FAYETTEVILLE — No. 24 Alabama unleashed a second inning for the ages and cruised to an eye-opening 16-1 win over No. 1 Arkansas in an SEC baseball opener Friday night.
The Crimson Tide struck for 10 runs in the second against Peyton Pallette (0-1) and Blake Adams, who both struggled with command in allowing 3 walks, 7 hits and a hit batter in the decisive inning before a crowd of 5,700 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Alabama (15-3, 1-0 SEC) hit four home runs, including two out of the nine hole, and racked up 15 hits against four Arkansas pitchers. The Crimson Tide’s big frame was powered by Drew Williamson’s two-run double and Owen Diodati’s two-run home run, his fifth.
“It was a tremendous night for us,” Alabama Coach Brad Bohannon said on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. “They helped us there early in the game. Give our kids credit, they did a great job taking advantage of it.”
The Razorbacks (12-3, 0-1), who opened the season with 12 consecutive wins, dropped their third in a row while suddenly facing twin crises on the mound and at the plate. Arkansas gave up its highest run total since a 17-7 loss to UALR on April 2, 2019.
“Yeah, obviously that didn’t go very well,” University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Bottom line, we didn’t get it done on the mound early in the game, and offensively we didn’t do a whole lot as well.”
Alabama won a series opener against the Razorbacks for the first time since a three-game sweep at Baum-Walker Stadium in 2016.
“Today was our day,” Bohannon said. “Arkansas is a great team. They’re going to come out tomorrow and they’re going to be (mad), and they’ll give us everything they’ve got, and hopefully we’ll respond accordingly.”
Patrick Wicklander was the lone bright spot on the mound for Arkansas, providing 5 1/3 innings of relief with one run allowed on Cayden Rose’s solo homer in the seventh inning.
“That was really good to see,” said Van Horn, who added Wicklander “100%” put himself in the conversation for joining the weekend rotation.
“He pitched well. He moved the ball in and out, threw his breaking ball for a strike, worked ahead in the count. That’s how you pitch. You get ahead of hitters and then you can nibble a little bit, make them hit your pitch and that’s what he did.”
Alabama starter Tyler Ras (3-1) kept the Razorbacks off balance, allowing 6 hits and striking out 6 through 6 innings.
Christian Franklin’s solo home run to right-center field in the second inning was the lone run allowed by the 6-4 right-hander.
Alabama outfielder Andrew Pinckney went 3 for 5 with a home run and three runs scored. Diodati, the designated hitter, went 2 for 4 and drove in a game-high four runs.
Alabama pinch hitter Jackson Tate hit a solo home run, the second for the Crimson Tide out of the bottom spot in the lineup, in the ninth inning to make it 16-1.
Franklin went 3 for 3 with a walk for the Razorbacks, while Cullen Smith was 2 for 4. Matt Goodheart, Casey Opitz, and Jacob Nesbit had one hit each.
Arkansas loaded the bases with no outs against Alabama reliever Connor Shamblin in the ninth inning but could do nothing with it. Shamblin rallied to strike out Jalen Battles, his fourth strikeout of the game, then induced a double-play grounder from Zack Gregory to end the game.
Pallette lasted one time through the order and left with a 1-0 deficit, the bases loaded and no outs in the second.
By that time, Pallette had issued three walks and allowed two hits while hitting a batter. Alabama shortstop Jim Jarvis drove in Diodati, who led off the inning with a walk, on an RBI single to left to open the scoring.
Van Horn said he wasn’t sure what made Pallette ineffective.
“Probably just too amped up early,” he said.
“It was mainly their starter was erratic,” Bohannon said to describe the second inning. “He has a great arm and he’s really talented, and he was erratic and was behind in the count. We were getting in some advantage counts and putting some good swings on some fastballs that you kind of knew were coming because of the situation in the game.”
After Pallette hit the .158-hitting nine-hole batter Rose with a pitch, Adams came on and walked Peyton Wilson and William Hamiter to force in runs before the real fireworks started.
Williamson’s double over center fielder Franklin’s head made it 6-0, then Diodati’s shot to right-center field turned it into a 9-0 rout.
Pinckney singled and scored the last run of the inning by racing all the way home on an infield single from Rose and a throwing error from the third baseman Smith.
Pallette allowed 4 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks and his earned run average jumped from 2.08 to 3.93 with the one-inning outing.
Franklin’s solo home run was the only scoring between the second inning and the seventh. But Alabama wasn’t done. The Tide scored single runs in the seventh and ninth and struck for four in the eighth off Alabama native Evan Taylor.