Hamblin Powers Hogs Past Vanderbilt, 6-5; Boyc

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Arkansas' 16th-ranked baseball team got a big night out of first baseman Danny Hamblin and 5.2 innings of relief work out of Charley Boyce in a 6-5 win over 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt Friday night in front of 6,871 fans at Baum Stadium.
The win improved the Hogs' record to 25-6 on the season and evened their SEC mark at 5-5. The Commodores are now 20-8 on the year and 5-5 in conference play.
"I thought we played pretty well tonight," Arkansas Head Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We made a couple mistakes, but we managed to stay away from giving up the big inning and it made a difference."
Hamblin went 2 for 3 at the plate with a career-high four RBI. All nine of the Hogs' hits came from the top of the batting order with leadoff hitter Clint Arnold, two-hole John Henry Marquardt, cleanup-hitter Hamblin and five-hole hitter Clay Goodwin all collecting two hits each. Jake Dugger went 1 for 2 in the number three spot in the order.
Commodores starting pitcher Jensen Lewis entered the game with a 0.96 ERA but the Razorbacks' bats rough him up for four runs on six hits in 2.1 innings of work in a no decision. Stephen Shao (1-1) came on in relief and took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits.
Boyce took over for starter Nick Schmidt with one out in the third inning. The right-hander from Broken Arrow, Okla., went 5.2 innings in relief to improve to 6-5 on the season. Boyce has 10 decisions in 31 games this season for the Hogs. He only had 13 decisions last season, going 10-3.
Schmidt went 2.1 innings and allowed four runs - three earned - on six hits. Lee Land came on in the ninth inning for his fourth save of the season, but not without making things interesting.
With one out in the ninth inning, Land surrendered a pinch-hit double to Ryan Davis before getting Bill Kleinschrodt to ground out to third base. Antoan Richardson then singled to left-center field to pull the Commodores to within one run at 6-5. After hitting consecutive batters to load the bases, Land got defending SEC batting champ Warner Jones to pop out in foul ground to Hamblin at first base to end the game.
Vanderbilt scored one unearned run in the first inning, but Arkansas came back with two in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI double off the left-center field wall by Hamblin and a RBI single by Goodwin.
The Razorbacks plated two more runs in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Marquardt and another RBI single by Goodwin. They plated their final two runs of the night in the fourth inning on a two-RBI single to left field.
Mike Baxter and Jones led the Vanderbilt attack with two hits each.
The Razorbacks and Commodores will play game two at 3:05 p.m. on Saturday at Baum Stadium.

 Arkansas Razorbacks #22 Vanderbilt at #16 Arkansas Razorbacks Apr 08, 2005 at Fayetteville, Ark. (Baum Stadium) Vanderbilt 5 (20-8,5-5) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Antoan Richardson cf..... 5 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 0 Rucker Taylor ss......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 5 0 Mike Baxter 1b........... 4 1 2 0 0 0 9 0 0 Warner Jones 2b.......... 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 Brian Hernandez c........ 4 0 1 1 0 0 6 0 1 Alex Feinberg 3b......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Dominic De La Osa dh..... 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Aaron Garza lf........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 Ryan Davis ph........... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 David Macias pr......... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bill Kleinschrodt rf..... 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 Jensen Lewis p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Stephen Shao p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 35 5 9 4 2 3 24 9 8 Arkansas Razorbacks 6 (25-6,5-5) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Clint Arnold dh.......... 5 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 John Henry Marquardt 2b.. 4 2 2 0 0 1 3 6 0 Jake Dugger lf........... 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 Danny Hamblin 1b......... 3 1 2 4 0 0 14 0 0 Clay Goodwin 3b.......... 4 0 2 2 0 0 1 4 0 Blake Parker rf/c........ 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 3 Scott Hode ss............ 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 6 0 Brian Walker c........... 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Knox McCorquodale ph.... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 Stephen Robison rf...... 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Craig Gentry cf.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 Nick Schmidt p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Charley Boyce p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Lee Land p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 32 6 9 6 4 6 27 17 7 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Vanderbilt.......... 103 000 001 - 5 9 0 Arkansas Razorbacks. 202 200 00X - 6 9 1 ------------------------------------------- E - Hode(6). DP - ARKANSAS 2. LOB - VU 8; ARKANSAS 7. 2B - Davis, R.(1); Hamblin(11). HBP - Taylor; Baxter; De La Osa. SF - Hamblin(3). SB - Dugger(9); Hamblin(5). Vanderbilt IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Jensen Lewis........ 2.1 6 4 4 1 1 12 14 54 Stephen Shao........ 5.2 3 2 2 3 5 20 23 81 Arkansas Razorbacks IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Nick Schmidt........ 2.1 6 4 3 1 2 13 14 60 Charley Boyce....... 5.2 1 0 0 1 1 17 19 49 Lee Land............ 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 5 7 22 Win - Boyce (6-4). Loss - Shao (1-1). Save - Land (4). WP - Schmidt(2). HBP - by Boyce (De La Osa); by Land (Taylor); by Land (Baxter). Inherited runners/scored: Shao 2/0; Boyce 3/1. Pitches/strikes: Lewis 54/35; Shao 81/49; Schmidt 60/36; Boyce 49/32; Land 22/14. Umpires - HP: Dennis McComb 1B: Jeff Head 3B: Ray Miller Start: 7:06 pm Time: 2:35 Attendance: 7639