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Arkansas fans probably would have preferred to skip over leap day this year.
Mere hours after watching the men’s basketball team dig itself a huge early hole, fight back into it to give itself a chance, only to come up short at Georgia, they watched the baseball team do the exact same thing in an 8-7 loss to Texas.
The Longhorns jumped out to an 8-0 lead through two innings at the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic in Houston, but beginning in the fifth, the Razorbacks chipped away at that deficit and trailed by three entering the ninth.
After a walk by Christian Franklin and single by Heston Kjerstad, Matt Goodheart came within inches of tying the game on a three-run home run. Instead, the ball bounced off the top of the wall for a two-run double.
Now a one-run game, Arkansas had the tying run in scoring position with one out and two of its preseason All-Americans - Casey Opitz and Casey Martin - coming to the plate.
That’s where the rally ended. Opitz swung at two pitches in the dirt in an uncharacteristic strikeout and Martin followed with his fourth strikeout of the night to strand Goodheart on second.
It is the Razorbacks’ second straight loss after winning the first seven games of the season with sweeps of Eastern Illinois and Gonzaga. They lost to Oklahoma 6-3 on Friday.
They’ll try to salvage a game at Minute Maid Park when they wrap up the event against Baylor at 7 p.m. CT Sunday. It will be televised on AT&T Sportsnet and streamed by multiple sources, including Astros.com, MLB.com and the Astros’ YouTube page.
Martin’s Struggles Continue
It is no secret what Martin focused on throughout the offseason. Considered a potential first-round pick because of his tools, he knew he needed to cutdown his SEC-leading 23 errors and UA single-season record 79 strikeouts.
Despite claims by himself and head coach Dave Van Horn, it doesn’t seem like he’s made much progress in either area. Through nine games, Martin has committed four errors and struck out 14 times.
Although he didn’t wasn’t charged with one against Texas, Martin failed to cut off a throw following Zach Zubia’s first-inning RBI single and the error - charged to left fielder Zack Gregory on the throw - ended up costing Arkansas another run. That came a day after his high throw started the Razorbacks’ downward spiral in the seventh inning of their loss to the Sooners.
At the plate, Martin notched a golden sombrero, going 0 for 5 with four strikeouts - including the game-ender. He is now hitting just .182 (6 for 33) and has more than twice as many strikeouts (14) as hits this season.
For more on Martin’s slump and his status for Sunday’s game vs. Baylor, click here.
Disaster Strikes Again
Barely 24 hours removed from a seventh-inning meltdown that featured two errors in the scorebook and a mental error, Arkansas started Saturday’s game with more defensive mistakes.
For simplicity’s sake, here they are in list form:
~After a leadoff single by Austin Todd to start the home half of the first inning, Eric Kennedy grounded into what appeared to be a tailor made 4-6-3 double play. However, second baseman Robert Moore - who typically plays excellent defense - bobbled the chopper and the Razorbacks couldn’t even get the force at second. It was the first error of the 17-year-old freshman’s young career.
~In the very next at bat, the aforementioned play with Zubia unfolded. Gregory’s throw got away from Martin, allowing Kennedy to move from second to third. When Cam Williams grounded into a double play, he scored easily to make it 2-0. Had the error not occurred, he would have been stranded on third when Trey Faltine grounded out to end the inning.
The second inning would have given Texas some runs regardless, but it was exacerbated by more mistakes:
~With runners on the corners and only one out, Kennedy hit a shallow fly ball into left. Gregory caught it and the Longhorns tagged up on the play. A good throw might have gotten him at the plate, but Gregory’s throw was way off line and got away from the Razorbacks. Not only did the run score, but Todd was able to take second on the redshirt freshman’s second error of the game. Aside from the possibility of throwing out the runner at home, this error hurt Arkansas the least because Zubia ended up crushing a two-run home run in the next at bat.
~Later in the inning, Texas once again had runners on the corners, this time with two outs. Faltine attempted to steal second or at least get in a rundown to allow the runner on third to score, but Opitz’s throw got away from Moore and the run scored easily, plus Faltine was safe at second. The error was charged to Opitz, but it seemed like Moore might have taken his eye off the ball to take a peek at the runner on third.
When the dust settled, the Longhorns had an 8-0 lead, with three of those runs being unearned.
That gives Arkansas 10 unearned runs allowed in 79 innings. Had those all been earned, the Razorbacks’ ERA would jump from 2.51 to 3.65.
Horns Not Fooled by Wicklander
It wouldn’t be fair to blame all of Texas’ runs on poor defense, though. Starter Patrick Wicklander was not sharp either, failing to record an out in the second inning.
