HOUSTON, Texas – No. 18 Arkansas hit three big home runs Saturday afternoon, scoring a huge victory over No. 9 Houston, 12-3, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, to stay undefeated at 7-0 on the season. Senior Michael Bernal provided two of the home runs, while sophomore Carson Shaddy hit a late bomb for his third home run of the year.
Bernal finished the game 2-for-4 with five RBI and two runs scored, easily having his best game of the young season. The two home runs is a new single-game high. Both of his homers flew well into the seats in left field, the second high off the foul pole. The left field seats, normally a short porch for the major leaguers at 315 feet, was no problem for Bernal.
Bernal’s second home run was part of a big five-run third inning for the Razorbacks that broke the game wide open. The Hogs scored one run in the first, two in the second and five in the third to take a big 8-1 lead. The Cougars scored a couple of runs in the sixth and seventh inning and had the bases loaded multiple times, but couldn’t bring them home to break into Arkansas’ big lead.
Shaddy’s two-run blast in the eighth was the icing on the cake for the Hogs as he is now tied for the team lead in the home run category with Bernal. Shaddy finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Over the two games of the Houston College Classic, Shaddy has been a tough out, going 5-for-9 with four RBI and no strikeouts.
James Teague picked up the victory on the mound after coming in to pitch in the third inning relieving starter Blaine Knight. Teague entered the game after Knight allowed a lead-off single in the third, then proceeded to strike out two batters to leave a runner stranded at second. For Teague, it’s his first win of the year, as he only allowed one hit over the two innings, giving up no runs and striking out four.
Once getting a large lead by the fourth inning, head coach Dave Van Horn started utilizing his bullpen heavily, never letting pitchers throw more than 2.2 innings the rest of the way. Seven pitchers, in total, were used Saturday night, the most so far this season.
The 7-0 start by the Hogs is their best start in the last three seasons, and matches their best start since 2006 when the Razorbacks started 9-0. It also matches the fourth-best start ever under Van Horn.
Arkansas closes out its Houston College Classic schedule with No. 23 Texas Tech on Sunday at 11 a.m. Both the Red Raiders and Razorbacks are 2-0 in the classic as Texas Tech defeated UL-Lafayette, 5-3 in 10 innings on Saturday.
The game can be seen on Cox Sports or ROOT Sports Southwest for viewers in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Across the rest of the country, the game can be viewed on MLB Network.
