FAYETTEVILLE — As they wrapped up their warmup session in the bullpen, Casey Opitz could tell Isaiah Campbell was about about to have a good day.
Sure enough, the redshirt junior looked like an ace and set the tone for Arkansas’ doubleheader sweep of Stony Brook on Friday. He threw seven shoutout innings in a 3-1 win in Game 1 and then the Razorbacks followed it up with a 4-3 win in the night cap.
“He was pretty unbelievable,” Opitz said about Campbell’s performance. “He knew what his strikeout pitch was, what his ground ball pitch was, what his pop-fly pitch was. He kind of had everything working really well today and it’s pretty easy to be back there when he’s doing that.”
It was the second-longest outing of Campbell’s career - just the second time he’s gotten through the sixth - and his 13 strikeouts shattered his previous career high of eight in his eight-inning win over Kentucky last season.
“He commanded everything,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He had his breaking ball going, his split-finger, which is really a changeup, and his fastball was pretty electric early, spotting it in and out. He just did a real good job of getting ahead of the hitters all day.”
The 13 strikeouts were also the most by an Arkansas pitcher since Trevor Stephan also had 13 against Rhode Island on March 10, 2017.
Campbell joked with Zach Barr, the Razorbacks’ director of video and scouting, before the game about going eight innings and about the fourth inning, after seeing how effective he was, Van Horn said they set a max of 100 pitches for him.
Following a two-out double that inning, Campbell retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced, mixing in a leadoff walk in the seventh between six strikeouts.
“I was just kind of building off the momentum,” Campbell said. “I started getting pitches away and it worked well with my off-speed. I kept hammering down for the last three innings that I pitched and that is when I felt probably the best.”
Arkansas will have a chance to finish off the sweep and remain undefeated at Baum-Walker Stadium on Saturday. First pitch has been moved up an hour to 2 p.m. in an effort to beat the rain expected in Northwest Arkansas, but it can still be streamed on SEC Network-plus.
Freshman right-hander Connor Noland will make his third career start for the Razorbacks, while Stony Brook has yet to announce its starting pitcher.
Game 1: Arkansas 3, Stony Brook 1
As good as Campbell was in the opening game, Stony Brook starter Greg Marino was even better in the early innings. Aided by several great plays by his infield, he actually retired the first 12 Razorbacks in order.
Dominic Fletcher broke up the perfect game with a leadoff double in the fifth inning and moved to third on Matt Goodheart’s bunt single before scoring on an RBI fielder’s choice by Opitz to give Arkansas a 1-0 lead.
Finally given a lead to work with, Campbell said he wanted to get a quick inning to keep the momentum in his dugout. He did that by nearly throwing an immaculate inning. After striking out the first two batters on six pitches, he got ahead 0-2 on Evan Giordano, but threw a ball before striking him out.
“It was kind of in the back of my head, but I knew that 2-hole, we were kind of throwing a waste pitch because he was battling 0-2 all the time,” Campbell said. “He didn’t really swing at the breaker… I just kind of got back focused and threw another strike after that.”
On the heels of the 10-pitch, three-strikeout inning, Arkansas tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Casey Martin reached on a leadoff double and then scored on an RBI triple by Trevor Ezell, who eventually scored on a wild pitch that came on Stony Brook reliever Adam Erickson’s first pitch.
The Seawolves didn’t score until Dylan Resk got ahold of a 0-1 pitch from Keven Kopps and sent it into the Hog Pen. He bounced back with a couple of strikeouts to end the inning and then Matt Cronin earned the save by striking out the side in the ninth inning.
As a staff, the Razorbacks matched a single-game school record with 18 strikeouts. It tied a mark set against Missouri State in 2009 and matched in 2017 against Grand Canyon.
“It didn’t seem like we had to field a lot of balls,” Van Horn said. “Looking back, that’s why. When you get 18 of 27 (outs) without having to play catch, except pitcher and catcher, it’s a good thing.”
Game 2: Arkansas 4, Stony Brook 3
Arkansas actually had to fight back from an early deficit in Game 2, as Chris Hamilton drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Michael Wilson crushed a home run to straight away center to give Stony Brook a 2-0 lead.
It was a small-ball kind of game for the Razorbacks. They tied it in the second inning despite not having a hit reach the outfield. Fletcher scored the first run after reaching on an error, stealing second base, tagging up to third on a Zack Plunkett fly out and coming home on a wild pitch.
That wild pitch was also ball four to Jack Kenley, who stole second base and scored on a ground ball up the middle that Jacob Nesbit beat out. It was the second time in three games the Razorbacks scored from second on an infield single.
