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Diamond Hogs' season stranded Published: Sunday, June 01, 2008 PRINT E-MAIL PALO ALTO, Calif. - Second verse, same as the first. Too many left on base again left Arkansas a loser and now leaves the Razorbacks out of the Stanford Regional, their season kaput. Stranding 10 runners when losing 4-3 in Friday's firstround game to Pepperdine, the Razorbacks stranded 13 while falling 5-1 to Stanford in Saturday's loser's bracket at Stanford's Sunken Diamond. The four-team doubleelimination tournament continues today with Stanford, a 4-2 Friday night loser to the University of California-Davis Aggies, meeting Saturday's night's loser between UC-Davis and Pepperdine. Tonight, this afternoon's winner plays Saturday night's winner for the championship with a winner-take-all game Monday should the afternoon's loser's bracket winner win tonight.
That's all for these Left Coast teams to decide as Dave Van Horn's Hogs head home finished at 34-24. " The difference in the game was Stanford drove in runs and we didn't, " Van Horn said. " It was our downfall. " Just like Friday against Pepperdine. Pepperdine pitchers Nathan Newman and relievers Tyler Hess and Nick Gaudi made the key pitches Friday and Pepperdine center fielder Nate Simon made a game-saving, game-ending play to seal it. On Saturday, Stanford junk-throwing right-handed starter Austin Yount and hard-throwing lefty reliever Jeremy Bleich made the key pitches. Stanford's Cardinal in general and Yount in particular filled the defensive bill. Arkansas had just scored its lone run in Saturday's fifth inning. Logan Forsythe's RBI single followed two-out singles by Chase Leavitt and Ben Tschepikow when Andy Wilkins faced Yount with runners at second and third. The tying runners - Arkansas was down 3-1 then - had advanced when Stanford center fielder Sean Ratliff bobbled Forsythe's hit. Wilkins had stroked relatively soft leadoff singles in the second and fourth. This time Wilkins whacked a rocket, scorching the earth on a screaming hop that Yount somehow snagged to throw out the stunned Razorback before he got about four steps out of the batter's box. " I couldn't believe the ball went in his glove, " Van Horn said. " He just kind of reacted and did a tremendous job. If that gets through, the game is tied 3-3 and we're feeling good about things. Instead we're still down 3-1 and we never recovered. " In subsequent at-bats, Wilkins grounded hard to Yount again with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh and struck out with one out and runners at first and second in the ninth before Brett Eibner's strikeout ended the season. " That ball gets by, it's going to be 3-3 and change the whole complexion of the ballgame, " Wilkins said. " I couldn't believe he caught it. I knew I hit it pretty hard, but it found his glove. " How it got there, Yount doesn't really know. " He hit it hard and I happened to get under it with my glove, " Yount said. " Maybe I moved up a little bit but I'm not sure. The ball got in there, that's all that matters. " It could have mattered less had Arkansas been more efficient than netting but a run from nine hits and five walks. Arkansas struck out nine times as did Stanford. The Razorbacks stranded multiple runners five innings against Stanford including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh and runners at first and second in the eighth and ninth. For their part against Stanford, just like Razorback Friday losing starter Cliff Springston and reliever Mike Bolsinger against Pepperdine, Razorback pitchers Dallas Keuchel, Saturday's losing starter, and relievers Justin Wells and Stephen Richards pitched well enough to win most games. Wells, the Bryant native and junior college righthanded transfer from Texarkana College, pitched particularly well. He threw shutout innings from the fifth through the seventh despite his pitching hand taking a hard shot on a Sean Ratliff sixth-inning single. Wells was relieved by Richards after tagged for a single and double leading off the eighth. Both runners eventually scored via Jeff Whitlow's sacrifice fly and a Richards wild pitch. " Wells did a great job, " Van Horn said. " If he hadn't gotten hit on the hand, he might have been able to finish. He didn't have a good feel after that, but he's a bulldog. You just see the grit and determination. " Of Arkansas' two-day pitching effort, Van Horn said, " The pitching was fine. We just didn't hit. " Stanford left-handed hitters Randy Molina and Jason Castro defied percentages to knock in Stanford's first two runs off lefty Arkansas starter Keuchel. Molina clouted a solo homer, his fifth home run of 2008, that disappeared in the trees beyond the right-field fence leading off the second. Castro sliced a one-out RBI double to left in the third tallying Cord Phelps who had worked a leadoff walk - the only bases-on-balls Keuchel issued in four innings. Stanford tallied a fourthinning run on Zach Jones' sac fly but left the bases loaded. Unlike Arkansas, it was the only time Stanford stranded more than one of its own. More Stories From: NATE ALLEN · UA FOOTBALL PRACTICE : Once looked over freshmen making impact · UA FOOTBALL PRACTICE : QB ready for more pass-friendly offense · UA announces new athletic department structure · UA releases fresh depth chart for 2008 · UA FOOTBALL : Wright earns playing time as true freshman Yesterday's Most Popular 1. UA FOOTBALL PRACTICE : Once looked over freshmen making impact 2. ARKANSAS VS. WESTERN ILLINOIS : Second to none 3. LIKE IT IS : Razorbacks building foundation this season Today's Most E-mailed |
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