FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas was at the bottom of the barrel for pitching when Sunday’s game went to extra innings.
Preseason All-American closer Matt Cronin had just blown a four-out save opportunity. Jacob Kostyshock was sore after pitching on back-to-back days for the first time since returning from injury. Kevin Kopps wasn’t available despite not throwing since Friday because he had to warmup twice Saturday.
With Cody Scroggins and Zebulon Vermillion out for precautionary reasons and Marshall Denton having pitched earlier in the game, head coach Dave Van Horn’s options were limited to a bunch of inexperienced pitchers, mostly freshmen.
He decided to put in Elijah Trest with the game tied 3-3 in the 10th inning and the freshman right-hander rose to the occasion by retiring the Volunteers in order. That allowed Arkansas to win it 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th on Casey Opitz’s walk-off single.
“I thought he had a great inning,” Van Horn said. “He was throwing the ball hard, threw a few breaking balls. He spotted it up and struck out the second hitter. It was really good to see.”
Trest was the first pitcher of the day to put away Jake Rucker, getting him to pop up in front of the plate for the first out. He then struck out Landon Gray and induced a ground out by Jay Charleston.
“It was just one of those things where you go in and you're like, ‘I got to get this done for my guys,’” Trest said. “I did my best to try and throw strikes and get outs.”
Although he has a 6.06 ERA for the season, the former two-way player - he decided to focus on pitching at the beginning of the regular season - has yet to allow a run in 6 2/3 innings across four SEC appearances.
That came on the heals of Jacob Burton, another freshman right-hander, throwing a scoreless ninth inning to close out the Razorbacks’ 15-3 win Saturday night.
It wasn’t nearly as stressful of a situation, but it was encouraging to see him throw strikes after he really struggled with his command earlier in the season.
“We thought he’d be one of our better freshmen and his stuff is good,” Van Horn said. “He’s got a really good arm (and) he’s starting to get his breaking ball going.”
Burton was only on Arkansas’ 27-man roster because Scroggins was still out, but he’ll likely travel with the team to Kentucky next weekend when the redshirt junior returns to action.
Scroggins will be back for that series, Van Horn said. In fact, he wanted to pitch this weekend, but the coaches didn’t want to push it and gave him the second weekend off.
The emergence of a couple of freshmen, like Trest and Burton, would be huge for the Razorbacks even with Scroggins reentering the mix because injuries could happen at any time.
For example, the coaches didn’t find out that Vermillion was experiencing some soreness in the front part of his shoulder until about five or six minutes before Sunday’s game.
“Right before the game he says he’s a little sore and he’s not going to pitch,” Van Horn said. “I was planning on pitching him two or three innings possibly.”
If the Razorbacks didn’t win it in the 10th and it continued on for a while, their only other options in the bullpen were freshmen Caden Monke, Liam Henry and Burton, and sophomore Collin Taylor.
Tuesday’s game against Grambling State will probably be the final chance for those pitchers - and maybe a few other young guys - to prove they deserve a spot on Arkansas’ roster after finals.
First pitch at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and there won’t be any television or streaming option available for the game.
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