attendance of 7,967 gave Arkansas 25,115 fans for the series and an average of 7,638 fans for 13 home dates this season.
- The Razorbacks have won at least one game in 19 straight SEC series dating back to the 2012 season.
How They Scored
- Arkansas 1, Alabama 0; Bottom 2nd: Bobby Wernes grounded out to second base, Krisjon Wilkerson scored from third base.
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