FAYETTEVILLE — Trey Harris is making up for lost time.

The freshman missed virtually all of the preseason with two separate injuries, but he came up with the biggest hit of the night in Arkansas’ 4-2 series-opening win over Louisiana Tech on Friday.

With the game tied and two outs in the seventh inning, he pinch hit for Matt Goodheart and worked the count full before bouncing a fastball down the third base line for a two-run double. It was the Little Rock Christian product’s first career RBIs.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Harris said. “It’s a moment that I’ve always dreamed of and I finally end up getting that moment.”

For a brief moment, though, it seemed like the play might not count. As third base umpire Joseph Brown jumped out of the way, he actually pointed toward the stands - seemingly indicating that the ball was foul.

“I hit it, so my first instinct is to run and try to get a double because I always think double first,” Harris said. “I honestly didn’t see where the ball went, I knew it went down the line I wasn’t sure if it was fair or foul.”

However, the play continued on as if it was fair and both runners scored because they got head starts on the full-count pitch. As head coach Dave Van Horn pointed out during postgame interviews, the umpire would have thrown his hands in the air if it was foul, not point a certain direction.

“We all knew what he did because you don’t point on a foul ball if you’re an umpire,” Van Horn said. “Obviously we were going to score because they were running. Once the ball got past third base, we were going to score two.”

Because the ball hit the ground before it reached third base, it wasn’t a reviewable play, so there wasn’t much the Bulldogs could do. After a lengthy discussion with the umpire, Louisiana Tech head coach Lane Burroughs was eventually ejected.

Van Horn and Burroughs have known each other for more than two decades, as their careers briefly overlapped at Northwestern State in 1997, so they had a conversation afterward by the Bulldogs’ dugout.

“I just wanted to tell him ‘good ballgame’ and tell him how well I thought his team pitched and played and my thoughts on the play,” Van Horn said. “He kind of gave me his (thoughts) and we both saw it the same way. We saw the ball fair.”

Arkansas can clinch the series in Game 2 tomorrow with freshman right-hander Connor Noland (0-0, 3.86 ERA) taking on senior left-hander Logan Robbins (0-0, 8.03 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning it can be watched on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.

Missed Opportunities

Up until Harris’ double, the story of the night was all the chances Arkansas had and couldn’t capitalize on.

After catcher Casey Opitz delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded in the first inning to give the Razorbacks’ a 2-0 lead, they squandered several opportunities to add to their lead.

It started almost immediately as Dominic Fletcher stumbled around second base and didn’t advance to third on the play. It ended up costing Arkansas a run because Matt Goodheart flew out to center in the next at bat that could have been a sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Heston Kjerstad reached on a leadoff hit by pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice fly and advanced to third on a groundout, but he was stranded there when Opitz grounded out.

The biggest blown scoring opportunity by the Razorbacks came in the fourth inning when they loaded the bases with one out and their preseason All-Americans - Casey Martin and Kjerstad - coming up to bat. They were all stranded, though, when they popped out and flew out, respectively.

Martin had another chance to drive in a couple of runs with runners on second and third in the sixth inning, but he grounded into a fielder’s choice.

“I feel like we were fortunate to win the game,” Van Horn said. “We’re not getting production from some of our guys right now and we left a lot of runners on base - nine or 10, it seemed like 20 to me.”

Campbell’s Start

Coming off arguably the best start of his career, Isaiah Campbell found himself in some early trouble when he allowed back-to-back singles to start the game.

However, he got out of the jam with the help of a 6-4-3 double play by Steele Netterville and had thrown only 14 pitches.

“That was huge because his pitch count was getting ready to go up,” Van Horn said. “If that had been a long inning, he might have thrown 30-35 pitches (and it’s) hard to recover from that.”

That seemed to settle the Razorbacks’ ace down because he struck out the next five batters. He was hitting 95 and 96 miles per hour on his fastball, according to the scoreboard radar gun, and ended the night with 10 strikeouts to become the first Arkansas pitcher with double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back appearances since Trevor Stephan in 2017.

