Tag: Parker Rowland

Holt, Aloy show off power in Diamond Hogs’ fifth scrimmage

Arkansas completed it’s fifth scrimmage of the preseason on Monday, getting a glimpse of what the season holds.

The Arkansas baseball team is beginning to ramp up toward Opening Day on Feb. 16, and held it’s fifth open scrimmage of the preseason on Monday afternoon.

The intrasquad clash lasted just four innings, but gave a glimpse of the young, yet loaded, roster. The White team benefited from three home runs to beat the Cardinal team, 10-7.

The two biggest standouts of the day were returning senior third-baseman Peyton Holt and incoming sophomore shortstop Wehiwa Aloy.

Holt, a 5-foot-10 Greenwood product, had two homeruns in two at-bats, with three RBIs for the Cardinal, including a mammoth 415-foot shot over the left field wall in the first inning. He and Richmond-transfer Jared Sprague-Lott then launched back-to-back dingers in the third.

Aloy, a 6-foot-2 shortstop, transferred in from Sacramento State this season and has already flashed his bat and glove. The native Hawaiian went 2-for-3 for the White on Monday, with a 417-foot bomb and three RBIs. He has gone 7 for 12 in the scrimmages, with a walk, four runs scored and six RBIs.

Arkansas did get a bit of a scare when junior second-baseman Peyton Stovall was hit in the foot by a pitch, leading off the bottom of the first. He continued to hit in the game, going 2 for 3 with an RBI, but was replaced by a pinch-runner each time he reached first.

Head Coach Dave Van Horn sent five freshman pitchers to the mound, including both starters, left-hander Colin Fisher for the White team, and righty Tate McGuire for the Cardinal.

Both youngsters struggled early, as Fisher surrendering the three-run homer to Holt, and McGuire gave up four earned runs in the first, including Aloy’s long ball. Fellow freshman Diego Ramos relieved McGuire with two out in the first and promptly gave up a 388-foot, two-run homer to sophomore infielder Reese Robinett. Ramos then struck out Hunter Grimes to end the inning.

All four of the primary catchers got base hits in the game, as seniors Parker Rowland and Hudson Polk, and freshman Ryder Helfrick, each smashed doubles. Junior Hudson White had a single, but also scored a pair of runs. Helfrick also showed his defensive prowess by throwing out a base-runner at second-base.

Van Horn confirmed that this was the most depth at catcher that he has ever had here, and is still unsure what each player’s role will be.

“Usually you just hope that you have one real good one, and then one that’s going to be,” Van Horn said. “But having, really, four guys that can catch is a great situation, but it’s also a hard situation.”

Arkansas will open the season at Baum-Walker Stadium on Feb. 16, in the first of a four-game series with James Madison.

Diamond Hogs smack 4 homers to highlight fall scrimmage

The Diamond Hogs blasted four homeruns in an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night.

In preparation for Saturday’s showdown with BYU on the football field at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, a slew of faithful Arkansas fans gathered inside Baum-Walker Stadium Friday night to cheer on the Razorbacks newly reloaded baseball squad in an intrasquad scrimmage.

Fans got to see 19 position players and 14 pitchers, including many of the new freshman and transfers, as the Red and Gray teams combined for 11 hits, highlighted by four homeruns. The Gray won the contest, 7-2.

Junior right fielder Kendall Diggs got the crowd stirred early, with a mammoth two-run homer off junior hurler Brady Tygart to give the Gray team the lead, only two batters into the game. That followed a seven-pitch walk by a Missouri grad transfer Ty Wilmsmeyer.

Junior lefty transfer Mason Molina, who was the ace of the Texas Tech staff last season, wasted little time in making an early statement in the bottom of the first, striking out the side in order. Freshman left-hander Hunter Dietz, who throws upward of 95 mph on his fastball, quickly responded in the top of the second, sitting down the first three batters he faced.

Senior catcher Parker Rowland, who is competing behind the plate with junior Hudson White, another Texas Tech transfer, launched a 400-foot solo homerun in the bottom of the second to get the Cardinal on the scoreboard. That was followed by a wild pitch to tie the score at 2-2.

Junior Hudson Polk would keep the long-ball hit-parade going for the catchers when he smashed a 425-foot leadoff homer over the centerfield wall to lead off the third for the Gray.

“The big thing for me was getting outfield reps,” Diggs said of his summer experience. “I got a glimpse of some playing time out there last year (for Arkansas), which was awesome. I was really blessed to get some live-game reps. But that was huge for me this summer, because I played almost every game out there in right field. And I feel like I improved a lot out there.”

