Pretty incredible stats in here about Arkansas' history vs. LSU...
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas used the long ball to clinch its third straight series victory over LSU on Friday.
Zack Gregory, Michael Turner and Chris Lanzilli each homered and the pitching staff took care of the rest in the Razorbacks’ 4-0 shutout win over the Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Before the current stretch, Arkansas had never even taken back-to-back series from LSU, much less won three in a row. In fact, the Razorbacks won at least two of three games over the Tigers just four times in the first 27 years they were SEC foes.
The aforementioned trio of home runs proved to be the difference, with two of those swings coming in the third inning.
Leading off the frame, Gregory sent Blake Money’s 1-0 pitch the other way into the left field bullpen for his fifth homer of the season — three of which have been to the opposite field.
According to the UA’s TrackMan system, it was a 385-foot blast that left the bat with a 93 mph exit velocity and 30.5-degree launch angle.
“I got myself in a plus count,” Gregory said. “I know he’s got good stuff, a good slider. Being up in the count, he likes to go away with the pitch. I was hunting heater and got something I could drive and put a good swing on it.”
Down to their final out of the third and with a runner on base thanks to a Brady Slavens walk, Turner also got ahead 1-0 before sitting on a fastball and smacking it the other way for a two-run homer that landed in the left field bullpen, as well.
It was very similar to Gregory’s earlier in the inning, as it traveled 371 feet thanks to a 94 mph exit velocity and 28.2-degree launch angle.
“He had a big day for us, taking that off speed pitch and just driving it the other way,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Whenever it left the bat, he knew it was out of the park, especially where he hit it, and the way the wind was blowing, that it was going to gain momentum as it got up in the air a little bit.”
That wind, which was blowing in hard from right field, likely kept a few other balls from leaving the park. Several Razorbacks hit fly balls caught at or near the track Friday night.
That is nothing new for Arkansas this season, but the blasts by Gregory and Turner seemed to take advantage of the conditions because the left-handers hit it the other way.
“Honestly, they have learned how to hit to the wind a little bit,” Van Horn said. “And our batting practice today in pregame, there was I'd say 80% of it was going through the middle and going the other way with the left-handers.”
Two innings later, the Razorbacks got an insurance run courtesy of a two-run solo homer by Lanzilli.
There may have been some doubt with the first two, but the third long ball was certainly aided by the wind. After just missing what looked like a home run in Game 1 of the series, the right-fielder crushed the first pitch he saw from Money in the fifth inning.
It left the bat at 100 mph, but with a 40.9-degree launch angle — the highest of the season on an Arkansas home run at home this year — it seemed like a deep fly out. Instead, it went 361 feet and landed in the Hog Pen to make it 4-0.
“The Lanzilli hit last night, I thought it was going out of the park,” Van Horn said. “This one, I didn't think it was going out of the park and it went out of the park by a lot. So I don't know what's going on up there. There's a lot of swirling.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Friday’s win…
Smith Bounces Back
Coming off the worst start of his young career, Hagen Smith turned in quite the bounce-back performance back in the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium.
A week after failing to get through the fifth and getting knocked around for seven runs at Florida, the freshman left-hander threw seven shutout innings against one of the SEC’s most dangerous lineups. He limited LSU to just two hits and one walk while striking out seven.
“It didn’t go good for him last week at Florida and he took it personal,” Van Horn said. “He worked extremely hard this week. He got with Coach (Matt Hobbs) and did a lot of talking. Had a great bullpen session. He was on a mission and pitched really well.”
Much like Connor Noland in Game 1, Smith retired the first nine Tigers he faced before allowing a leadoff base runner in the fourth — this one coming via a single by Dylan Crews.
He also issued a leadoff walk in the fifth and gave up a two-out single in the sixth, but stranded each of the three base runners on first base. The latter of those situations was aided by a pair of web gems by his defense, as Jalen Battles and Cayden Wallace made excellent plays sandwiched around Jacob Berry’s hit.
“They’re really big,” Smith said about the plays. “You can just throw a pitch where you need to and if they hit it hard, they’re going to make a play behind you. So it’s really easy to pitch like that.”
Smith’s seven innings and two hits allowed match his previous bests, both of which he set against Southeastern Louisiana on March 5. It was his first scoreless outing since shutting out Illinois State for six innings in his collegiate debut back on Feb. 19.
Turner Time
His two-run home run may have been the highlight, but it was just part of Turner’s big day at the plate. The graduate transfer from Kent State went 3 for 4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Turner started the day with a solid single that would have given him an RBI had it not been for a base running mistake that resulted in Wallace getting into a rundown between third and home in the first inning. He capped his performance with a double in the eighth.
However, his third-inning homer — his fifth long ball of the season — was easily the most important hit of the game.
“That was a big swing,” Van Horn said. “We were up 1-0, and all of a sudden we’re up 3-0. The way Hagen was throwing, we felt like we were in good shape. At least for a while.”
With that giving him two RBIs, the Razorbacks improved to 18-0 when Turner drives in at least one run. They are just 7-7 when he has at least one plate appearances and fails to record an RBI.
The performance also improved his team-leading batting average to .347 and gave him 32 RBIs for the season, which is tied with Wallace and Slavens for the most on the team.
Van Horn admitted that, even with high expectations for him, Turner has likely exceeded what the Razorbacks hoped to get from him when they landed him from the portal.
“I’ve always thought highly of myself — I think everybody should when they’re playing,” Turner said. “I thought I was going to have success when I came, or I wouldn’t have come. I’m just trying to have as much fun as I can while I’m doing it and help these younger guys out any way I can.”