Campbell ran into more trouble in the fourth inning when he gave up three straight hits, including an RBI double by Netterville and RBI single by Parker Bates, to tie the game. Unlike last year, he didn’t completely unravel. Instead, he struck out the next two hitters to end the inning.

“I just lost a little bit of command in that fourth inning and left a couple of pitches over the middle of the plate and they got good swings on them, found some holes,” Campbell said. “Overall it was a good start.

“I was spotting my fastball really well today inside and outside. I just competed in the strike zone and really just let my defense do the work.”

Louisiana Tech managed a hit off him in each of the next two innings, but neither advanced past second base. That enabled Campbell to get through six innings for the second straight outing after doing so just once in the first 25 starts of his career.

“That’s what I have to do on Friday nights,” Campbell said. “If we want to have a chance to win a series, sweep a series, I have to go deep in games on Fridays.

“That’s like what I want every weekend. I might have some shorter outings, but the goal is always six to seven innings every outing.”

Campbell was charged with two earned runs on seven hits and no walks, but left with the game tied so he earned the no decision. He threw 98 pitches, 69 of which were strikes.

Van Horn was particularly proud of Campbell because he did it against a really experience lineup full of players between 21 and 23 years old.

“They’re strong and they swing,” Van Horn said. “They have some home runs and that’s an experienced team. He had to go through an SEC-type lineup.”

Slumping Stars

Almost all of Arkansas’ offensive production Friday night came from the bottom of the order. The top four hitters in the lineup combined to go 0 for 11.

That includes three preseason All-Americans in Martin, Kjerstad and Fletcher, all three of whom have struggled to start the year. Friday’s performances dropped their batting averages to .250 apiece.

“I guess you could say yeah, I’m concerned,” Van Horn said. “But it’s going to show up. It’s just a matter of when.”

Martin, in particular, is really slumping. Hitless in the last three games, he’s actually 0 for his last 15 with six strikeouts. Three of those strikeouts came in an 0-for-5 day at the plate against Louisiana Tech.

Van Horn said the shortstop is out in front of pitches, but did just miss a few that he fouled straight back. Much like the other two, he isn’t very concerned about him and believes they’ll turn it around, so he is “not touching” the lineup.

“The difference between great hitters and average hitters, the great ones don’t miss it, but everybody is going to go through a period where things aren’t going real good,” Van Horn said. “I’d rather have it now than in two weeks.

“I have all the confidence in the world in Casey Martin and Heston and Fletcher. They’ve been there and they’ll get it going.”

Other Tidbits

~For the first time this season, Arkansas got some decent weather to play in - with a 61-degree temperature at first pitch - and the result was a nice crowd. The paid attendance was 8,246 and the “tickets scanned” number was 3,852, but there seemed to be more fans than that inside Baum-Walker Stadium.

~Another first in Friday’s game: Opitz allowed an opponent to steal a base against him. After throwing out the first three would-be base stealers, the Bulldogs stole two bases against him Friday night.

~Kevin Kopps was the first pitcher Van Horn called upon out of the bullpen and he gave the Razorbacks two scoreless innings - allowing only one base runner via a hit by pitch - before Matt Cronin closed it out for his fourth save of the year. “(Kopps’) fastball, cutter, changeup and curveball were all unbelievable tonight,” Opitz said. “Coming off of Isaiah and having a guy that can do that and spot up those four, it’s tough on the opposing team.”

~In the middle of the third inning, Arkansas showed the final seconds of its women’s basketball team’s game against South Carolina on the big screen. The Razorbacks actually knocked off the No. 2 seed Gamecocks 95-89 to reach the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2002.

~With normal play-by-play man Phil Elson calling the women’s basketball game and usual fill-in Scott Inman calling the high school basketball state championship games, Chuck Barrett made his second appearance back in the booth this season after not calling a baseball game the last four years. On Saturday, Northwest Arkansas Naturals play-by-play man Benjamin Kelly will be on the call because Barrett has to call the men’s basketball game.

BOX SCORE

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