FAYETTEVILLE -- Another huge middle-inning outburst and a strong pitching performance propelled the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks to a 9-2 victory over North Carolina-Charlotte on Wednesday.
Freshman Christian Franklin had a single, double and triple in his first three at-bats and drove in three runs and Trevor Ezell and Dominic Fletcher homered to pace the Hogs in front of a crowd of 1,248 at Baum-Walker Stadium on a chilly afternoon.
UP NEXT
ARKANSAS BASEBALL
vs. Louisiana Tech
WHEN 6 p.m. Friday
WHERE Baum-Walker Stadium, Fayetteville
RECORDS Louisiana Tech 9-3; Arkansas 10-1
RADIO Razorback Sports Network. Not all games will be carried by all affiliates. Check local listings.
SHORT HOPS
Carter Sells, a freshman from Brentwood, Tenn., made his college debut in the ninth inning as the 15th Razorback pitcher this season. … Arkansas first baseman Trevor Ezell went 1 for 3, scored twice and reached base twice, and now has a team-high on-base percentage among regulars of .510. … UNC-Charlotte second baseman Carson Johnson of Springdale had a cheering section of about 20 friends and family members, at least 15 of whom wore green hoodies with “Johnson” and his number 2 on the back and a Razorback on the front. …
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY Off
FRIDAY Louisiana Tech, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY Louisiana Tech, 1 p.m.
SUNDAY Louisiana Tech 1 p.m.
MONDAY Off
TUESDAY Western Illinois, 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY Western Illinois, 3 p.m.
Arkansas (10-1) won its 18th consecutive regular season home game and its 18th in a row against a nonconference team at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks, who avenged a 6-3 loss to the 49ers last season, lost their shutout bid in the ninth inning. UNC-Charlotte (6-6) managed only a bunt single through seven innings and finished with three hits to Arkansas' nine.
The Razorbacks turned a 2-0 game into a rout with a five-run sixth inning, triggered by Ezell's home run and capped by Franklin's two-run triple.
"I thought we played a good game," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "That's a solid team and we just got some big hits. ... Big, timely hits late ... to kind of blow out the game there in the sixth."
Freshman Patrick Wicklander (1-1) had his best game in his team-high sixth outing, allowing a bunt hit and three walks in five innings and lowering his ERA to 3.38 from 5.40 while throwing 76 pitches.
"I had a hard time getting my off speed over in the early innings but I started getting a feel for it later," Wicklander said. "Ultimately at the end of the day I had everything working for me."
The left-hander walked the leadoff man each of the first three innings, but had eight strikeouts and induced a double play started by shortstop Casey Martin to wriggle out of trouble in the third inning.
"I put myself in it so I have to get myself out. That's kind of how I deal with it," Wicklander said.
"I felt like Patrick Wicklander had really good stuff," Van Horn said. "He just didn't command some of it.
"To me, the play of the ... game was just a great play by Casey Martin on a ground ball that looked like it was headed into center field. Instead of runners at first and third and nobody out we turned a double play. ... That was a big momentum swing."
Wicklander was followed by right handers Kole Ramage, Kevin Kopps and Jacob Burton, who threw one inning each and combined for four strikeouts and one hit allowed to get through eight shutout innings.
"Arkansas was better than we were," 49ers Coach Loren Hobbs said. "They've got a really good team, really good club. We played decent the first four, five innings but they've got an athletic group, they're well coached and they just played a lot better than we did today."
Wicklander allowed his only hit with two outs in the first on Drew Ober's bunt single.
Arkansas took the lead in the second inning after Fletcher and Casey Optiz opened it by drawing walks. Trey Harris bunted the runners over and Jack Kenley delivered a sacrifice fly to bring Fletcher home.
The score remained 1-0 until the fifth, when Harris and Kenley led off with walks and moved up on a Jacob Nesbit bunt. Franklin's fly ball to right field got knocked down by the incoming wind and eluded diving outfielder Dominick Cammarata for an RBI double.
Franklin took a pair of mighty cuts, knowing he was a home run short of the cycle, before striking out to end the Razorbacks' two-run inning.
"I was trying a little too hard," Franklin said.
The Razorbacks blew up with five runs in the sixth inning, starting with Ezell's leadoff home run, his third.
Nesbit had an RBI single and Franklin drove a two-run triple to right center. Franklin wrapped up the big frame by scoring on a balk.
Franklin increased his team-leading RBI count to 15 from the ninth spot in the batting order.
"It feels really good," Franklin said. "Coming into freshman year I just wanted to help my team in any type of way that I could, whether it's in the field, hitting, stealing bases, and so being able to hit really well means a lot to me."
Van Horn said he likes Kenley and Franklin, the team's top RBI guys, hitting in the bottom third of the order.
"I want our lineup to be deep, so to speak," he said. "You don't want it to fall apart. ... You've got to have some guys down there who can do it.
"I think down the road, not necessarily this year, [Franklin] is going to be a 1-2 hole hitter."
The bottom four spots in the Arkansas order -- Harris, Kenley, Jacob Nesbit and Franklin -- combined to go 6 for 10 with 5 RBI and 4 runs scored.
Fletcher hit a two-run home run, his second, after an Ezell walk in the seventh inning.
Sports on 03/07/2019