Timely Pitching Lifts Hogs Past LSU

FAYETTEVILLE - A trio of Arkansas pitchers combined for a 10-hit shutout and the No. 22 Razorbacks beat No. 15 LSU 2-0 Friday night at Baum Stadium.

Dominic Ficociello’s solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Arkansas all the runs it would need as the Razorbacks sent the majority of the 9,712 fans in attendance home happy.

“He hit it hard,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We’ve seen him do it all the time in batting practice and scrimmages in the fall, and he’s got some pop. That was a good time for his first college home run.”

Arkansas’ pitching came through with timely outs throughout the night. Sophomore starter DJ Baxendale worked around the bases loaded in both the first and second innings as LSU stranded 11 base-runners for the game.

Despite a high pitch count early, Baxendale pitched five innings before leaving the game with a blister on his throwing hand two pitches into the top of the sixth. The right-hander gave up eight hits and a walk while striking out seven batters.

“He did a great job,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t have his best stuff and they did a great job fighting off pitches. He just kept wiggling out of jams. That one in the first was something else and he did it again in the second. He held them down and gave us a chance.”

Barrett Astin worked 2 2/3 innings in relief for Baxendale, having to warm up quickly after the blister burst. The freshman right-hander picked up his second career win by striking out three before making way for freshman closer Nolan Sanburn, who picked up his fifth save of the year.

Arkansas (21-8, 4-6 SEC) picked up several big defensive plays, tying a season-high with three double plays on the night. Among them, left fielder Collin Kuhn threw out a base-runner at third in the eighth inning and Bo Bigham turned a double play in the ninth.

“No credit to me because DJ Baxendale and Barrett Astin just shut these guys down,” Sanburn said. “They got some hits on the board, but they couldn’t get the timely hit. We scored some runs, shut them down and played some great defense.”

Astin worked Arkansas’ first perfect inning in the top of the sixth, making way for Ficociello’s home run into the LSU bullpen with one out in the bottom of the inning to give the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.

“There was no thought in my mind whatsoever of hitting the home run,” Ficociello said. “It was more of just making them throw pitches and get on base. He put one in a pretty bad spot. I just tried to put the barrel on it.

“It got us going a little bit. It was at a big time in the game. ”

Arkansas would have tacked on another run in the frame, but James McCann was caught stealing at second base one pitch before Bigham lined his second triple in as many games into the outfield.

Tim Carver added a security run in the seventh, advancing to third on a wild pitch and scoring on an errant throw from Tigers catcher Ty Ross to third base.

LSU (21-9, 3-7) wasted a brilliant pitching performance by freshman Kurt McCune, who suffered his first career loss. McCune finished pitching 7 2/3 innings, allowing just four hits and striking out nine.

“We swung the bats great without runners in scoring position,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “But when we had runners in scoring position, we had trouble. I guess we’ve just got to give credit to (Baxendale). He made big pitches when he had to. The reality is he pitched in the clutch, and we didn’t hit in the clutch. We had several opportunities early in the game and couldn’t score.”

The win is Arkansas’ third on a Friday night in conference play, but the Razorbacks have yet to pick up a series win. Arkansas will go for the series win Saturday with a first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPNU. Freshmen right-handers Brandon Moore (Arkansas) and Kevin Gausman (LSU) will be on the mound.

“What we’ve been doing lately is pulling up and we can’t be doing that,” Sanburn said. “We’re going to come out here tomorrow and be even more aggressive than we were today.”

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.