Freshman catcher Ryder Helfrick then displayed his defensive prowess and throwing arm behind the play, gunning down graduate infielder Jack Wagner trying to steal second base, in the fourth.

Freshmen hurlers Tate McGuire and Colin Fisher — who struck out the side in his frame — each pitched scoreless innings in the sixth, before the Gray squad tacked on two final runs in the seventh.  Freshman infielder Nolan Souza beat out an infield single, then proceeded to score on Wagner’s double. It was the second hit of the night for Wagner, who smacked 15 homers for Tarleton State (Stephenville, Tex.) last season.

The Razorbacks will scrimmage again on Sunday, and will continue fall practices through late October, when they will conclude the early season with their annual intrasquad best-of-three Fall World Series.

Column: The sky isn’t falling for Arkansas baseball after one series

Arkansas baseball struggled mightily over the weekend, but things are never as bad as they seem. Especially when Dave Van Horn is your coach.

The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks dropped their second conference series of the season in embarrassing fashion over the weekend. They were swept by the unranked Georgia Bulldogs (23-17, 7-11) and didn’t really look like a team deserving of a No. 5 ranking.

Head coach [autotag]Dave Van Horn[/autotag]’s passionate ejection on Saturday was able to save the Diamond Hogs from a complete collapse in the ninth inning. The Razorbacks led by four heading into the bottom of the ninth, but the struggling Bulldogs were able get a grand slam and solo homer back-to-back to get the win.

Losing is always frustrating. Losing the way Arkansas did Saturday will cause even the most staunch Diamond Hog supporters to ask “what’s going on?” Some delusional Arkansas fans went a little too far with their frustrations on social media but that should be expected.

Arkansas baseball’s struggles are easy to explain right now and Dave Van Horn’s track record of righting things ahead of the postseason should offer some comfort to wavering fans.

First, Diamond Hogs have been decimated by injury this season. They lost their projected ace [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag] before the season and the hits kept on coming after play started. Pitchers [autotag]Brady Tygart[/autotag] and [autotag]Koty Frank[/autotag] were each hurt in early March. Tygart should return soon but Frank is out for the season.

Stud outfielder [autotag]Jared Wegner[/autotag] has been out since April 11 with a fractured thumb after sliding into third base. Ahead of Thursday’s first game against the Bulldogs it was announced that starting catcher [autotag]Parker Rowland[/autotag] would not play. Van Horn confirmed later that Rowland would be out indefinitely due to back issues.

“We’re just trying to patch this thing together until we can get all our guys back,” Van Horn said about all of the injuries. “We’re just trying to win enough games to get to a regional. There’s going to be a lot of conference games played without our guys.”

Aside from Wiggins and Frank, Arkansas fans should expect Tygart, Wegner and Rowland back in the near future. That should help ease some of the struggles we saw over the weekend.

The injury issues can’t be helped by Van Horn or anyone else, and it’s disingenuous to let one series sweep negate the dominance we’ve seen from this team at times.

Arkansas fans remember the 2018 team for being one out from being crowned champions, but forget how much that team struggled in the regular season. The Diamond Hogs failed to win a single road series in conference play during that 2018 season.

Until proven otherwise, it would behoove Razorback fans to trust Dave Van Horn to make it six straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

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Diamond Hogs strike early, hold off Louisiana Tech in series opener

Arkansas hit a pair of two-run homers in the second inning to put Louisiana Tech in a hole from which the Bulldogs would not recover.

Arkansas’ final weekend warm-up ahead of SEC play is off to a good start.

The eighth-ranked Diamond Hogs dispatched Louisiana Tech on Friday night, 7-4, to start the teams’ three-game set from Baum-Walker Stadium.

Hagen Smith, Arkansas’ ace, worked five innings, giving up just two runs while striking out seven. His offense staked him early to allow for some wiggle-room.

Jace Bohrofen and Parker Rowland each hit two-run home runs in Arkansas’ four-run second inning. Brady Slavens scored on a fielder’s choice in the third to build Arkansas’ early lead to 5-0.

The Bulldogs tagged Smith for two runs on four hits in the fifth and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn went to his bullpen to start the sixth. Cody Adcock allowed another run in that frame, but Arkansas tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth via a Kendall Diggs sacrifice fly.

Bohrofen, Diggs and Tavian Josenberger each had two base hits for Arkansas, while Peyton Stovall drove in the team’s other run outside of the homers and Diggs’ two.

The teams are back at it Saturday for a 2 p.m. matinee.

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