SEC BASEBALL : Hogs miss shot to gain ground

BY RICK FIRES

Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/225864/

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Arkansas wasted an opportunity Thursday to strengthen its bid for the SEC Tournament.

Ryan Duffy hit a tie-breaking home run in the seventh inning to give Mississippi State a 6-5 victory over Arkansas before 1, 623 at Dudy Noble Field.

The loss left Arkansas (32-21, 13-14 SEC ) still in eighth place for the final berth in the SEC Tournament, which begins May 21 at Hoover, Ala. Ninth-place South Carolina lost to Tennessee, leaving the Razorbacks one-half game ahead of the Gamecocks with two games to play.

Arkansas owns the tiebreaker over South Carolina after sweeping the Gamecocks last weekend at Baum Stadium.

Mississippi State starter Ricky Bowen provided one of his best performances of the season after starting the night with a 7. 66 ERA. Bowen pitched 1 6 / 3 innings and allowed a threerun home run by Brett Eibner that gave Arkansas a 3-0 lead.

Mississippi State (22-32, 8-20 SEC ) went ahead 5-3 before Arkansas tied it in the seventh inning on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Ben Tschepikow.

Duffy then provided the goahead run with a one-out home run in the bottom of the seventh off Arkansas starter Justin Wells. The Razorbacks had a chance in the ninth inning when pinchhitter Jacob House hit a two-out double to left field, but reliever Aaron Weatherford retired Chase Leavitt on a groundout to end the game.

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn met in left field with his team for only a few seconds before the Razorbacks left the field following the disappointing loss. “I told our guys we need to come out [tonight ] and get after it,” Van Horn said. “We just couldn’t put together a good inning against them, and when they get to Weatherford, he’s tough. I don’t think he’s blown one for them all year.” Bowen was also tough in his best start since throwing a complete game against Ole Miss in an SEC series opener. Bowen struck out nine and walked four before giving way to Weatherford (3-0 ), who allowed one hit

2 in the last 2 / 3 innings. “Bowen is a youngster with a good arm, but he has his good days and bad days,” Mississippi State Coach Ron Polk said. “He got tired there in the seventh, and we should’ve gone with Aaron a little earlier. But Ricky did a good job and, once we got the lead, our kids said, ‘Let’s get to Aaron.’” Russ Sneed hit a home run in the second inning for Mississippi State, which outhit Arkansas 7-6. Murphree had two hits and Eibner hit his seventh home run of the season off Bowen to stake the Razorbacks to a 3-0 lead. “This is a big win because with Coach Polk and his last go-around, we want to win it for him,” Bowen said of Polk, who will resign after Saturday’s game from Mississippi State. “We’re doing it for him and pride in ourselves. “ We want to spoil someone else’s chance to get to the SEC Tournament.”

1 Wells (3-2 ) went 7 / 3 innings for Arkansas and was helped by a diving catch by Leavitt that saved two runs. Mississippi State took a 4-3 lead in the third and the Bulldogs still had runners on second and third when Jason Nappi lifted a long fly ball deep into the right-field corner. Leavitt raced back and made the catch while sliding headlong on the wet outfield grass. Arkansas’ players rushed out of the dugout to congratulate Leavitt, and he received an ovation from many of the Mississippi State fans scattered throughout the stadium. Cliff Springston will pitch for Arkansas against Mississippi State’s John Lalor in today’s game at 6: 30 p. m. Springston

2 pitched 5 / 3 innings against South Carolina in his last start but did not get a decision in the Razorbacks’ 6-3 victory.