Arkansas 11, North Dakota 4: #1-0

I might be stealing the hashtag from football, but it definitely applies here.

Clark Eagan single-handedly carried the Razorbacks to victory. He accounted for the first six of the Razorbacks' runs in some way and was a home run short of the cycle. He went 3-5 at the plate with three RBIs.

After an uneventful first two innings, starting pitcher James Teague found trouble in the third inning. He hit the first batter of the inning, Daniel Lochert, and gave up a single to eight-hole hitter, Zach Heaser. After walking the bases loaded, Teague gave up back-to-back RBI singles. North Dakota wasn't finished as they added a RBI sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 after the top of the third. That's pretty much where to positive ended for North Dakota.

Arkansas answered with two of their own in the bottom of the third. Tucker Pennell scored on an RBI double by Clark Eagan that went to the center field wall. Eagan then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Andrew Benintendi.

A RBI single by Tyler Spoon, scoring Eagan, in the bottom of the fifth tied the game up at 3-3.

North Dakota took the lead back in the top of the sixth, with a RBI triple by Zach Heaser. Their 4-3 lead did not last long.

Eagan highlighted the bottom of the sixth with a two RBI triple and later scored on a Benintendi RBI single. The Hogs were up 6-4 at that point and kept piling on.

The bottom of the order for Arkansas last season was a black hole for offense, but the 5-9 hitters in the bottom of the seventh created five runs.

Teague had a shaky start in his audition to be the Friday night starter. He struggled to find the strike zone at times and gave up three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. The three run third inning he gave up is what did him in. His first two innings made it feel like he could run through the North Dakota lineup and eat some innings.

Keaton McKinney came in for Teague and stopped the bleeding. He ate the most innings, throwing 3 1/3 innings only giving up one earned run. He seemed hittable, giving up four hits, but almost always made his way out of the jam.

Cannon Chadwick, who makes my First-Team All-Name team, came in and did work. He struck out three in 1 1/3 innings and picked up the win. Jonah Patten finished the game with two innings of scoreless mop up duty.

They will do it all again tomorrow for a doubleheader starting at 11:35am.