Diamond Hogs rally past Horned Frogs 2-1

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

For the second night in a row at Globe Life Field, Arkansas’ offense generated just two runs, but Saturday’s pair was good enough for a win.

Kuhio Aloy’s two-run double in the seventh inning proved to the game-winning blow as the No. 5 Razorbacks downed No. 22 TCU 2-1 before 17,994 fans in Arlington, Texas.

Arkansas starting pitcher Zach Root (2-0) allowed just one unearned run on two hits and fanned 10 in six innings.

Landon Beidelschies followed Root to the mound and got five outs with Christian Foutch handling the final four to get the save for the Razorbacks (5-1).

It was a welcomed victory for an Arkansas team that lost 3-2 to Kansas State on Friday night.

“It was a good game,” Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn said. “…It’s like I told our team, first of all it feels great, but we did four or five things wrong last night, little things, and that kept us from probably winning the game. But tonight we did everything right.”

TCU starter Tommy LaPour cruised through the first six innings, but walked former Horned Frog Logan Maxwell and Brent Iredale leading off the seventh.

He was replaced by Gianluca Shinn, who gave up a sacrifice bunt to Cam Kozeal before Aloy pinch hit for Kendall Diggs.

Aloy, who had homered in the same inning along with his brother Wehiwa on Friday – delivered a pinch-hit double on the first pitch he saw.

“He’s a pretty good hitter,” Van Horn said of Kuhio Aloy. “I know he swings hard. We kind of knew exactly what was going to happen. If we make this move, they are going to make that move and he is going to end up hitting off a right hander.

“…I just told him that this right hander throws off speed and I don’t even know if that is what he got that first pitch. But it was up and in and he hammered it.

“Obviously yesterday he hit a ball about as hard as you can at any level – 117 miles per hour plus.”

The rally came after a tremendous catch by Arkansas left fielder Charles Davalan, who robbed a game-tying home run away from TCU’s Karson Bowen for the final out of the sixth inning.

“When it was hit, we thought it was probably going to get out,” Van Horn said. “I don’t know it he robbed it or just kept it close. I don’t know if he could get up that high, but it was a great play.”

Root kept Arkansas, who was outhit 3-2, in it while throwing 81 pitches.

“I thought he was amazing,” Van Horn said. “His misses were really close and he really battled in the fourth inning. It was amazing to me that he walked a batter, hit a batter and made an error and ended up giving up just one run.

“That showed how tough he is and how good he is and then he came out in the fifth and had a great inning – 1-2-3. We could have brought him back in the sixth. I think he was at 80 pitches, but I told (Arkansas pitching) Coach (Matt Hobbs) that ‘we are going to need that inning down the line. Let’s go get somebody else.’

“It worked out, but he was really good.”

The Horned Frogs (5-1) downed Michigan 10-4 on Friday and the Wolverines lost 5-1 to Kansas State 5-1 on Saturday.

Arkansas will finish up the weekend with an 11 a.m. game against Michigan (4-2), who Kansas State beat 5-1 earlier Saturday.

“Michigan has a good team, an athletic team that can do some things,” Van Horn said. “They have run into some tough luck here. They played TCU great for five or six innings yesterday, but then they gave up a four-run inning and a couple of home runs.”

Photo courtesy of Razorbacks Communications