House call : Freshman hits walk-off grand slam, keeps Hogs’ postseason hopes alive
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
A House rocked the house Friday night at Baum Stadium.
Booming way louder than the scheduled postgame fireworks, Arkansas freshman Jacob House pinch-hit a ninth-inning grand slam home run to propel the Razorbacks to a dramatic 12-11 SEC victory over South Carolina in the first of a three-game series that continues today and Sunday.
Arkansas had thrown away two double play balls that opened the door for seven South Carolina runs en route to a 9-3 lead. The Razorbacks then closed it to 11-8 and then came back in the ninth inning after Andy Wilkins' single, Brett Eibner's walk and Chase Leavitt's 2-out infield single. Finally, House, pinchhitting for Sean Jones, pulled his grand slam to right off losing reliever Parker Bangs.
"I was just looking for a good pitch to hit," House shouted in the post game din," just trying to bring these guys in and not try to do much and get a win. This is the run that's going to get us to the SEC Tournament and the regionals. This is what we need."
Arkansas (29-20, 11-13 SEC ), which entered the night in ninth place in the 12-team SEC, needs to finish eighth to qualify for the eight-team SEC Tournament. Five SEC games are left to play.
"We kept battling and battling," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "I just kept telling them we deserve to win the game, keep chipping away. And then House basically backspins a ball out of here. "
South Carolina coach Ray Tanner, his Gamecocks falling to 33-16, 13-12 and tied for third in the SEC East, gave Arkansas credit for winning what sure appeared to be South Carolina's game.
"I'm not in shock," Tanner said. "It was a great comeback by Arkansas. House steps up and there hits a pitch when he needed to. They've got a great offense and got 18 hits tonight."
Yes, but South Carolina, with Andrew Crisp's threerun homer looking like the death blow in the 5-run fifth inning, and DeAngelo Mack also homering, seemed to capitalize on every Arkansas mistake.
"We did," Tanner said," but they outhit us 18-10. We were fortunate to be in the position we were but we weren't able to close it out."
Arkansas third baseman Logan Forsythe threw away a doubleplay ball leading to Carolina's 5-run fifth but more than redeemed himself going 4 for 4 with two solo home runs, a double, a RBI single and a walk preceding Casey Coon's RBI single in the eighth.
"I just wanted to give us a chance," Forsythe said. "Everybody makes errors. It just showed the courage of our team. That it's not over until it's over."
Sean Jones and Forsythe opened up, giving Arkansas a 2-0 lead with solo home runs off starter Will Atwood, who seemed to have things in hand even when Arkansas finally chased him in the seventh.
Arkansas and South Carolina resume the series at 2 p.m. today.
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