FAYETTEVILLE — Junior outfielder Jarrod McKinney is among Arkansas’ fastest players, but he had gone his first 189 at-bats as a Razorback without hitting a triple.
Then McKinney delivered his first triple in three years - going back to high school in Hughes Springs, Texas - on Wednesday night against Texas State to help the Razorbacks rally for a 6-5 victory before an announced crowd of 4,177 at Baum Stadium.
“Was it really Jarrod’s first triple for us?” Arkansas junior second baseman Bo Bigham said. “Wow! That’s good. He got it at the right time.”
Bigham led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a triple - his first this season but the third of his Arkansas career - through the right-center field gap on a fastball off Texas State closer Joseph Dvorsky. Bigham then scored to tie the game 5-5 when McKinney hit a curveball off Dvorsky for a drive to center that Bret Atwood couldn’t chase down.
“I was just trying to swing and at least get the ball to the second baseman to get the tying run in,” said McKinney, who entered the game in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter. “But the ball carried pretty good, and I was fortunate enough to get a triple.
“It was exciting to get my first triple here, but I’m more excited about the win.”
McKinney scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Matt Reynolds for the second out of the inning. McKinney slid into home head first, just beating the throw by Texas State right fielder Joey Fuda, to put the Razorbacks ahead 6-5.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be that close,” McKinney said. “He made a great throw.”
Arkansas freshman righthander Nolan Sanburn retired the Bobcats in order in the ninth inning for his fourth save.
“I feel fortunate to win,” Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Early in the game I felt we hit a lot of balls hard [for outs], but we hung in there and finally found a way to win.”
Each team scored all of its runs in the second, fifth, seventh and eighth innings, but the Razorbacks had a 2-1 edge over the Bobcats in both the seventh and the eighth.
“We finally got on top of them,” Van Horn said.
The Razorbacks (20-8) start a three-game SEC series against LSU on Friday night at Baum Stadium.
“We were getting to the point of the game where we didn’t want to use our pitching for the weekend,” said Van Horn, adding that none of the Razorbacks’ six pitchers exceeded their pitch count Wednesday night. “It was nice for that game not to go into extra innings.”
Texas State (19-9) took a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighthinning. Atwood singled, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Kubitz and scored on a throwing error by first baseman Kyle Robinson after an infield single by Jeff McVaney.
Arkansas had tied it 4-4 with two runs with two outs in the seventh inning when Collin Kuhn - who had hit a leadoff double - scored on a passed ball and Dominic Ficociello doubled in Robinson.
Texas State stretched its lead to 4-2 in the seventh inning. Fuda hit a leadoff single, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher James McCann and scored on a single by pinch hitter Isaac Nuti.
Arkansas had pulled to within 3-2 in the fifth inning when Reynolds walked and scored on Sam Bates’ double.
Texas State made it 3-1 in the fifth inning when Cory Falvay drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Clint Vest, moved to third on a flyout by Tyler Sibley and scored on Atwood’s single.
The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when McVaney and Kalenkosky hit back-to-back home runs off Arkansas starter Ryne Stanek.
Arkansas cut its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the second when Robinson hit a leadoff home run.
Up next LSU AT ARKANSAS WHEN 6:35 p.m. Friday WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville RECORDS Arkansas 20-8, 3-6 SEC; LSU 21-8, 3-6 RADIO RSP statewide radio network, which includes KQSM-FM, 92.1, in Fayetteville; KURM-AM, 790, and KURMFM, 100.3, in Bentonville-Rogers; KABZFM, 103.7, in Little Rock; KASR-FM, 92.7, in Conway; KHGG-FM, 103.1, in Fort Smith; KELD-FM, 106.5, in El Dorado; and KOMT-FM, 107.5, in Mountain Home. Not all games will be carried by all affiliates. Check local listings.
INTERNET www.arkansasrazorbacks.com (go to Razorvision link).
SHORT HOPS Arkansas junior lefthander Geoffrey Davenport underwent elbow ligament reconstruction surgery on Tuesday after suffering a season-ending elbow injury on March 15 while pitching against Kansas. “Every indication I got is that the surgery went real smooth,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. ... Texas State plays at Central Arkansas this weekend in a Southland Conference series.
THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY off FRIDAY vs LSU 6:35 p.m.
SATURDAY vs LSU 7:05 p.m.
SUNDAY vs LSU 1:05 p.m.
MONDAY off TUESDAY at Missouri State 6:35 p.m.
WEDNESDAY off
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/07/2011