College Baseball

Terps stun Hogs with 9-run sixth

Arkansas short stop Brett McAfee fields a ball during a game against Maryland on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala.

MOBILE, Ala. -- One throw, then the game, sailed away from the Arkansas Razorbacks Sunday afternoon at Eddie Stanky Stadium.

Arkansas led No. 13 Maryland 6-1 when shortstop Brett McAfee fielded a routine grounder by Maryland's Jose Cuas to start the sixth and overthrew first baseman Clark Egan

The fielding error was Arkansas' first of the season but it was not its last in the inning.

Before the final out of the inning was recorded, the Razorbacks would commit four errors and use three pitchers while the Terps produced nine runs and seven hits, grabbing a 10-6 lead en route to a 13-6 victory on the final day of play of the South Alabama baseball tournament

"I didn't see that coming, that defensive meltdown out there," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "A routine ground ball to short got it started. ... It was just a bad inning. I haven't seen one like that in a couple of years, to be honest with you.

"We learned a lot about our team this weekend and I think we have a chance to be a good team. We've got to do a lot better job on the mound and we've got to throw a lot more strikes. You take away one inning and we've played great defense all year. This is a disappointing loss but I know that we'll get better from it."

The No. 15 Hogs (4-2) finished the round-robin tournament, which included four teams and spanned three days, with a 1-2 mark.

Arkansas lost to Central Florida on Friday and defeated South Alabama on Saturday before losing to Maryland in a game that started at 11 a.m.

McAfee said it was important for the Hogs to start fast Sunday after playing the late game Saturday, and the Razorbacks did, scoring two in the second on a single by Tyler Spoon and a home run by McAfee.

The Hogs made it 6-1 in the third when a two-out, four-run rally was capped by Spoon's three-run home off the top of the scoreboard in left field.

"Obviously it was an early morning game today after a late game last night and we wanted to come out with energy, and that;s what we did," McAfee said. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish the game out."

Maryland sent 13 batters to the plate in the inexplicable sixth inning to turn a 6-1 deficit into a 10-6 lead.

Maryland (5-1) added two more runs with a two-out rally in the seventh that was aided when right fielder Spoon mishandled LaMonte Wade's double, allowing Terps runners to score from first and second.

Maryland added another run in the eighth when Kevin Martir drew a two-out walk and scored when Anthony Papio hit a double off the top of the fence in left field.

"Coming out of here 2-1, I don't feel too bad about it," Maryland Coach John Szefc said.

Freshman Keaton McKinney, a 6-5, 220-pound right-hander from Ankeny, Iowa, started for the Razorbacks and pitched 5 innings, allowing 1 run and 3 hits while striking out 4 and walking 2. Six more Arkansas pitchers would be used, including freshman Jonah Patten, who was on the mound to start the sixth for the Hogs.

"We had a really good start," Van Horn said. "Offensively we did a good job. We scored all six runs with two outs, hit a couple of home runs, hit a lot of balls hard. McKinney pitched pretty well. He was a little nervous at first, but he started throwing the ball harder in the fourth and fifth innings. We started to give him another inning but I think he was in the upper 70s in pitches and we didn't want to push it."

Arkansas returns home to face Cal Thursday and Friday.

Sports on 02/23/2015