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Two Razorback Freshmen Come Together to Cap Off Ole Miss Series Win

Wiggins, Fraser thrown into pressure situation in ninth for Arkansas

Daniel Shi

Gabe Fraser on the bases against Charlotte on March 2 for the Arkansas Razorbacks
Gabe Fraser on the bases against Charlotte on March 2 for the Arkansas Razorbacks / Nilsen Roman - Hogs on SI Images
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Coach Dave Van Horn continued to slowly cross names off his list on his line-up card.

By the time the ninth inning came around, he had just two outfielders left. That left a gaping hole in left field as Arkansas tried to complete a series win against the Ole Miss Rebels.

He had to get creative, so he had a question for freshman Gabe Fraser, an infielder by trade who has played second base and shortstop in his time with the Razorbacks.

"'Can you play outfield?'" Van Horn asked.

Having never played outfield before, the next task was finding a glove that Fraser could use. He didn't have a traditional outfielder's glove.

As if the baseball gods were writing the craziest Hollywood script, pinch-hitter Campbell Smithwick hit a ball to left field with one out, forcing Fraser to make a play.

"The left-handed hitter sliced a ball [to left]," Van Horn said. "The wind's blowing and he did a little three-step on the way back and got back there and caught it. It was fun to watch."

It was all part of a back-and forth game that required a lot of shuffling of the line-up that ended up putting Van Horn in an interesting pickle.

With Arkansas trailing 4-3 in the top of the sixth, Van Horn brought in the right-handed hitting Carson Boles to face lefty Walker Hooks for Kendall Diggs.

Van Horn might have kept Boles in the outfield if Arkansas didn't score four runs to take a 7-4 lead. He opted to insert Justin Thomas Jr. into center field for defensive purposes.

That lasted all of one pitch. Thomas slammed into the wall chasing after a homer off the bat off Will Furniss, sustaining an injury.

Thomas finished the inning, but when the spot in the order came up in the seventh, he was forced to pinch-hit for Thomas with Rocco Peppi, forcing more changes in the outfield.

In the top of the ninth, trailing 9-8 after Ole Miss scored the go-ahead run, Peppi represented the tying run with one out. Van Horn had to give his team the best chance to tie the game, pinch-running Fraser for Peppi, leaving him with just two traditional outfielders.

All of that pales in comparison to what Fraser went through on Friday during batting practice, surviving an injury scare of his own, taking a ball to his head.

"He took that ricochet right in the face Friday," Van Horn said. "I've been doing this a long time and I've never seen that in batting practice. It was swelling up in the first five, six, seven, eight, 10 seconds. I was right there, it was like coming out. It hit him right under the eye and Dr. [Bradley] Reeves got him in there in the training room and went to work on it. He’d have been ready for the second round [of a boxing match]. It was pretty amazing."

Fraser got the second out of the inning, but the last out would be in the hands of another freshman. Carson Wiggins got to two outs on nine pitches with relative ease against the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, but lost his fastball command trying to get the final out.

Wiggins walked Hayden Federico and Luke Hill on nine pitches, with his only strike coming when Hill swung through on a pitch outside of the zone.

In a three-run game, Ryan Moreman, second on the Rebels with seven home runs, represented the tying run. Wiggins kept his triple-digit fastball in his back pocket and threw four straight sliders, three of which Moreman swung over the top of that were down and away. It was also Wiggins' first career win.

"A lot of teams didn't know or they're finding out that he's not a one pitch guy," Van Horn said. "He's not just coming at you with a 100 mile an hour fastball. He's coming at you with an upper 80s slider and they even took it and it was in the zone. There was a couple that were awfully close that weren't called.

"Hats off to him for doing it. Proud of him for finishing up that game and just getting us out of here."

Arkansas returns home to take on Oral Roberts 6 p.m. Tuesday and will be streamed on SEC+.

HOGS FEED:

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• Historic storylines for Razorbacks in Providence against Jayhawks

• Hogs lace up dancing shoes ; face Kansas in NCAA Tourney

• Never say die Razorbacks topple Rebels with furious ninth inning

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Daniel Shi
DANIEL SHI

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