By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Ole Miss came to Baum Stadium knowing it had to win the three-game series to keep its eight-season streak of Southeastern Conference Tournament appearances intact.
Pitchers Matt Crouse and Jake Morgan made sure the Rebels got off to a good start Thursday.
The duo combined to frustrate Arkansas’ lineup, leading Ole Miss to a 2-1 win in front of an announced crowd of 6,673 in Baum Stadium. It was a performance that further complicated the Razorbacks’ delicate place in the SEC West standings, knocking them into a four-way tie for second place along with Mississippi State, Auburn and Ole Miss with two games remaining.
It also places Arkansas (34-18, 13-15 in SEC) on the verge of suffering its fourth straight series loss to the Rebels (30-23, 13-15) in Fayetteville.
Game two is tonight at 6. Left-hander Randall Fant (2-3, 3.58 ERA) will start for Arkansas. Ole Miss counters with righty David Goforth (4-7, 5.03).
“It’s tough,” Arkansas second baseman Bo Bigham said. “Everybody wanted to win. But we’ve got to forget about it and come out ready to play (today) because there’s nothing you can do about it now.
“(Today) is the most important game of the year.”
Arkansas, which had plenty of opening-game success this season, fell to 7-3 in the first game of an SEC series. The Razorbacks can pin Thursday’s loss on offensive struggles. For the second straight SEC game, the Razorbacks were held to just one run.
It came in the sixth inning Thursday, when Collin Kuhn hit a towering fly ball off Crouse (7-4) that carried out of the park in left field. Kuhn’s fifth home run gave the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.
“When he hit it I thought it was a fly ball to the track,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “He had a lot of backspin on it. He’s strong. But it surprised me it got out of the park.”
But Ole Miss didn’t trail long, finally getting to Arkansas starter DJ Baxendale (8-2).
The Rebels put together three straight singles in the seventh, tying the game when Matt Snyder drove in Alex Yarbrough. Ole Miss took the lead one batter later, when Matt Tracy’s sacrifice fly scored Matt Smith from third base to make it 2-1.
“In a game like this where it’s pitched so well, you don’t get many opportunities,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “We were fortunate we succeeded.”
Arkansas tried to strike back in the bottom of the inning when Matt Reynolds walked and Matt Vinson singled to right field with one out.
Ole Miss then pulled Crouse, who threw 6 1/3 innings, and brought Morgan out of the bullpen. Morgan — who was sidelined for two months earlier this season because of shoulder problems — walked McKinney to load the bases. He got Arkansas shortstop Tim Carver to ground into an inning-ending double play, which killed the threat.
“I’ve been out there enough,” Morgan said. “Ss soon as he hit it I knew it was a double play.
“That’s why I sprinted in the dugout.”
It was the only tight spot Morgan was in during his 2 2/3 innings of work. The senior retired Arkansas in order in the eighth. Morgan gave up a two-out single to Matt Reynolds in the ninth, but struck out outfielder Matt Vinson to end the game.
Arkansas managed only six hits and struck out eight times Thursday. Bigham, Dominic Ficociello and Kyle Robinson — who hit first, fourth and fifth in the lineup — combined to go 0-for-12.
Baxendale allowed two runs on six hits, striking out a career-high eight batters. But he suffered his first loss since April 2 at Alabama.
“He pitched outstanding,” Bigham said. “It was unfortunate for him we didn’t score more runs than we did. He pitched good enough to win any ball game and he got the bad end of the stick.”
The good news for Arkansas, which entered the Ole Miss series with the eighth spot in the SEC’s overall standings, is that Mississippi State and Auburn also lost Thursday. Alabama knocked off South Carolina, though, moving into first in the SEC West securing its spot in the SEC Tournament.
“I don’t care,” Van Horn said asked about other scores Thursday. “I don’t know any scores. I don’t really care about scores. I want to win (today).”
EXTRA BASES
Arkansas first baseman Dominic Ficociello’s 12-game hit streak ended with an 0-for-4 performance against the Rebels on Thursday. … Catcher James McCann was named one of 13 semifinalists for the Johnny Bench Award. Three finalists will be announced June 6. The winner will be named June 30. … The SEC announced Thursday it had reached a new agreement with the Alabama Sports Foundation and the City of Hoover to keep the SEC Tournament in place through 2016. The conference was considering other venues for the tournament, including Memphis.
