FAYETTEVILLE - Sparked by a two-run Kyle Robinson home run, Arkansas scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday to rally for a 6-5 win over Mississippi State at Baum Stadium.
Robinson hit two home runs as the No. 16 Razorbacks (25-8, 7-6 SEC) won their seventh straight game.
“Kyle had a tremendous night,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “He had a couple of home runs, a single, he stole a base. I have to give him credit that last at-bat because he really stayed on the slider. They threw him a couple of nice pitches and that was one was elevated. He didn’t try to pull it and hit it into right center. It got up in the wind and got out of here.
“I was proud of the guys for not getting too excited about just tying the game.”
Dominic Ficociello scored the game’s winning run later in the eighth on an RBI single from Razorbacks shortstop Tim Carver. Ficociello had reached on a bunt single to chase Mississippi State starting pitcher Chris Stratton after seven innings on the mound.
Carver’s hit, which came off Bulldogs reliever Daryl Norris, was his third go-ahead hit in the last 11 games.
“He’s gotten some clutch hits,” Van Horn said. “He felt bad because of a ball he let drop earlier in the game he probably should have caught. I think he was just waiting until he got a shot there in the eighth. He got a slider and stayed right through it.”
The Razorbacks’ lone senior, Robinson had hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to pull Arkansas within 5-3. Both home runs came off Stratton, who picked up the loss in his first Friday night start.
“If you throw a pitch belt high, the guy’s going to hit it,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “All three of their big hits were all in the same spot. If you throw it there, you can’t win at this level.”
The win was Arkansas’ fourth straight by one run. The Razorbacks have scored the game-winning run in either the eighth or ninth innings of each contest.
“We weren’t getting those hits early (this season) and that’s one reason we got behind in the race a little bit,” Van Horn said. “We couldn’t buy a big hit and now we’re starting to get them.”
The Bulldogs (21-13, 5-8) had taken a 5-2 lead after a three-run fourth inning. Wes Thigpen’s two-run single gave Mississippi State the lead in the inning before Adam Frazier added an RBI hit of his own.
Mississippi State chased Arkansas starting pitcher Brandon Moore during the frame. The freshman right-hander gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
“I told him when I went and got him, ‘You just didn’t have it,’” Van Horn said. “Tonight he had a fastball but he wasn’t locating it. He was just missing on some close pitches and he was behind the count all the time.”
Moore was bailed out, however, by Arkansas reliever Cade Lynch, who gave up just two hits in 4 2/3 innings on the mound. Lynch, who gave way to Razorbacks closer Nolan Sanburn in the ninth inning, earned his fourth win of the season.
“My mentality doesn’t change if we’re behind,” Lynch said. “My goal is to go in and compete, and throw strikes to give my team an opportunity to stay in the ballgame and win it.”
Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Collin Kuhn RBI fielder’s choice but the Bulldogs countered in the top of the second with a pair of runs on RBI hits by Nick Vickerson and Thigpen.
Robinson scored in the bottom of the second on a Jarrod McKinney sacrifice fly to tie the game. That score held until Mississippi State’s fourth inning surge.
The two teams will meet again Saturday at 6:35 p.m.
You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.
