Cardinal blast five homers to rout Gray in Arkansas Baseball Fall Classic

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – For the first time this fall, Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn put his likely starters on one team for a scrimmage.

The result was predictable with the Cardinal taking 10-2 rout over the Gray in the Fall Classic Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The loaded team hit four of the game’s five home runs with Wehiwa Aloy, Charles Davalan, Logan Maxwell, Ryder Helfrick and Reese Robinett all leaving the yard.

“I’ll tell you what, I stacked the team for the first time this fall,” Van Horn said. “And obviously to play somebody else tonight, about 95% of who would’ve started (for the Cardinal team).

“They did a great job. They stole eight bases, threw two runners out, hit five home runs and got a bunch of two-out hits and fouled off a bunch of pitches.”

That group will lead the way next week when Arkansas finishing up its fall workouts with a pair of scrimmages against visiting Oklahoma State Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

The Cardinal outhit their foe 11-4 with junior college transfer Brent Iredale having three hits, portal transfers Davalan and Maxwell both getting two each and returning catch Helfrick having three RBIs.

“I thought they put a lot of pressure on the other team,” Van Horn said. “But I was really pleased with what I saw. They looked like they really enjoyed being out here.

“That’s what we’ve gotten out of these guys this fall is they show up, man. It hasn’t been super easy out here, and they’ve met every challenge.”

Iredale and Nolan Souza both stole two bases each with Maxwell and Davalan also swiping a bag for Cardinal and Justin Thomas a pair for losing squad.

That effort continued a strong fall for third baseman Iredale, who had 25 home runs and stole 25 bases for New Mexico College last season.

“He’s better than I thought he would be, because he’s a better defender,” Van Horn said. “He really listens. That’s helped a little bit on that end, but he came in good.

“Offensively, I think he was leading our team in home runs going into tonight. He’s one of the guys that didn’t hit a home run (Friday), but he got a couple hits. He’s just been super solid honestly.

“I don’t know if he’s made but maybe one error all fall, and made a couple of really nice plays. You don’t know if he could make those plays.

“I just want him to be solid, hit and knock in runs. He did that in the first inning tonight. He got a big two-out hit with two strikes and drove in a couple runs.”

The Cardinal scored twice in the first and third innings, a single tally in the second and unloded for five runs in the top of the seventh.

“Their at bats were tough,” Van Horn said. “I know the pitchers were… In their mind, they’re thinking, ‘Man, they’ve got him after him and that one’s coming after this one.’ It starts to bother you. It wears on you a little bit.

“The lineup is pretty deep. Guys will fight you at the plate, but at the same time, they can hit it a long way. Like Davalan, he’ll steal a base and then he hit a ball 400 feet. I don’t know. It was a good night for the starters.”

The Cardinal squad got solid pitching from Gabe Gaeckle, Zach Root, Cole Gibler, Christian Foutch, Will McEntire and Tag Andrews with only Gaeckle and Andrews giving up runs.

Gage Wood started for the Gray and was followed to the mound by Landon Beidelschies, Tate McGuire, Dylan Carter and Lance Davis.

Van Horn is pleased to see Carter apparently fully healthy from injury.

“It was really good to see Dylan Carter (pitch) like he did,” Van Horn said. “This is a guy that, two years ago when we were already having all kinds of injuries and the weather was terrible that spring it seemed like, he just kept going out there and pitching for us and he hurt himself.

“Last year didn’t go quite as good because he was a year out of Tommy John. The control a lot of times is the issue, the command. His velocity got up last spring, but the command was there.

“Today and what I’ve seen this fall, he’s been commanding the ball and still throwing the fastball in the mid-90s. He can pitch. He did a great job.”

Photo by John D. James