(story continues below)
Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' Game 2 win over LSU
HawgBeat brings you all of the key takeaways from Arkansas' series-clinching win over LSU on Friday.
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas used the long ball to clinch its third straight series victory over LSU on Friday.
Zack Gregory, Michael Turner and Chris Lanzilli each homered and the pitching staff took care of the rest in the Razorbacks’ 4-0 shutout win over the Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Before the current stretch, Arkansas had never even taken back-to-back series from LSU, much less won three in a row. In fact, the Razorbacks won at least two of three games over the Tigers just four times in the first 27 years they were SEC foes.
The aforementioned trio of home runs proved to be the difference, with two of those swings coming in the third inning.
Leading off the frame, Gregory sent Blake Money’s 1-0 pitch the other way into the left field bullpen for his fifth homer of the season — three of which have been to the opposite field.
According to the UA’s TrackMan system, it was a 385-foot blast that left the bat with a 93 mph exit velocity and 30.5-degree launch angle.
“I got myself in a plus count,” Gregory said. “I know he’s got good stuff, a good slider. Being up in the count, he likes to go away with the pitch. I was hunting heater and got something I could drive and put a good swing on it.”
Down to their final out of the third and with a runner on base thanks to a Brady Slavens walk, Turner also got ahead 1-0 before sitting on a fastball and smacking it the other way for a two-run homer that landed in the left field bullpen, as well.
It was very similar to Gregory’s earlier in the inning, as it traveled 371 feet thanks to a 94 mph exit velocity and 28.2-degree launch angle.
“He had a big day for us, taking that off speed pitch and just driving it the other way,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Whenever it left the bat, he knew it was out of the park, especially where he hit it, and the way the wind was blowing, that it was going to gain momentum as it got up in the air a little bit.”
That wind, which was blowing in hard from right field, likely kept a few other balls from leaving the park. Several Razorbacks hit fly balls caught at or near the track Friday night.
That is nothing new for Arkansas this season, but the blasts by Gregory and Turner seemed to take advantage of the conditions because the left-handers hit it the other way.
“Honestly, they have learned how to hit to the wind a little bit,” Van Horn said. “And our batting practice today in pregame, there was I'd say 80% of it was going through the middle and going the other way with the left-handers.”
Two innings later, the Razorbacks got an insurance run courtesy of a two-run solo homer by Lanzilli.
There may have been some doubt with the first two, but the third long ball was certainly aided by the wind. After just missing what looked like a home run in Game 1 of the series, the right-fielder crushed the first pitch he saw from Money in the fifth inning.
It left the bat at 100 mph, but with a 40.9-degree launch angle — the highest of the season on an Arkansas home run at home this year — it seemed like a deep fly out. Instead, it went 361 feet and landed in the Hog Pen to make it 4-0.
“The Lanzilli hit last night, I thought it was going out of the park,” Van Horn said. “This one, I didn't think it was going out of the park and it went out of the park by a lot. So I don't know what's going on up there. There's a lot of swirling.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Friday’s win…
Smith Bounces Back
Coming off the worst start of his young career, Hagen Smith turned in quite the bounce-back performance back in the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium.
A week after failing to get through the fifth and getting knocked around for seven runs at Florida, the freshman left-hander threw seven shutout innings against one of the SEC’s most dangerous lineups. He limited LSU to just two hits and one walk while striking out seven.
“It didn’t go good for him last week at Florida and he took it personal,” Van Horn said. “He worked extremely hard this week. He got with Coach (Matt Hobbs) and did a lot of talking. Had a great bullpen session. He was on a mission and pitched really well.”
Much like Connor Noland in Game 1, Smith retired the first nine Tigers he faced before allowing a leadoff base runner in the fourth — this one coming via a single by Dylan Crews.
He also issued a leadoff walk in the fifth and gave up a two-out single in the sixth, but stranded each of the three base runners on first base. The latter of those situations was aided by a pair of web gems by his defense, as Jalen Battles and Cayden Wallace made excellent plays sandwiched around Jacob Berry’s hit.
“They’re really big,” Smith said about the plays. “You can just throw a pitch where you need to and if they hit it hard, they’re going to make a play behind you. So it’s really easy to pitch like that.”
Smith’s seven innings and two hits allowed match his previous bests, both of which he set against Southeastern Louisiana on March 5. It was his first scoreless outing since shutting out Illinois State for six innings in his collegiate debut back on Feb. 19.
Turner Time
His two-run home run may have been the highlight, but it was just part of Turner’s big day at the plate. The graduate transfer from Kent State went 3 for 4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle.
Turner started the day with a solid single that would have given him an RBI had it not been for a base running mistake that resulted in Wallace getting into a rundown between third and home in the first inning. He capped his performance with a double in the eighth.
However, his third-inning homer — his fifth long ball of the season — was easily the most important hit of the game.
“That was a big swing,” Van Horn said. “We were up 1-0, and all of a sudden we’re up 3-0. The way Hagen was throwing, we felt like we were in good shape. At least for a while.”
With that giving him two RBIs, the Razorbacks improved to 18-0 when Turner drives in at least one run. They are just 7-7 when he has at least one plate appearances and fails to record an RBI.
The performance also improved his team-leading batting average to .347 and gave him 32 RBIs for the season, which is tied with Wallace and Slavens for the most on the team.
Van Horn admitted that, even with high expectations for him, Turner has likely exceeded what the Razorbacks hoped to get from him when they landed him from the portal.
“I’ve always thought highly of myself — I think everybody should when they’re playing,” Turner said. “I thought I was going to have success when I came, or I wouldn’t have come. I’m just trying to have as much fun as I can while I’m doing it and help these younger guys out any way I can.”
(story continues below)
