FAYETTEVILLE — Caleb Cali had the biggest swing Saturday during a chilly scrimmage at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Cali, a redshirt-junior third baseman, belted a three-run double to center field to give his Gray team a 4-2 lead in the third inning. It wound up being the winning hit as the Gray team — comprised mostly of projected starting position players — won 4-3 in seven innings.
Cali’s bases-clearing hit to the wall came on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Zack Morris, who walked Peyton Stovall in four pitches the at-bat before.
Morris also allowed a single to Ben McLaughlin to lead off the inning and a hard-hit double off the left-field wall by John Bolton with no outs. McLaughlin, Bolton and Stovall all scored on Cali's hit, with Stovall sliding into home plate just steps behind Bolton.
“I was obviously ready for the fastball and he gave me one over the middle, a little bit up…and I tried to put my best swing on it,” Cali said. “I hit it pretty well.”
Cali’s 2-for-3 performance followed a 2-for-5 outing Friday that included a 442-foot home run to left-center field. Cali, who hits from the right side, has batted third in the lineup both days.
His bat has been consistently good since he transferred to Arkansas from College of Central Florida. He was an All-American at the junior college level last year as he batted .438 with 17 home runs, 22 doubles, 6 triples and 77 RBI.
“He has swung the bat extremely well,” Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson said just before the start of preseason drills. “There’s not a lot of swing and miss there. He struck out a little bit in the fall, but this pitching staff will do that to you. He’s a really good hitter, has a very mature approach and has power. The guy is excited to be here.”
More from WholeHogSports: Unofficial stats from Saturday's scrimmage
Cali is part of a three-man battle at third base, along with freshman Jayson Jones and sophomore Kendall Diggs. Cali fielded .894 last season at the JUCO level, but Thompson indicated his defense has been better since the move to Arkansas.
“Last year I had a lot more errors than I’m used to,” Cali said. “There were a few balls that maybe should have gone my way that were tough. It’s also Florida JUCO baseball, so the fields aren’t the greatest, but I’m not going to blame it on that because I need to be better anyways."
“I’ve always tried to get better every offseason over there with my hands and stuff like that.”
Cali made a nice defensive play at third base in the fourth inning Saturday when he fielded a ground ball off the bat of Peyton Holt near the line and made a good throw to Brady Slavens at first base. The corner infield duo switched positions later in the scrimmage and Slavens made a sliding stop at third base before throwing out Reese Robinett.
Cali also made a good pick as the first baseman in the fifth inning when Isaac Webb hit a slow roller to Stovall at second base.
Slavens contributed the first run for the Gray team with a solo home run to right-center field against starting Red pitcher Will McEntire to lead off the second inning. Slavens also singled Saturday as part of a 2-for-3 outing.
“It was just sort of a hanging changeup,” Slavens said of his home run. “I put a good swing on it."
“Our team had a really good day. We saw the ball really well. You know, for it being the second scrimmage outside, I think we did a good job.
“We’ve got a bunch of good players that could start on any team in the country. When you’ve got that much depth, I think you’re just going to see a lot of guys compete and want to play.”
The Red team scored twice against Gray reliever Brady Tygart in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Freshman Mason Neville led off the inning with a single, stole second base and advanced to third when Tygart’s pick-off throw went into center field.
Neville scored on a single by Hunter Grimes in the next at-bat. Grimes was out when Stovall began a second base-to-shortstop-to-first base double play, but Tygart walked Webb with two outs, and Webb scored from first base on an RBI double by Holt.
Tygart struggled to get ahead of hitters in the second inning, but did a better job of it during a 1-2-3 third inning. Tygart allowed 3 hits, 1 walk and struck out 3 in 2 innings.
The Red team’s final score came in the fourth inning against right-handed reliever Koty Frank, a transfer from Nebraska. Neville led off with an infield single and scored from first base when Grimes doubled to the wall in left field.
Frank did not allow another hit during the rest of his two-inning outing. He struck out two batters.
The Red team failed to score with runners in scoring position and one out in the sixth inning. Freshman left-hander Jordan Huskey allowed a lead-off single by Jones and a one-out double by Grimes, but struck out Parker Rowland before Webb grounded out to second base.
Scoring came to a halt in the late innings against pitchers Huskey, Christian Foutch, Dylan Carter, Sean Fitzpatrick and Cooper Dossett. They were among six pitchers who did not allow a run, along with Gray team starter Jaxon Wiggins who threw a scoreless first inning. Wiggins allowed one hit and struck out one.
Carter’s outing was one of the day’s most impressive. The right-hander who redshirted last season threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Carter inherited a runner at second base in the fourth inning after Jared Wegner singled up the middle and stole second base against Morris. Morris struck out Jace Bohrofen before giving way to Carter, who induced groundouts by Hudson Polk and Ben McLaughlin in three total pitches to end the inning.
Carter allowed a one-out walk by Tavian Josenberger in the fifth inning, but Stovall hit into an inning-ending double play in the next at-bat.
Morris recorded two outs as he pitched parts of two innings. His first inning on the mound was rolled (ended without a third out being recorded) and he allowed 3 runs, 5 hits and 1 walk.
Slavens’ home run was the only run during McEntire’s two-inning start. McEntire allowed one hit and struck out three.
Other notables from Saturday:
• Catcher Hudson Polk had arguably the day’s best defensive play when he made a sliding catch in front of the dugout on a pop-up by Jayson Jones in the first inning.
• Hunter Grimes was 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI for the Red team. Grimes and Peyton Holt rotated at second base.
• Kendall Diggs was 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts while leading off and playing right field for the Red team.
• Red team catcher Parker Rowland caught Jace Bohrofen trying to steal second base in the second inning.