FAYETTEVILLE -- Gonzaga had a chance to take a lead over the University of Arkansas baseball team on Sunday, but Razorbacks reliever Marshall Denton didn't even let the Bulldogs put the ball in play.
Denton was credited with the victory after Arkansas beat Gonzaga 9-5 at Baum-Walker Stadium thanks to three consecutive strikeouts with runners on first and second base in the fourth inning after starter Caleb Bolden allowed singles to Brett Harris and Tyler Rando.
Denton kept the Razorbacks ahead 1-0 by striking out Ryan Sullivan looking and Stephen Lund and Gabriel Hughes swinging.
"Denton's outing was outstanding," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "That was big-time for us."
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Denton retired the Bulldogs' No. 4, 5 and 6 hitters.
"It was a huge momentum swing," Gonzaga Coach Mark Machtolf said. "Their guy came in -- the slider guy -- and we didn't adjust to him at all."
Denton, a junior right-hander from Beebe, said he was looking to be aggressive.
"Just attack mode," he said. "Fill up the zone and off-speed pitches. That's what we've been going with all week and they weren't hitting it well. So that's what I went with."
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Denton hasn't allowed a run and just one hit in 3 1/3 innings in three games this season.
"I grew up playing with Marshall in high school and travel ball, and seeing what he has accomplished here has been awesome," said Arkansas junior shortstop Casey Martin, who is from Lonoke. "I'll tell you there wouldn't be another guy I would rather put in that situation. He came in and did his thing.
"He did what was asked of him. We need more guys like him. I hope that rubs off a little bit on our pen. He put it to them."
Arkansas freshman second baseman Robert Moore said it's a good feeling to hear the song "For the Whom Bell Tolls" by Metallica played over the stadium loudspeakers when Denton comes into a game.
"You know he's nails," Moore said. "When he came in, I saw there were three right-handers coming up, and I was like, 'OK, we got this.' He's either going to get a ground ball double play or he's going to strike out the side, and he did it."
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The fourth was the only inning Denton pitched on Sunday. Van Horn said he didn't want to have him go longer after Denton pitched in Thursday's game and warmed up on Friday.
"I think he did exactly what we wanted him to do," Van Horn said. "He knows his role is to come in there and either give us a couple innings and keep it where it is, or get out of a jam."
Denton threw 16 pitches.
"I think it was good letting it go there," Van Horn said. "We had some guys that we wanted to get in the game."
Who's on third?
After Arkansas freshman second baseman Robert Moore walked in the seventh inning, he advanced to third on a walk by Heston Kjerstad.
The Bulldogs played a shift for the left-handed hitting Kjerstad and third baseman Brett Harris was where the shortstop normally would be positioned.
Moore saw no one was covering third base and took off an stole the base.
"Just a heads up play," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "He's into every pitch."
Moore is the son of Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore.
"I was watching the Royals a few years ago when the shift really became popular, and a player took third base," Moore said. "So I was just looking for it knowing that [Matt] Goodheart was up next and they'd probably stay in the shift."
The left-handed hitting Goodheart went 3 for 5, but grounded out to end the seventh inning and leave Moore at third.
Martin goes deep
Arkansas junior shortstop Casey Martin hit his first home run of the season and 29th of his career when he sent a 2-1 fastball from William Kempner over the left field fence.
Martin, a preseason All-American, was 4 for 21 on the season before his home run. He was 1 for 5 on Sunday.
"Kind of starting off a little sluggish, so even I had just one hit today it was good to see," Martin said. "I had some good swings. Just making good progress, honestly, taking it one day at a time."
Martin's teammates celebrated with him in the dugout after the home run, especially catcher Casey Opitz.
"Everyone is excited because we've been waiting for it to break out and Opitz had been on me a little bit yesterday messing with me and today he was like, 'I'm in your corner,' acting like we were boxing or something," Martin said. "I'd come in the dugout and taken my hat off and he squirted some water in my mouth and took a towel and dabbed my forehead. It was definitely exciting to see the support from these guys."
Tamez starts
Arkansas freshman catcher Dominic Tamez made his first start and went 2 for 2 with 2 runs and 1 walk. He made a nice play to throw out a runner at first on a grounder in front of the plate.
"We called a lot of pitches [from the dugout], but some innings we said, 'You call the pitch,' " Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of Tamez. "But the pitcher knew that the freshman was calling the pitch and not the coaches. So [the pitcher] had the option to shake him off, and they did shake him off a lot.
"But I thought overall he did a great job. Because when you don't really notice the catcher, that's a good thing. You weren't seeing balls go to the backstop or kicking way off.
"I thought he made a really nice block with a runner in scoring position. He got two hits and a walk. He's definitely a threat at the plate."
Junior Casey Opitz, the Razorbacks' No. 1 catcher, replaced Tamez in the sixth inning.
"I told Opitz to kind of be ready to pick him up in the middle of the game and it worked out," Van Horn said.
Payback
Gonzaga led its series against Arkansas 5-3 prior to the weekend and had won four in a row over the Razorbacks, including 3-0 in Surprise, Ariz., in 2013; 6-2 and 15-5 in Fayetteville in 2015; and 15-10 in 2016 in Fayetteville.
In the 2016 game, the Bulldogs pounced out 18 hits and had five walks against 12 Arkansas pitchers and rallied from a 10-6 deficit by scoring nine runs over the last three innings.
"They celebrated pretty good in the outfield," Van Horn said. "We didn't throw any strikes. But we're a little more advanced than that team was at that time."
After sweeping four games from the Bulldogs, Arkansas leads the series 7-5.
Sports on 02/24/2020