FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas center fielder Peyton Holt faked out the Florida Gators — and probably just about everyone else in Baum-Walker Stadium and watching on ESPN2 — to help the Razorbacks hang on and beat the Gators 6-5 on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader.
As Holt settled under a fly ball hit by Colby Shelton with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning, Brody Donay got ready to tag up at third base and score what would have been the tying run.
But Holt pretended to make the catch before the ball actually landed in his glove.
Donay tagged up and started running home, then realized too late Holt had faked him out.
When Holt made the catch, Donay had to tag up again, but he should have stayed at third base.
The fake worked perfectly as Holt made the catch and threw to third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott, who threw to catcher Hudson White to nail Donay at home.
LEGENDARY DEKE BY PEYTON HOLT pic.twitter.com/rGyqnEkycx
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 27, 2024
“I’ve seen it before,” ESPN color analyst Chris Burke, an All-America second baseman at Tennessee who played seven seasons in the major leagues, said on the telecast in reaction to Holt’s fake. “I’ve never seen it work.
“It’s just one of the headiest plays you’ll ever see.”
Van Horn said it’s a fake the Razorbacks have worked on, Holt in particular after he moved from the infield to the outfield a few weeks ago.
“Coach [Nate] Thompson, he works with the outfielders, and he made that comment to me that Holt likes to play around with it,” Van Horn said. “There were probably a lot of people that didn’t know what the heck happened — and still don’t know what happened, and probably need to go back and watch a replay and have somebody explain it to them.
“A real heady play.”
Holt, a senior from Greenwood, said it was “just the perfect scenario” to use the fake catch.
“When the bases got loaded, I ran through it in my head and it was like, ‘I have an opportunity to actually pull off a deke right here,’ ” Holt said. “Perfect fly ball. It was coming straight down, did it, threw it in and [Sprague-Lott] made a good throw home, got the guy and saved a run.”
Holt said he threw to third base, rather than home, because he didn’t expect Donay would try to score after he’d been fooled.
“I got deked, too,” Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall said. “I was so confused. I remember just being around second and he did that thing with his glove.
“I thought he caught the ball. I was turning and looking at the runner at third to see if he was going. I turned around and the runner at second [Michael Robertson], he took off, slipped, tripped, went back.
“When Holt threw the ball to third and when you go back and watch it, [Sprague-Lott], he’s like confused. We had to yell at him to throw it home.
“It was a phenomenal play and a heads-up play. It was huge for us and I believe that was why we won that game.”
When the TV camera zoomed in on Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan in the visiting dugout after Donay was thrown out, he looked dazed.
“It’s the big play that everybody is going to talk about,” O’Sullivan said. “I don’t really have an explanation other than maybe he got deked by the center fielder.
“But at the end of the day, you've got to get back to the bag and if he catches it, you can walk home. If he drops it, then you walk home.”
Instead the Razorbacks maintained their 6-5 lead and held on to win.
Remembering 2004
Arkansas’ 2004 team was honored on the field before Saturday’s Game 1 on the 20th anniversary of its College World Series appearance.
It was the first time the Razorbacks advanced to the College World Series since 1989 under Coach Norm DeBriyn and their first appearance under Coach Dave Van Horn.
Van Horn, in his 22nd season at Arkansas, has led the Razorbacks to the College World Series seven times. He also led Nebraska to two College World Series appearances before replacing DeBriyn at Arkansas in 2002.
There were 27 players and coaches from the 2004 team who attended this weekend’s reunion.
“We had a good time,” Van Horn said of a pregame meeting with the group. “I talked a lot, talked about that season and what it meant to our program at the time and how I felt like it kind of jump-started us a little bit.
“Maybe advanced us a few years as far as the fans getting back in, [raising the program’s] popularity. I told them how much I appreciated it and we appreciated it.
“Some good memories. It’s good to see them all come back.”
5 in 7 again
Arkansas scored five runs in the seventh inning for the second consecutive SEC series.
The Razorbacks scored five runs in the seventh inning of Saturday’s opener after scoring five in the seventh of their 9-6 victory at South Carolina the previous Saturday in the doubleheader’s nightcap.
