Patient Hogs

Arkansas waits out rain delay to shut out Georgia.

FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks used a tried-and-true formula to take a rain-delayed series opener from Georgia on Friday night.

Patrick Wicklander (4-1) provided a strong start and Kevin Kopps shut the Bulldogs down for three innings for his seventh save to power the University of Arkansas to a 3-0 victory before a crowd of 7,645 at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas (35-8, 16-6 SEC) posted its second consecutive Friday night shutout and remained a game ahead of Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt for the SEC lead. Georgia (27-17, 10-12) outhit the Hogs 9-8 but suffered its first shutout of the season.

Wicklander and Georgia freshman Liam Sullivan (1-1) were not put off by the 92-minute rain delay prior to first pitch and hooked up in a fast-paced pitchers’ duel into the sixth. Wicklander stretched his scoreless streak to 161/3 innings, dating back to the third inning in a 5-1 win at South Carolina on April 23.

“Just a super job by our pitching staff obviously,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “We just kept striking each other out.”

Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore provided Kopps some wiggle room with his bases-loaded flare over second base in the eighth inning off Collin Caldwell to expand the Razorbacks’ onerun lead into a three-run affair after a seven pitch at-bat.

“That was just an outstanding at-bat,” Van Horn said. “He got down 0-2 and then he fouled a pitch or two off, maybe took a ball. It was just

a clutch at-bat and a big part of the game.

“We knew it was going to be a fight in the ninth, so to score two more runs was huge for us.”

Kopps was not as sharp as he had been in recent outings. He allowed three hits and a walk and needed 54 pitches to record nine outs, but the senior right-hander stranded four runners.

“Kevin, he would probably tell you he didn’t have his best stuff by far,” Van Horn said. “It was just good enough.”

With runners at first and second with one out in the ninth after an error and Chaney Rogers’ fourth hit of the night, Kopps struck out Fernando Gonzalez before retiring nine-hole batter Ben Anderson on a liner to center field to close it out.

Sullivan, making his first career start, allowed 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 11 on 83 pitches through 6 innings. The 6-6 left-hander had an immaculate fifth inning, striking out Jalen Battles, Jacob Nesbit and Zack Gregory on nine pitches. He retired the final 12 batters he faced after giving up his only walk, a leadoff one by Gregory in the third.

Sullivan outlasted Wicklander, who made it through 52/3 innings on 96 pitches. The Arkansas junior allowed six hits and no walks while striking out nine.

Van Horn pulled Wicklander after he gave up a twoout double in the sixth inning to Rogers. Caden Monke’s wild pitch allowed Rogers to reach third base, but that’s where he stayed as Monke fanned Corey Collins on a check swing on a 3-2 pitch.

“I thought Patrick Wicklander came out and did a really good job,” Van Horn said. “I think he would probably say he didn’t have the command that he’s had but he was still really good, hard to hit.”

Arkansas blew a golden scoring opportunity in the seventh inning. After Christian Franklin and Moore greeted reliever Jack Gowen with back-to-back walks, Casey Opitz laid down a bunt toward third base that Gowen could not handle, loading the bases with no outs.

Gowen retired Battles and Nesbit on pop outs after falling behind both hitters. Then, with Gregory at the plate, Gowen spiked a curve ball that bounced off the catcher Gonzalez and trickled toward the Georgia dugout. However, it didn’t roll far enough. Gonzalez double-clutched it and

Arkansas had better success with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. Charlie Welch led off with a pinch-hit single, and pinch-runner Braydon Webb advanced on Cayden Wallace’s one-out single. Brady Slavens hit a swinging bunt to the right of the mound, and no one could make the play to load the bases.

After Caldwell struck Franklin out, Moore provided the clutch hit for the padding.

The Razorbacks broke on top in the second inning with a one-out rally. Moore, swinging at the first pitch, teed a low ball down the left-field line thinking double all the way, and he slid into second base ahead of the throw.

The catcher Opitz got into an advantage count at 2-1 and drilled a breaking pitch from Sullivan down the left-field line to easily drive in Moore. Sullivan escaped further damage by striking out Battles and Nesbit.

Sullivan struck out six his first time through the lineup, and every ball put into play against him was a hit until Matt Goodheart’s liner to center field in the third inning.

Georgia got leadoff singles in four consecutive innings starting in the second, but the Bulldogs could not cash them in against Wicklander.

The closest scoring chance came in the fourth, when Garrett Blaylock followed Cole Tate’s single with one of his own. Wicklander rallied with a strikeout, a force out at second base by the first baseman Slavens and a fly out to center field.

The Bulldogs had a runner picked off first base by Wicklander in the second inning, then ran themselves into an out in the seventh against Kopps. Opitz smothered a ball in the dirt wide of the plate and Rogers broke partially for second base before he realized Opitz had him measured. Opitz ran right at Rogers and got him in a rundown that led to a 2-4-3 tag-out by Slavens.