SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
FAYETTEVILLE – Ryne Stanek and Cade Lynch combined to allow just three hits, while the Arkansas offense hit four solo home runs as the fourth-ranked Razorbacks defeated Binghamton, 4-0, on Friday afternoon at Baum Stadium.
Stanek was outstanding on the mound en route to picking up his fourth win of the season in as many starts and his sixth consecutive win dating back to last season. The sophomore right hander tossed seven shutout innings, scattering two hits and striking out six. After allowing a one-out single in the first, Stanek retired 15 straight batters and did not allow his second hit of the game until the seventh inning. Stanek lowered his ERA on the season to a miniscule 1.12 after his seven scoreless innings.
Lynch closed the game by throwing two shutout innings, giving up just one hit and striking out three.
Binghamton starter Mike Augliera pitched well, but suffered his second loss of the season. Augliera allowed two runs on four hits and struck out four in six innings.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
At the plate, Derrick Bleeker, Sam Bates and Jacob Morris each had solo homers to lead the Arkansas offense. Bleeker recorded his first career multi-homer game, hitting a pair of homers, while Bates and Morris each hit a solo homer. Bleeker became the first Razorback to hit more than one homer in a game since Kyle Robinson had a pair of round-trippers against Mississippi State on April 15, 2011. Bleeker and Morris hit back-to-back homers in the seventh, becoming the first Razorbacks to hit back-to-back homers since March 4, 2011, when Jarrod McKinney and Matt Vinson hit consecutive home runs against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Bleeker finished the game with a pair of hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Bates also added two hits with a RBI and a run scored, while Carver went 2-for-4. The pair of hits for Carver extended his hitting streak to a career-long tying 11 games and also extended his consecutive games reaching base streak to 14.
Dave Ciocchi, Mike Danaher and John Howell each had one hit to account for Binghamton’s three singles on the day.
The Razorbacks (12-2) struck first, scoring once in the bottom of the second. Bates led off the inning by hitting his fourth homer of the season, a solo blast just to the right of the scoreboard.
Arkansas added another run in the bottom of the fifth inning on Bleeker’s first homer of the day, a one-out opposite field solo home run into the visitor’s bullpen in left field.
Binghamton (0-4) had its best scoring chance of the day in the top of the seventh, but timely defense by the Razorbacks kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard.
Arkansas tacked on two more runs, both courtesy of solo homers, in the bottom of the seventh. Bleeker belted his second homer Morris followed with one of his own, also into the Arkansas bullpen.