A year ago
Arkansas fifth-year junior Dylan Carter pitched two innings in Saturday’s nightcap in his first SEC appearance exactly one year since his last. He allowed a two-run home run by Ty Evans in the sixth inning that put Florida ahead 9-3.
Carter’s last SEC game had been April 27, 2023, against Texas A&M. He missed the rest of the season after undergoing elbow surgery.
The right-hander from Bentonville has pitched 6 1/3 innings and has a 4.26 ERA. Last season he was 6-0 with 2 saves and a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings.
A rarity
Arkansas right-hander Jake Faherty struck out Florida slugger Jac Caglianone in the eighth inning of the finale.
It was the first time Caglianone struck out since an April 7 game at Missouri. He has 15 strikeouts in 171 at-bats.
All gas
Arkansas right-hander Christian Foutch threw six pitches of at least 100 mph to close the Razorbacks' victory in the early game.
Foutch threw five pitches that registered a 100 mph reading on the TrackMan radar gun. Foutch's fourth pitch of the sequence was 101 mph.
Foutch struck out Brody Donay to end the game with two Florida runners on base.
Out at the plate
Arkansas threw out Florida base runners four times during the three-game series, including three times Saturday.
In addition to the Petyon Holt-to-Jared Sprague-Lott relay in the eighth inning of the day's first game, Florida's Luke Heyman was thrown out twice at home in the final game.
Heyman was out when first baseman Ben McLaughlin made a quick throw to the plate with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. Left fielder Will Edmunson threw out Heyman to end the top of the ninth after Heyman was waved home from second base on a single.
SEC race
With a 16-5 SEC record, Arkansas maintained its one-game lead over Texas A&M in the SEC West standings with nine games remaining in the conference season.
The Aggies, ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll, won two of three games over Georgia.
Kentucky defeated South Carolina 15-13 on Saturday to improve to 16-4 in conference play. The Wildcats have a half-game lead over Arkansas atop the SEC.
The Razorbacks play at Kentucky and Texas A&M over the final three weeks of the regular season.
Series history
Arkansas has a 38-36 all-time series lead against Florida.
The Razorbacks have won 10 of 21 series against the Gators. Arkansas won its first series over Florida since a three-game sweep in Fayetteville in 2021.
Good call
Arkansas freshman catcher Ryder Helfrick came into Friday night’s series opener batting .149 (7 for 47), but Coach Dave Van Horn put him in the lineup at designated hitter.
Van Horn said he liked the matchup of the right-handed hitting Helfrick against Pierce Coppola, Florida’s left-handed starter.
“I just like the way he swings the bat against left-handed pitchers, so that’s why I put him in there,” Van Horn said.
Van Horn said he decided to have Helfrick to be the DH after comparing notes with assistant coach Nate Thompson.
“What I do a lot of times, I write a lineup down in pencil, and then I’ll have [Thompson] write one, just to see how close we are,” Van Horn said. “We both had Helfrick DHing, which it ended up paying off obviously.”
Helfrick’s two-out home run in the second inning gave the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.
“He got ahead 2-0, and man, they probably thought we were taking or whatever,” Van Horn said. “[Coppola] threw it hard, but [Helfrick] hit it harder. That was a big swing.”
It was Helfrick’s third home run this season and second in SEC play. He hit a home run in the ninth inning for the winning run when Arkansas beat Auburn 6-5 on March 22 after coming into the game as a defensive replacement.
Amped up
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn was asked if Hagen Smith was amped up for Friday night’s start against the Gators after his first three pitches were 100 mph, according to TrackMan.
“I guess so, man,” Van Horn said with a smile. “I’ll look at what [TrackMan] reads. Probably about the same.
“Sometimes [the scoreboard radar is] a little slower than ours. Maybe it’s fast.
“But the ball was jumping out of his hand. The first pitch of the game, triple digits up there, is kind of amazing.”
Smith went a season-long 7 innings and threw 96 pitches with 68 strikes.