2008 Woodie Awards
Rallying Razorbacks sweep Wright State in opening series
Matt Watson
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Sports
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The Hogs blew the first game open 9-4, won a close Saturday contest 5-4 and took the series finale 7-3 to complete the sweep Sunday.
Arkansas bounced back after falling behind early in each game, keyed by 12 runs scored with two outs during the series.
"You take away the first inning [of Game 1], and it was a good game," Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn said. "But on a Friday night in conference, you don't recover from that."
The trend continued all weekend, with Arkansas's starting pitchers combining for a 9.39 ERA.
The sloppy weekend ended with 10 errors between the two teams, as well as 13 hit batsmen and four wild pitches.
"Both teams gave each other runs. It was kind of ugly. It looked like an early season [series]," Van Horn said.
Arkansas overcame opening-weekend blunders with a case of unexpected heroes.
Senior slugger Aaron Murphree, who had one RBI in 37 at-bats last season, batted .600 for the series with 6 RBIs, including a two-run home run Saturday to give the Hogs the lead and a pair of doubles Sunday that sparked a Razorback comeback.
"It was exciting. In a close game, I got a good pitch, and I came up with a big hit," Murphree said Saturday.
Freshman designated hitter Andy Wilkins also had 6 RBIs over the weekend, including a two-out 3-run home run to put the Hogs ahead Friday.
"He just went down and hammered it," Van Horn said. "That was the big hit of the game."
The Razorback bullpen was the unsung hero all three days, allowing just one earned run in 19.1 innings pitched, with 23 strikeouts.
Van Horn said the bullpen really took over the series.
Sophomore Dallas Keuchel pitched 5.1 innings Friday and struck out six, without allowing a hit. Keuchel, who both started and came out of the bullpen last year, said he was very comfortable in his role.
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