FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks (8-1, 0-0 SEC) earned an 11-10 comeback win against the Charlotte 49ers (4-4, 0-0 AAC) on a picture-perfect Friday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It wasn't a conventional ace-on-ace matchup, as both starting pitchers — Arkansas' Gabe Gaeckle and Charlotte's Mike Szturma — combined to give up 13 hits, 13 earned runs and three walks to six strikeouts in 3.0 innings.
After getting down 9-1 early, Arkansas stormed back with an explosive, 10-run fourth inning that included 16 batters, five singles, three walks, two doubles, two hit-by-pitches and one home run.
Led by Logan Maxwell's and Cam Kozeal's two-hit days plus Kuhio Aloy's three RBIs, the Razorbacks finished 11-for-36 at the plate with five extra-base hits, four walks and nine strikeouts.
Four relievers combined to pitch six innings after Gaeckle and that group combined to allow one earned run on five hits with nine strikeouts and zero walks.
Gaeckle's opening inning was nowhere near ideal, as he surrendered two singles, two doubles, a home run, a walk, a wild pitch and five runs to the 49ers before finding his third out. Other than a Wehiwa Aloy one-out double, Arkansas' offense had no response against Charlotte starter Mike Szturman in the bottom of the first.
It was a much quieter second for Charlotte, as Gaeckle induced two flyouts after a strikeout to complete the 1-2-3 frame. Despite having red-hot Kuhio Aloy leading off, Arkansas also went down in order to bring the second to a close.
Charlotte provided a two-out scare with a double in the top of the third, but Gaeckle worked around it and collected his third groundout of the frame to move the game along. The Razorbacks' offense showed no signs of life for most of the latter half of inning No. 3, but leadoff man Charles Davalan homered to left field to make it 5-1, Charlotte.
Bats continued to meet balls in the fourth, as Gaeckle got tagged with a leadoff triple to start things off. Charlotte laid down a perfect bunt hit to score the run from third, and the man on first advanced to second after a wild pitch. After two more singles, the 49ers increased their lead to 8-1, which prompted a pitching change by the Hogs.
Right-hander Dylan Carter trotted out of the bullpen and immediately gave up a first-pitch double to left field. With two runners in scoring position, the 49ers loaded the bases after a Carter hit-by-pitch. After a strikeout and a fielder's choice forced out at home, Charlotte added one more run to its total on a first-pitch single. Carter escaped with a strikeout looking.
After all the shenanigans, the 49ers led, 9-1.
That lead changed quickly in the bottom of the fourth, as Logan Maxwell led off with a right-field homer to make it 9-2. Back-to-back walks by Brent Iredale and Kuhio Aloy gave the Hogs two men on with no outs, and Charlotte turned to lefty Chase Carson out of the pen as a result.
In a left-on-left matchup, Cam Kozeal slapped an oppo single to left field to load the bases for Arkansas. Ryder Helfrick struck out swinging, and Rocco Peppi came in to pinch hit for Nolan Souza. Peppi doubled down the left-field line to score two runs and Thomas followed up with another RBI single.
Right-hander Joel Sarver was called upon out of the bullpen to salvage the inning, but a Davalan RBI groundout brought the Razorbacks within three runs. Wehiwa Aloy walked to bring up Maxwell, who poked an RBI single into left to make it a two-run ballgame. Iredale then worked a full-count before getting plunked to load the bases.
Arkansas finally regained the lead when Kuhio Aloy smashed a bases-clearing double to right center, and the lead grew even larger after Kozeal singled up the middle to bring Kuhio Aloy home. A Helfrick single and Peppi hit-by-pitch kept the offense rolling, but the inning finally ended after Thomas grounded out.
After the long break, lefty Colin Fisher took over the mound in relief of Carter in the top of the fifth. He answered the call with two strikeouts and a fielder's choice groundout to strand a runner that reached via a single.
Taking the pitching duties over in the bottom of the fifth for Charlotte was lefty AJ Camp, who quickly erased Davalan and Wehiwa Aloy on fly ball outs before getting Maxwell to strikeout looking.
Charlotte wasn't ready to go quietly in the sixth, as Fisher was struck with a 109 MPH hit over the fences in left field for a solo homer. Fisher bounced back with a strikeout, but a 49ers double put the tying run at second base. A wild pitch moved the runner to third, but he was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice groundout. The final out was recorded when Helfrick threw out a 49er on an attempted steal.
Neither team got much going in the next two frames, which brought up Arkansas' offense in the bottom of the seventh. Peppi and Thomas led off with groundouts, but a Davalan walk and advancement to second on a wild pitch put Wehiwa Aloy in an RBI position. However, another groundout shut things down.
In his second inning of relief, Arkansas left hander Parker Coil worked a clean frame thanks to a groundout and two strikeouts. It was much of the same for Arkansas in the bottom of the eighth, as Maxwell and Iredale struck out, but Kuhio Aloy broke up the 1-2-3 frame with a single. Kozeal ended the inning with a groundout.
Needing three more outs to secure the Game 1 win, Arkansas brought in flamethrower righty Christian Foutch from the bullpen. Foutch's first pitch was a registered 98 MPH strike at the bottom-half of the zone, and the third pitch resulted in a flyout.
Two straight hit-by-pitches gave the 49ers two men on base, which prompted a mound visit by pitching coach Matt Hobbs. With anxiety raised, Foutch calmed everyone down with a swinging strikeout. The chaotically wild closer slammed the door with a groundout to end the game.
Up next, the Razorbacks will play Game 2 against Charlotte on Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT and it will be streamed on SEC Network+.
