FAYETTEVILLE — Perhaps the hardest pitcher for Arkansas’ hitters on the first weekend of preseason practice was a soft-toss right hander.
Freshman Will McEntire of Bryant had a strong performance Monday at Baum-Walker Stadium. McEntire struck out six batters in four innings, leading his Black team to a 5-4 victory in the most competitive of the team’s three scrimmages this year.
“He’s a little deceptive,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “They feel like they’re seeing it out of his hand and everything he throws sinks. He’s done a good job since he’s been here.
“He’s not a velocity guy. I think one day it will jump, and it has gotten better, but he’s kind of an inning eater. He gets outs.”
Hitters had trouble making solid contact against McEntire, who displays a sharp cutter. The first two batters he faced, Casey Opitz and Zack Gregory, sent the ball to the outfield. But Cason Tollett followed with a 5-4-3 double play that began a string of mostly balls to the infield or strikeouts.
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https://forums.whol…">Box score and additional notes from Monday's scrimmage
“He’ll get you to chop the ball and he can frustrate you,” Van Horn said. “You’ve got to see the ball up on him. He’s done a nice job.”
McEntire’s only blemishes Monday were a pair of solo home runs hit by Heston Kjerstad, a junior who was named to his fourth preseason All-America team earlier in the day. Kjerstad homered in both of his appearances against McEntire, in the third and fifth innings.
Both of Kjerstad’s homers were to the opposite field. His first went over the foul pole in left field, and his second went into the heart of the Hog Pen seating area.
Kjerstad also drew a walk against freshman right hander Kevin Heinrich in the seventh and final inning of the scrimmage. He scored his third run when Christian Franklin homered to opposite-field right in the next at-bat following a pitching change to Collin Taylor. The home run looked similar to Franklin’s game-tying homer in the ninth inning of the series finale against Tennessee last April.
Hitters combined to hit five home runs Monday. Robert Moore’s opposite-field home run over the 375-foot sign in left-center field was his second extra-base hit - he also had a triple that led to a run - and Jacob Nesbit pulled a homer into the home bullpen beyond the wall in left.
Moore’s home run came against right-handed sophomore transfer Miller Pleimann; Nesbit’s came in the first at-bat against freshman right hander Nathan Rintz.
Moore also had an RBI on a groundout to the right side of the infield to score Bryce Matthews in the sixth inning.
Outside of the homers, pitching seemed to get the better of hitters Monday. Freshman Blake Adams pitched 2 2/3 innings in a start for the Red team. The Springdale Har-Ber graduate allowed 1 run on 1 hit, walked a batter and threw 2 wild pitches, and pitched a lot to contact.
Redshirt sophomore right hander Caleb Bolden was perfect and struck out Braydon Webb with a changeup in his only inning of a scheduled short start. It was the first time Bolden had pitched against live hitters since undergoing Tommy John surgery in December 2018.
Webb, who was the hitting star of Sunday’s scrimmage, struggled Monday with a 0-for-4 performance that included a pair of strikeouts.
In addition to Kjerstad and Moore, other batters with two hits Monday were Gregory, Nesbit and Dominic Tamez. Matthews drew two walks.
Other notes from Monday’s scrimmage:
• Arkansas flipped a defensive alignment, playing Cole Austin at third base and Nesbit at first. The infielders are cross training at the corner positions. Nesbit was the Razorbacks’ primary starter at third last season, and Austin started at the position for two seasons at West Virginia.
• Shortstop Casey Martin robbed Tollett of a hit for the second time in three days. Tollett hit a grounder up the middle that forced Martin to his left. Martin made the pick, spun and threw a little high, but Nesbit reached to make the out on Tollett at first base.
• Franklin made a good read and rundown on a hard-hit ball by Matt Goodheart to deep center field in the third inning. Franklin made a similar catch going back to the wall on Saturday.
• Tollett and Opitz split time between first base and catcher for the Red team, while Tamez caught the entire scrimmage for the third consecutive day. It marked the second day in a row that Opitz has played some defensively at first.
• Moore has shown good range at second base through three days of practice. He was unsuccessful in throwing out Gregory in the seventh inning, but showed good speed and ability to track down a ground ball on the grass in left field. His throw across his body pulled Nesbit off the first base bag and allowed Gregory to reach safely with his second base hit.
• Tamez had two stolen bases; Matthews and Gregory each had one.
• Pleimann allowed 1 run on 2 hits and struck out a batter in 2 1/3 innings. The Fayetteville native is not eligible to play in the regular season after transferring from Wichita State last summer.
• Martin was hitless for the third consecutive day. He had two groundouts, a fly out and a pop up to second base. In the three scrimmages he is a combined 0-for-9 with three strikeouts. Martin is recovering from surgery for a broken hamate bone in his right hand in the fall.
• Sophomore right hander Carter Sells will not pitch this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last semester.
Monday’s defensive starters:
C: Casey Opitz and Dominic Tamez
1B: Jacob Nesbit and Cason Tollett
2B: Robert Moore and Zack Gregory
3B: Cole Austin and Jesse Pierce
SS: Casey Martin and Cullen Smith
LF: Bryce Matthews and Braydon Webb
CF: Curtis Washington and Christian Franklin
RF: Trey Harris and Heston Kjerstad