The left-hander’s first pitch of the night was singled into left field by Todd, starting what would become the aforementioned disastrous first inning that resulted in two unearned runs.
Three straight singles to start the second inning - including two by players who came into the game with sub-.200 batting averages - led to Wicklander’s first earned run of 2020, but it wasn’t his last.
Brenden Dixon, the Longhorns’ 9-hole hitter who was hitting .087, squared to bunt a few times, but Wicklander lost him on a full count. That walk loaded the bases and after falling behind 2-0 to Todd, Van Horn relieved him.
Side-armer Marshall Denton got the Razorbacks out of a similar jam against Gonzaga last weekend, but couldn’t escape the bases-loaded, no-out situation against the top of Texas’ order.
Although he retired the next two batters with a ground ball and fly ball, both outs drove in a run. Zubia’s monster home run brought home the other runner Denton inherited, giving Wicklander four earned runs on five hits and one walk in just one inning. The California native also didn’t have any strikeouts.
In his first two starts of the season, Wicklander allowed only four hits and three walks in 11 scoreless innings.
Rally Time
The only positive about Texas’ 8-0 lead was that it came in the first two innings of the game, meaning the Razorbacks had plenty of time to chip away at the deficit and get back into the game.
The started doing just that in the fifth. It appeared Arkansas was going to waste Moore’s leadoff walk that inning, but Gregory lined a two-out single into right center. Because the hit came on a full count, Moore got a head start and was able to score from first, sliding into home under the tag to break up the shutout.
In the sixth, Kjerstad led off by launching the second pitch he saw more than 400 feet to center for his fifth home run of the season. The Razorbacks got some help later in the inning when Opitz struck out on a wild pitch, but reached because it got away from the catcher. He also scored from first base on a two-out hit, with Moore providing it this time with a double.
Arkansas used another leadoff walk - this time by Cole Austin - to officially cut Texas’ eight-run lead in half. Christian Franklin’s double to the left field corner drove him home and then he scored on an RBI single up the middle by Kjerstad, making it 8-5.
Goodheart nearly tied it up in the ninth inning, but barely missed hitting his second home run of the season and ended up with a two-run double off the top of the wall - something he did several times last year.
That made it 8-7, which proved to be the final score.
Bolden, Burton Shine Out of Pen
Even pulling within one wouldn’t have been possible without excellent relief pitching from sophomores Caleb Bolden and Jacob Burton.
Making his third appearance of the season after missing all of 2019 because of Tommy John surgery, Bolden was phenomenal. The right-hander threw four scoreless innings and allowed only two base runners - both reaching on two-out singles. He also struck out five.
With Bolden still building up his stamina and his pitch count at 62, Van Horn turned to the pen again and brought in Burton. The hard-throwing right-hander raised some eyebrows by striking out Texas’ 3-, 4- and 5-hole hitters in the seventh inning.
Burton made quick work of the first two Longhorns he faced in the eighth, as well, but then ran into trouble. Trying to keep it a three-run game, he walked the bottom two batters to get back to the top of the order. Despite falling behind 2-1, Burton got Todd to fly out to end the threat.
Texas went just 2 for 20 (.100) over its last six innings against Bolden and Burton after going 8 for 13 (.615) against Wicklander and Denton.
Other Tidbits
~Because the Missouri-Oklahoma game at the beginning of the day went to extra innings and ran about an hour long, Arkansas’ game - the third of the day at Minute Maid Park - did not start at its previously scheduled time of 7 p.m. Instead, it was pushed back to 8:35 and ended about 24 minutes before midnight.
~The Razorbacks struck out 11 times against Texas. Including against Oklahoma the day before, they now have 29 strikeouts through two games at the Shriners Classic.
~Kjerstad’s home run in the sixth inning was the 36th of his career, which is still seventh in UA history. He needs four more to pass Brian Kirby (1998-2001) for sixth place and seven more to break the school record of 42 for a three-year player, which is held by Jeff King (1984-86), Brett Eibner (2008-10) and Andy Wilkins (2008-10).
~With doubles in his first two at bats of the game, Opitz now has eight extra-base hits (six doubles, one triple, one home run) though nine games. That matches his career total (five doubles, three home runs) in 77 games coming into this season. It’s still early, but the junior has seen his batting average increase 112 points (.243 too .355) and slugging percentage increase 399 points (.311 to .710) so far.
~Van Horn completely overhauled the order of his lineup against Texas. Zack Gregory made his second start for Braydon Webb in left field and at leadoff, while none of the other eight starters hit in the same spot as they did against Oklahoma.
