You will hear people say that the two major keys to winning baseball games are timely hitting and good pitching. For the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday’s SEC tournament opener against the Florida Gators, it also didn’t hurt that the Gators made four errors leading to 7 unearned runs in an 8-5 Arkansas win. A case can definately be made that the Hogs didn’t win the game as much as the Gator lost, but at this point I am sure the Hogs will take a win whatever way they can get it. Going into the game against Florida, the Hogs had only won 2 of their last 10 games, with only 1 of those wins coming against an SEC opponent.
Aside from Florida’s follies, there were definitely bright spots for the Hogs. The Hogs had a big fourth inning that started off with a Tom Hauskey pinch hit RBI, followed by another RBI single from Chase Leavitt. Travis Sample then came up big with a two-out double that scored 3 runs breaking the game open for the Hogs as they took the lead 6-2.
The Hogs were able to hold the lead with outstanding relief pitching from Mike Bolsinger. Taking over in the fourth after 3.2 innings from Dallas Keuchel, Bolsinger pitched 4.1 solid innings giving up only 1 hit while striking out 5 and walking 2. Stephen Richards then came in for the 9th and gave up only 1 hit in route to picking up his 9th save of the year.
With the win on Wednesday, the Hogs have bestest the Gators in each of the four games they have played this year. I have not been to any of the games, but I expect the wins reduced the amount of “Gator chopping” from super obnoxious Florida fans. Nice. Unfortunately, the Hogs’ next opponent in the SEC tournament will be the Georgia Bulldogs, a team that took 2 of 3 from the Hogs eariler this year. Meaning if the the Hogs can’t buck this season’s losing percentage against the Bulldogs, Hog fans will be subject to all kinds of annoying antics from Bulldog fans. Actually, I have no idea what Bulldog fans do. Bark? Eat out of dog bowls? Lick the insides of your shoes? Beg for pepperoni?
The Hogs and Bulldogs play today at 5pm.
[Photo by TipsterHog via Flickr and Creative Commons 2.0]
