FAYETTEVILLE — Blaine Knight and his coach both have bemoaned the lack of top-shelf stuff for the staff's undefeated ace for much of the last month.
The good stuff returned Friday night as Arkansas thumped Texas A&M, 9-3, in the opener of the SEC series.
Knight mixed four quality pitches to keep the Aggies off balance. He improved to 8-0 with seven quality innings, allowing five hits and tied a career-high 11 strikeouts.
“I know you've heard me say more than a couple times that Knight's stuff was just OK,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Tonight it was really good.
“The fastball was really good, in and out. He was running the cutter in to right handers and then he had that breaker at 72 (mph) that is a 12 to 6 downer that he was putting in for strikes. And he was mixing in a few sliders.”
Knight threw 105 pitches and said there was never a doubt about his command. There were no walks and 74 of his pitches were for strikes.
The junior from Bryant didn't argue with Van Horn that it was his best outing in quite some time.
“I agree,” he said. “It was the best command, the best stuff in a few weeks.
“I hope it stays around. I'm going to work to make sure of it.”
Knight said the Aggies seemed to be sitting on his fastball and cutter.
“They were not ready for the curveball,” he said. “I had only been throwing it a hand full of times in recent games.”
Michael Hellman, A&M's best hitter, was befuddled. He fanned all four times, including three times against Knight.
“I just wanted to mix it against him,” Knight said. “I didn't want to let him see the same thing twice.”
The Hogs gave Knight a 4-0 lead in the first behind a three-run homer by Carson Shaddy. The Aggies climbed back into it with homers in the second and fourth to make it 4-3. The Hogs exploded for five runs in the fifth and there would be no more action until the postgame fireworks show.
Eric Cole had a two-run single in the fifth, following two clutch at bats by Jack Kenley and Hunter Wilson. Both fought back from 1-2 counts. Kenley walked and Wilson was hit by pitch to force in two runs.
“We put together two really good innings,” Van Horn said. “Kenley's walk was a big at bat and Wilson was behind in the count, too, and gets hit. Cole was behind 1-2 and singled for two more. That was a productive inning, tacking on runs.”
The Hogs battered A&M ace Mitchell Kilkenny (8-3) for nine hits and seven runs. Casey Martin led the way with three hits. Seven different Hogs scored.
“We knew he had a good fastball,” Cole said. “He likes to pitch off that fast ball as most of their staff does. We went up their hunting the fast ball in the first. Once we did that, he adjusted and did a good job.”
Shaddy said his homer – his 10th of the season - came on a down and in slider.
“It was a good pitch,” Shaddy said. “My instincts just took over.”
Shaddy and Cole said their approach fed off Knight.
“We start Blaine every single Friday night and he's such a warrior,” Shaddy said. “He might give up a dink hit and it just pisses him off. He's a great example for us.”