This article originally appeared on February 15, 2014 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.
The Razorbacks continued their hot offensive start Saturday at Baum Stadium, but fielding errors kept Appalachian State in the game.
Arkansas beat the Mountaineers 7-6, despite committing four errors and its pitchers hitting three batters.
“A couple of (the errors) are ones that shouldn’t happen,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We’re going to hit people. It’s early and we’re trying to pitch inside. Hopefully we can smooth some of that stuff out.”
A day after the Razorbacks scored 12 runs on 13 hits, four different players collected multiple hits Saturday. Junior Brian Anderson went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, while sophomore Tyler Spoon and juniors Eric Fisher and Krisjon Wilkerson each had two hits.
On the mound, junior Chris Oliver pitched five innings of one-hit ball and struck out five batters. He allowed only one earned run.
Sophomore Landon Simpson struggled in relief of Oliver, giving up five hits and three earned runs in 1.2 innings of work, but junior Michael Gunn stopped the bleeding.
After allowing an RBI-triple on his second pitch of the game, Gunn settled in and retired seven of the next eight batters he faced. The batter he failed to retire was hit by a pitch that barely grazed the Appalachian State player.
“I hung a curveball, but after that I just tried to concentrate on the next pitch and after that, the next pitch,” Gunn said.
Gunn gave up no earned runs and struck out two batters in 2.1 innings.
Arkansas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a solo home run by Fisher and a fielder’s choice that pushed Wilkerson across the plate.
Appalachian State responded the next inning by capitalizing on three errors by the Razorbacks’ defense, tying the game at 2-2.
Junior Joe Serrano executed a hit-and-run that allowed freshman Andrew Benintendi to score and Spoon followed with a three-run home run that gave Arkansas a 6-2 lead in the fourth.
Fisher’s RBI-single in the sixth provided all the scoring the Razorbacks would need, as the Mountaineers could manage only three more runs the rest of the game.
It was Arkansas’ first one-run win since May 22 against Ole Miss last season in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Razorbacks were 9-4 in one-run games last season.
“Early in the year like this, it’s good to get the young guys to see and feel what a close game comes down to,” Oliver said.
Arkansas will have a chance to sweep the series Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
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