FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Wernes has enjoyed a breakout junior season at the plate and in the field, but Saturday’s game turned thanks to his legs.
Arkansas had just scored its first run of the game on Chad Spanberger’s RBI single and the ball was back in Ole Miss pitcher Jacob Waguespack’s hands when Wernes took off for home.
The play completely caught the Rebels off-guard.
“(Waguespack) kind of dropped his head and he walked pretty far back past the mound,” Wernes said. “I saw the catcher's head down, too, and I asked (third base coach Tony Vitello), ‘Is (there a) time out?' And he said, 'No,' and I just kind of rolled the dice a little bit and went. Luckily it paid off.”
He easily beat Waguespack’s throw home, tying the game and swaying the momentum in favor of the Razorbacks.
Joe Serrano was Arkansas’ next batter and he singled up the middle to take the lead, one the Razorbacks never gave back en route to a 5-2 series-clinching win.
“That was unbelievable,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “I told our team that’s better than a three-run homer right there. With a three-run homer, you know what hit you. They didn’t know what hit them.”
It went down in the scorebook as a stolen base, Wernes’ third of the season.
Wernes is arguably the Razorbacks’ most improved player this year. The junior college transfer hit just .217 in his first year at Arkansas, but after going 2-for-3 Saturday, his average is up to .362.
He also has 10 extra-base hits (three doubles, four triples and three home runs) through 27 games after hitting just one – a double – in 56 games last season.