Isaiah Campbell throws gem in final home start

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FAYETTEVILLE — Seven pitches into his final start at Baum-Walker Stadium, Isaiah Campbell found himself in an early hole in Game 1 of the Fayetteville Super Regional on Saturday.

However, after Grae Kessinger sent his 2-0 fastball into the Hog Pen, Arkansas’ ace took a deep breath and settled in. A few hours later, he walked off to a thunderous standing ovation, having thrown a career-high 8 1/3 innings in the Razorbacks’ 11-2 win over Ole Miss.

Campbell got Arkansas one win closer to reaching the College World Series again by giving up just two earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. He let the crowd of 10,000-plus know he appreciated the love by tipping his cap as he left the field.

“A lot of emotions when I was walking off that mound, just seeing the fans giving me a standing ovation, it was awesome,” Campbell said. “I’m going to miss this place and everything, but we’ve still got unfinished business.”

Immediately after the Kessinger’s home run, Campbell struck out Tyler Keenan - Ole Miss’ top home run hitter coming into the game - and induced a ground out by Cole Zabowski to still get out of the inning on only 13 pitches.

From that point on, the Rebels managed only five more base runners against him, never getting more than one in an inning.

“He gave up a solo homer to the second hitter of the game and it didn’t faze him,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “He kept the same demeanor, went with the same approach and kept attacking.”

Arkansas’ offense picked up Campbell, as well, scoring four runs in the first inning - highlighted by Jack Kenley’s three-run home run - and two in the second inning.

Working with a lead allowed him to relax and pitch to contact. That helped him keep his pitch count low, as the most he threw in an inning was 18 in the second. The other seven full innings needed no more than 13 pitches.

“When you get run support, all I have to do is just go out there and throw strikes, just keep attacking, keep getting hitters out,” Campbell said. “When you put six in the first two innings, you have some margin for error, so you can give up a couple of runs and still feel comfortable with the lead.”

Van Horn said he and pitching coach Matt Hobbs considered taking him out with two outs in the eighth inning so he could get an ovation, but he got a couple of quick outs and they decided to let him finish it out.

Sitting at 100 pitches, Campbell got to go back out in the ninth, even if it was only for a couple of batters.

“He came running down around the corner and said, ‘I want to finish this up,’” Van Horn said. “I said, ‘Okay, you can go back out, but you’re going to get one out.’”

Thomas Dillard got just enough of his first pitch of the ninth for it to clear Christian Franklin’s glove for a home run, but Campbell bounced back to retire pinch hitter Michael Fitzsimmons with a fly out to right on one pitch.

In between giving up homers to the second and next-to-last batters, Campbell was sensational. It was his second straight outing of at least eight innings after he hit that total just once in his first 47 appearances.

“Just because I got one out of the yard wasn’t going to mean he was going to give in,” Kessinger said. “From then on he just kept making pitches. In the eighth inning, he still had a 95 or 96 (mph pitch), so he competed all the way to the end. Ultimately we just couldn’t get swings off and he was good today.”

Saturday’s performance improved Campbell to 12-1 with a 2.26 ERA. His 12 wins are the fourth most in a single season in UA history, while his 115 strikeouts rank sixth. With 13 innings, Campbell would also break the single-season record of 124 held by Rich Erwin (1979) and Nick Schmidt (2007).

He'll have a chance to add to those numbers if the Razorbacks can win one more game against the Rebels.

“He is a true ace in our league,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “He’s got three plus-pitches and uses them all and throws his fastball on both sides. He’ll throw in, he’ll pitch backwards when he needs to.

“He’s just really good and he can be a force out there, especially with the lead.”

Game 2 of the Fayetteville Super Regional is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. It will be televised on ESPNU.