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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas couldn’t get anything going at the plate and suffered a rare Opening Day loss Friday afternoon.
A pair of solo home runs was all the Razorbacks could muster in a disappointing 3-2 loss to Illinois State at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It is the first time Arkansas has lost its first game since 1994, when it was swept by TCU, and the first time it lost a season opener at home since 1981. That was an extra-innings loss to Oklahoma State at George Cole Field.
“Obviously it’s just one game, but it’s frustrating when you’re used to scoring a few runs and we just didn’t get it done,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “You look at the box score and they out-hit us and obviously they out-pitched us. Other than that, it was probably an even game.”
Aidan Huggins was the hero for the Redbirds, delivering a two-out RBI double in the seventh that put them on top for good.
Arkansas reliever Kole Ramage retired the first five batters he faced in a tie game, but Kyle Soberano poked a single into center and then scored from first on Huggins’ hit that was just fair down the left field line.
It seemed like the Razorbacks might have had a chance to throw out Soberano at the plate, but shortstop Jalen Battles didn’t make the relay throw after left fielder Jace Bohrofen threw it in. However, Van Horn said he believed they wouldn’t have gotten him had Battles thrown home.
“We would have had to maybe done just a little bit better job getting the ball in from left a little quicker, but by the time he got it, I don't think he got a grip on it anyway,” Van Horn said. “And even if he would have. I don't think he would have got him.”
That proved to be the different in the game, as it happened a couple innings after Arkansas tied the game at 2-2.
Illinois State reliever Colin Wyman retired eight of the first nine batters he faced, but the second time through the order went much differently.
Battles launched a fastball down the middle 432 feet into the Hog Pen to lead off the fifth inning and Zack Gregory tied it up two batters later with an opposite-field shot that landed in the visitor’s bullpen.
The Razorbacks nearly took the lead with a third home run, but Cayden Wallace’s deep shot was tracked down by center fielder Ryan Cermak, who made a basket catch to end the inning.
“With the way the wind was blowing, Wallace, he actually got on top of that pitch and on a no-wind day, it goes out of the park,” Van Horn said. “The wind pushed it down. We thought it was going out of the park.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Friday’s season-opening loss to Illinois State…
Offensive Struggles Linger
This season started just as last season ended for Arkansas’ offense. Despite being considered a juggernaut in college baseball, that doesn’t mean good things for the Razorbacks.
After seeing their dominant 2021 campaign end with consecutive 4-for-32 performances in back-to-back losses to North Carolina State in the Fayetteville Super Regional, the Razorbacks went a combined 4 for 31 at the plate against the Redbirds. That is a combined .126 batting average over the three games.
On Friday, Van Horn said he didn’t think his team had a good approach against a pitching staff that posted a 5.31 team ERA last season.
“I thought we took too many pitches that were probably in the zone that were hittable,” Van Horn said. “We fouled a lot of pitches off. I mean, it was a good zone. It was fair both ways. The way he was calling it, if it was close to the plate, he was calling it a strike and that’s what you do, especially early in the season.”
Perhaps the most damning statistic for Arkansas was the fact that each of its first five hitters in the lineup went hitless and struck out at least once, going a combined 0 for 17 with six strikeouts.
