FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas used a familiar formula to open its series with Auburn on Friday night.
Blaine Knight got the No. 5 Razorbacks (22-9, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) into the seventh and Matt Cronin took it the rest of the way, leading them to a 2-1 win over the No. 19 Tigers (23-8, 4-6) in front of 3,487 fans.
That was a low output for Arkansas' powerful offense, but it was enough to win a pitcher's duel that lived up to the hype. Pitching in front of 15 MLB scouts, Knight gave up just the one run in 6 1/3 innings and Auburn ace Casey Mize went seven innings and allowed the two runs.
"It was pretty much what we thought it was going to be," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "It was going to be a tight game. I think I threw that score out, 2-1, 3-2, to our players yesterday at practice."
All of the scoring came in the fourth inning, with the Tigers striking first on a two-out home run by designated hitter Edouard Julien that cleared the right field bullpen.
Luke Bonfield tied it up in the bottom of the inning with his fifth home run of the season, a solo blast that managed to stay fair down the right field line.
"I was kind of sitting fastball in there because I thought he was going to try to jam me, so I kind of scooted off the plate and it made that inside more middle," Bonfield said. "I put a good swing on it and it showed some good results."
That was the first of three consecutive hits off of Mize. After falling behind 0-2, Dominic Fletcher laid off of a couple of balls and then doubled through the right side. Grant Koch followed with an RBI single to put Arkansas in front.
Fletcher also played a key role in preserving the lead.
In the sixth inning, Julien hit a ball that got up into the wind blowing 21 miles per hour from left field to right. It took Fletcher all the way to the wall, but he made the grab to end the inning and prevent a bases-clearing hit that would have given the Tigers the lead.
Although that play required him to crash into the wall, it was Fletcher's seventh inning catch that impressed Van Horn the most. He caught a line drive by Josh Anthony that also likely would have scored a couple of runners. Fletcher said a pre-pitch adjustment enabled him to make the catch.
"Right before that pitch, I actually moved to the other side of the pitcher's mound and luckily I had just enough to barely reach out and grab that ball," Fletcher said. "That guy is kind of a pull hitter, so I was on that side, but (with) two strikes, I knew Cronin was probably going to throw a fastball, so I just kind of decided."
Making those plays even bigger was the fact Mize, the midseason pitcher of the year in college baseball according to multiple publications, settled down and did not give the Razorbacks anything else.
After Koch's go-ahead hit in the fourth, he retired nine straight batters with four strikeouts. Mize ran into trouble in the seventh, as Jordan McFarland singled and Carson Shaddy doubled to put runners on second and third with one out, but he got out of the jam unscathed.
"I think he showed you why he's so good, because any time we got runners in scoring position, he got better," Van Horn said. "He just did a tremendous job pitching throughout the game."
It was Mize's first loss of the season, dropping him to 6-1. He also struck out seven and walked a batter for the first time in SEC play, snapping a streak of 33 1/3 innings without a free pass.
Knight was just as good for the Razorbacks. He threw a season-high 113 pitches, striking out six and walking just one batter to improve to 6-0. It is the fourth straight weekend he has out-dueled a potential first-round pick to open a series, as Mize is projected to go as high as No. 1 overall in June's MLB Draft.
"As the competition gets better, I get better," Knight said. "These guys are ranked so high in the draft coming up, I have something to prove and I think I'm as good as them. I want to come out and prove it every time I go against them."
Auburn hit back-to-back singles off Knight with one out in the seventh to finally knock him out of the game. He turned the ball over to Cronin, who retired all eight batters he faced to pick up his sixth save of the year.
"I was hoping he'd only have to throw a couple innings, but he had to get eight outs instead," Van Horn said. "He did a tremendous job doing that."
The Razorbacks will now try to do something they have not been able to do the last two weekends: Clinch a series by winning one of the final two games.
The second game of the series was held Saturday night. The third game is scheduled for 4 p.m. today and be broadcast on the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79).
Sports on 04/08/2018