Nothing gets past: Hogs' Kenley fights off pitches before key hit

FAYETTEVILLE -- Jack Kenley's patient approach paid off for the Arkansas Razorbacks' sophomore infielder in the sixth inning Saturday.

Kenley stroked a two-run single to center after a nine-pitch at-bat against left-hander Brock Guffey to give the No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks the lead in a 7-4 victory over Alabama before a crowd of 10,081 at Baum Stadium.

"I just kind of wanted to let everything get deep ... just fight, just battle," Kenley said. "I pretty much made the decision I wasn't going to get beat. I was going to do something right there."

The Razorbacks had three hits and four walks in the four-run sixth to improve to 26-3 at home and 10-1 in SEC games at Baum.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (31-13, 12-8) remained a half-game ahead of Ole Miss in the SEC West after the Rebels rallied for a 9-8 victory over LSU.

Designated hitter Luke Bonfield returned from a day off to post three hits -- including a solo home run, his sixth of the year, in the seventh inning to stretch the lead.

"It was big to help the team win and everything," Bonfield said. "I'm trying to do what I did tonight every game."

The late rally made a winner of lefty reliever Evan Lee (4-2), who came on for Kacey Murphy in the sixth after Alabama (23-22, 5-15 SEC) homered twice to take a 3-2 lead. Barrett Loseke got the final four outs for his second save as the Razorbacks have gone to a closer-by-committee with Matt Cronin out for the weekend.

The Crimson Tide dropped their eighth consecutive SEC game. Arkansas pitchers struck out 16 as the Hogs clinched their seventh consecutive series win at home this season.

Murphy struck out a career-high 11 batters in his 5-plus innings, including 3 in the first and fourth innings. He allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks and threw 103 pitches.

"I felt good," Murphy said. "I had some long innings, which is not my kind of outing. I usually have shorter innings and stay pretty low pitch count."

Trailing by a run entering the bottom of the sixth, the Razorbacks got busy against Guffey (1-2) and two other relievers.

Bonfield led off with a single, but he was erased on Jordan McFarland's one-out fielder's choice grounder. Jax Biggers and Grant Koch drew walks, with Koch's coming after falling behind 0-2, to load the bases and bring up Kenley in the nine-hole.

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The sophomore, starting on the infield with Carson Shaddy sidelined by a hand injury, fouled off seven pitches during the sequence, including five in a row, before looping a single to center to bring in McFarland and Biggers to put Arkansas on top 4-3.

Kenley fouled off a variety of pitches, including a pair of off-speed pitches he pulled foul down the left-field line, before he got a fastball he could handle.

"I knew I was going to get another fastball at some point, and I felt pretty confident in my swing," Kenley said.

"That was a big-time at-bat in the game," Bonfield said. "He had a good approach, and he never wavered from it. The more pitches you see in an at-bat, the more the advantage swings to you."

The Razorbacks had been stranding plenty of runners in bases-loaded situations in recent games.

"He battled, I don't know, seven or eight pitches and finally got a base hit and kind of broke that little funk we were in about coming up with that big hit with two outs," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "You could almost feel that little bit of a burden lifted off of our players."

Eric Cole drew a walk to reload the bases and end Guffey's outing after the Kenley hit.

Davis Veiner came in and walked Casey Martin on four pitches to force in a run. The rally wasn't over, however, as Heston Kjerstad greeted Sam Gardner with an RBI single on an 0-2 pitch. Kenley scored on the play, but Cole was thrown out at home.

Bonfield's home run in the seventh stretched the Razorbacks' lead to 7-3.

Alabama, which never led in the series opener, jumped out early against Murphy.

Leadoff hitter Cobie Vance worked Murphy for a 2-2 count that included three foul balls before the third baseman stroked an outside pitch over the right-field wall for his third home run.

The Razorbacks tied it in the bottom of the first by scratching out a run after two outs.

The 1-1 score held up until the bottom of the fifth, which opened with back-to-back singles by McFarland and Biggers. Koch's deep fly ball to right moved McFarland to third, then Kenley was awarded first base on catcher's interference to load the bases.

Cole hit a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Razorbacks a 2-1 lead. Martin worked a walk against starting pitcher Jake Walters to reload the bases. Guffey came on to retire Kjerstad on a fly to center to quell the threat.

Alabama didn't mess around in regaining the lead after Murphy topped the 100-pitch mark early in the sixth. Catcher Sam Praytor ripped a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left center to tie the game. Two pitches later, Joe Breaux went opposite field over the right-field wall for his second home run of the series and year for a 3-2 Tide lead.

"Props to them. They jumped a fastball and hit it out," Murphy said.

Arkansas right-hander Isaiah Campbell (3-4, 4.08 ERA) will take the mound against Alabama southpaw Garret Rukes (1-2, 2.18) in today's series finale as the Hogs seek their third SEC sweep in four series.

Sports on 04/29/2018