By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas outfielder Collin Kuhn said there was no panic in the dugout when Alabama jumped out to a big lead in Sunday’s series finale.
Sure, Arkansas was down four runs, but the Hogs had been there before. They erased a five-run deficit on Friday night, wiped out Alabama’s three-run lead on Saturday, and were confident they could do it again Sunday.
“We know we’ve been starting off slow,” Kuhn said. “We know we have a lot of character that if we do get down, we can come back and get after them later in the game.”
Kuhn and the 16th-ranked Razorbacks did just that, coming from behind to beat No. 20 Alabama 10-5 in front of an announced crowd of 5,671 in Baum Stadium.
It was the third time in three days Arkansas (18-5, 4-2 in Southeastern Conference), which trailed 4-0 after the bottom half of the first inning, fell behind. But the Hogs used four home runs, two four-run innings, and solid relief pitching to sweep the Crimson Tide (16-6, 2-4).
“We kept thinking that it might be a high scoring game,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We just reminded the guys it might be a 10-8 final, just keep scoring and good things will happen. We put together a couple of good back-to-back innings and kind of broke it open.”
In the process, Arkansas also climbed back to the top half of the league standings after getting off to a 1-2 start at LSU last weekend. The Razorbacks — who lost Saturday and Sunday games against the Tigers — pushed their win streak to five games and kicked off a nine-game homestand with a confidence-building weekend.
On Sunday, the Crimson Tide did strike in the first with four quick runs off Arkansas starter Randall Fant, who was making his SEC weekend debut. But the Razorbacks made a statement in the bottom half of the inning, scoring a pair of runs on two-out singles to make it 4-2.
“That was very big,” catcher James McCann said. “It kind of kept them quiet. (Alabama) came out real aggressive and to their credit they put up four in the first and it was big for us to come up right after them.”
It took awhile for Arkansas to score again, but the Razorbacks finally made their push with the long ball.
Collin Kuhn closed the gap to 4-3 with a home run in the sixth inning and Zack Cox followed with another solo shot off Alabama reliever Adam Scott (1-0) two batters later to tie the game. Then, Andy Wilkins put the Razorbacks ahead two batters later by belting a two-run homer to left field off Alabama relieve David Head.
An inning later, the Razorbacks scored four more runs to take a 10-4 lead. The big hit in the seventh was Brett Eibner’s three-run blast off Nathan Kilcrease.
“It doesn’t really matter how we win the game,” Wilkins said of Arkansas’ unconventional route over the weekend. “Coming from behind, blowing somebody out, a win is a win. The sweep is huge. Obviously we’d like to come out with a lead, but we’ll take it any way we can get it.”
Arkansas’ offense wasn’t the only story Sunday.
Fant, who started because Drew Smyly was still nursing a blister from his last start, settled down after his rough start and didn’t allow another run in his five-inning stint. Smyly did come out of the bullpen to pitch 2/3 of an inning and was one of four relievers — along with TJ Forrest (4-0), Jeremy Heatley and DJ Baxendale — to limit Alabama to one run over the final four innings.
The Razorbacks also played solid defense, too, turning two double plays, picking off one Alabama runner trying to steal second, and getting two diving catches in the fourth inning from Fant and new outfielder Tim Carver.
It all culminated in Arkansas’ first sweep of the Crimson Tide since 2006.
“I’m just proud of the team,” Van Horn said. “They had a good week, 5-0. Four one-run games. (Sunday’s) game, we did it a lot of different ways. With pitching, relief pitching, starting pitching, timely hitting, home runs, and we turned a lot of double plays. It paid off for us.”