The next inning, Heston Kjerstad followed Martin’s leadoff double with a single up the middle to give Arkansas the lead.
It didn’t last long, though. Starter Cody Scroggins left the game with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the fourth, turning it over to reliever Kole Ramage. The sophomore struck out the first batter, but then gave up a game-tying single to Brandon Janofsky.
The Razorbacks pushed the winning run across the plate in the fifth inning using more small ball. It all started when Kjerstad decided halfway down the line that he was going to stretch his leadoff single into a double.
“It just tipped off the second baseman’s glove and barely got to the outfield a bit,” Kjerstad said. “The center fielder was just jogging a little bit, so I figured I might as well go for it and it worked out.”
Ezell moved him over the third on a sacrifice bunt and then Fletcher brought him home on a shallow sacrifice fly to right field.
That was enough for Ramage and Jacob Kostyshock, who finished off the win by not allowing any runs over the final five innings.
Heart Attack Finishes
Neither game ended without some drama.
In the first game, Cronin loaded the bases with two hits and a walk, but alternated those at bats with three strikeouts - the last of which was against Sean Buckhout to strand the runners.
“He just wanted to scare us a little bit, but we knew with Cronin, he’s always going to shut the door,” Campbell said. “He’s the best closer in the country and it’s really nice having him in the ninth inning.”
Kostyshock’s situation was mostly self inflicted. He gave up a one-out single to John Tuccillo, but appeared to have the third out by a dribbler back to him. Unfortunately, his throw off line and bounced into the stands to put the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third.
“I wasn’t upset about it,” Kostyshock said. “I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself with my emotions, so I just stayed calm, cool and collected and did my thing.”
Van Horn was pleased to see him bounce back by striking out Giordano to end the game and give him the save.
“Kostyshock was really locating his fastball in those two innings he pitched,” Van Horn said. “Normally he has a little better slider, and his slider wasn’t there today, so he just went with the fastball for the most part.”
Kjerstad Breaks Out of Slump
One of the most encouraging signs from the doubleheader was Kjerstad breaking out of his slump by going 4 for 8 on the day. He came into the game hitting .219, but raised his batting average 56 points to .275.
“It feels pretty good to finally contribute and help the team a little more,” Kjerstad said. “They picked me up when I wasn’t helping the team out as much and today was my turn to do my part.”
It was a rough start for Kjerstad, who struck out in his first two at bats, but then he made a productive out by grounding out to second base to move a runner to third and singled in his last at bat.
He carried that over into the second game, making solid contact on a deep fly out to center before collecting hits in his final three at bats - including the RBI single and hustle double.
“It was good to see him have some success,” Van Horn said. “That’s going to breed some confidence and hopefully he’ll come out tomorrow and have another good day for us.”
DH Struggles
Arkansas is still trying to find a designated hitter it can rely on. Goodheart and Jordan McFarland were a combined 1 for 7 with four strikeouts - two apiece.
“Goodheart laid down a great bunt in our inning where we scored a run or two, but other than that, the DH spot really struggled tonight,” Van Horn said. “I think back on it, the DH got one hit on a bunt and struck out a lot and just not a lot happened. Still working to figure that out a little bit.”
Van Horn said one option could be starting Trey Harris on Saturday. He commended the freshman for showing good plate discipline with two walks in an 0-for-3 debut against Memphis on Wednesday.
Other Tidbits
~The paid attendance for the doubleheader is 7,234, but really cold temperatures kept many fans at home. The “tickets scanned” number was 2,050.
~The fans who braved the cold and watched the game in the Hog Pen got quite the surprise in the top of the sixth inning in Game 2. The sprinkler system randomly came on and sent fans scrambling. Most of them stuck around, but were surely uncomfortable for the final few innings. Kostyshock was actually warming up in the bullpen when it happened and said hearing the fans screaming for help got he and his teammates giggling despite the one-run game. “That was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Van Horn joked after the game. “It needs water out there, it’s not very green.”
~Game 1 of the doubleheader was Van Horn’s 650th with the Razorbacks. Now in his 17th season, he is 651-365 (.641) at his alma mater.
~With hits in both games, Martin extended his hitting streak to nine games. He is the only Arkansas player to hit safely in every game this season.
~Preseason All-American Nick Grande went 2 for 7 with a hit in both games for Stony Brook. He also struck out three times, walked twice and played excellent defense at shortstop.
~The first out of the day came when Opitz erased Grande’s leadoff single by throwing him out trying to steal second. Runners are now 0 for 3 when trying to steal on the sophomore catcher.
BOX SCORES
Game 1
Game 2
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