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Little things add up in Arkansas' victory Published: Sunday, April 06, 2008 PRINT E-MAIL FAYETTEVILLE — Two unlikely sources created an opportunity for Arkansas on Saturday, and the ensuing hitters pounced on the momentum provided by Ryan Cisterna and Scott Lyons. The result was the pivotal two-run rally that carried the Razorbacks to a 5-4 victory over Auburn and evened up the teams’ SEC series at Baum Stadium. Cisterna entered the day batting just. 157 and Lyons came in at. 079, so they didn’t seem to spark much faith from the crowd when they led off the seventh inning from their No. 8 and No. 9 spots in the batting order. “I heard people wanting me to pinch-hit — ‘We’ve got this guy and that [available ]’ — but you know what ? Cisterna had some good atbats,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of his catcher who had been banged up with a shoulder injury for the past week.
Cisterna made sure his coach didn’t have any regrets by a slicing a two-strike changeup away to the gap in right-center and hustling to second for a double. Lyons, who earlier in the game collected just his fifth hit of the season, put down a well-placed bunt to move Cisterna over to third. Cisterna was just as happy his teammate executed on the bunt as he was for getting something started. “That just sends goose bumps down my back. We all came together,” Cisterna said. “We’ve got guys bunting and have guys advancing with sac flies. Just awesome baseball.” The sacrifice fly came from the next batter, Sean Jones, to make it 4-3, and Auburn Coach Tom Slater agreed with Cisterna and called the sequence “good baseball on their part.” With two outs, the Razorbacks kept coming. Ben Tschepikow singled to left field and then came up with the game’s most underappreciated moment. Auburn catcher Ryan Jenkins dropped a pitch that fell in front of home plate, which was just enough time for Tschepikow to bolt from first and slide into second safely. The aggression paid off when Logan Forsythe followed with an RBI single to account for the eventual game winner. “With two outs, that’s the right move,” Van Horn said. “That was the perfect play. Ben showed me some really good instincts.” From Friday’s first pitch through a 5-2 loss and some bad luck and bad base running Saturday, not much went the Razorbacks’ way. Cisterna’s bid for a home run landed in the outstretched glove of fence-climbing left fielder Brian Fletcher. A sure base hit and runners on the corners turned into a force play when Auburn second baseman Justin Hargett was in the perfect spot to field Brett Eibner’s hit-and-run grounder up the middle. Eibner was picked off first and tagged out at second just before Tim Smalling’s triple could have padded a lead in the sixth. All of it became moot when the Razorbacks fed off each other in the seventh. “[Friday ] night we did a couple things wrong, and that’s going to hurt us,” Forsythe said. “Today we got things down and we got big hits with two strikes and two outs, and that’s the offense we are.” More Stories From: CHRIS COCOLES · Mitchell's talent crosses sports · Keuchel refuses to give in to Cavs · Cavaliers stay loose despite pressure · LSU back in power thanks to long ball Yesterday's Most Popular 1. HOG FUTURES JERRY MITCHELL : Hurricane brings Mitchell to Hogs 2. THE RECRUITING GUY : Purifoy's size fits into UA's plans 3. Iowa prep standout Kelly joins UA track 4. Former Diamond Hog Richards inks contract with Marlins Today's Most E-mailed |
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