Diamond Hogs’ pitching shines in season-opening win
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Razorbacks struggled to muster much of anything at the plate during their opening day clash against Texas, perhaps best epitomized by their hitting 2-12 with runners in scoring position.
But as much as Longhorn pitchers held them in check, the Arkansas hurlers did everything their counterparts did and then some, frustrating their burnt orange foes enough to hang on for the 3-2 victory.
Sophomore left-hander Hagen Smith set the tone with five innings of one-hit ball in which he struck out eight batters. Through four frames, he faced the minimum 12 batters and started 11 of those counts with strikes.
“Bow down to Hagen Smith, oh my God,” sophomore right-hander Brady Tygart said. “He’s so fun to watch, man.”
Smith did run into some trouble in the fifth, when he walked the first two hitters he faced. Texas shortstop Mitchell Daly executed a sacrifice bunt to move them both to scoring position, but the southpaw fanned freshmen Jared Thomas and Jalin Flores to escape with the shutout intact.
“That was big momentum for us,” Van Horn said.
Right-handers Cody Adcock and Koty Frank made their Razorback debuts in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Adcock, who transferred from Crowder College, retired the side in order before surrendering a pair of extra-base hits in the seventh. Frank, with the exception of a run-scoring wild pitch, helped limit the damage, but he allowed two knocks in the eighth and was in severe need of a pick-me-up.
Enter Tygart, who notched a team-leading eight saves in 2022. With the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first, he fanned Longhorn right fielder Dylan Campbell with a slider. The pressure intensified with two outs after a double steal, but the second-year Razorback went back to the slider to get left fielder Preston Brown, whose homer sparked the offense in the seventh, to chase it in the dirt.
“I thought Brady did really good,” Smith said. “I knew when he came in, it was done after that. He’s been in so many situations closing, so I knew it was done.”
“And I knew it was done from inning one whenever we had Hagen Smith on the mound,” Tygart responded.
Having thrown just eight pitches, Tygart returned to take the bump in the ninth and completed the save. He induced a pair of groundouts and got Daly to chase another breaking pitch for his third strikeout and his first save of 2023.
“We talked as a staff, obviously, about how we were gonna handle the game, and we kept him for the back of the game, and obviously he did a tremendous job,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He came in throwing strikes with everything he threw.”
Redshirt junior Will McEntire will be tasked with the challenge of keeping No. 15 TCU, which scored 11 runs Friday against Vanderbilt, in check Saturday night. The Hogs and Horned Frogs are scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m., and the contest will stream live on FloSports.