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Having never even been close to a throwing no-hitter at any point in his career, Lael Lockhart came within an out of a perfect game at the SEC Tournament Wednesday afternoon.
After retiring the first 20 batters he faced, the left-hander’s bid for perfection was spoiled by Josh McAllister’s infield single with two outs in the seventh and Arkansas on the verge of taking down Georgia via a run rule.
Corey Collins followed with a two-run home run in the next at bat, which also ended his shutout and extended the game, but Lockhart still earned the victory in the Razorbacks’ dominant 11-2 win in Hoover, Ala.
“Lael Lockhart had a great game, just peppering the zone in and out, pretty good breaking ball, got a little changeup going there and kept them off balance a little bit,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “But the key was working ahead and he was on a roll.”
It was a spectacular performance, but one those who witnessed his pregame warmups probably didn’t see coming.
Speaking to the media afterward, Lockhart admitted he didn’t have his best stuff in the bullpen. He felt good about just two of his usual five-pitch arsenal, as his pregame routine was altered because of the shortened prep time created by the Alabama-Tennessee game going 11 innings.
Even as he was still feeling things out, though, he was throwing strikes and hitting his spots right out of the gate. Only four of Lockhart’s 15 first-inning pitches missed the zone and he struck out the first two Bulldogs of the game.
He eventually settled on his fastball and curveball as his primary pitches. He tried a few changeups, but noticed he was leaving them up, and his usual go-to pitch wasn’t working either.
“Tried a slider (and) it was kind of getting touched or fouled off when it usually is my go-to pitch,” Lockhart said. “Made that adjustment, I think, right around the third or end of the second inning and just rode it out from there.”
Watching from first base, Cullen Smith said it looked like Georgia couldn’t figured out what pitch was coming all night. The result was 20 of 23 first-pitch strikes, including 10 times he got ahead 0-2.
“I thought he was keeping them on their toes,” Smith said. “They were late on the fastball and they were early on the slider. It was incredible, man. It was a great job. That's how a good pitcher throws right there for sure.”
It wasn’t until his teammates tacked on a few more runs in the fifth inning to make it 10-0 and bring the SEC’s mercy rule - a 10-run lead after seven innings - into play that Lockhart started thinking about the perfect game.
When 9-hole hitter Parks Harber hit a lined out Robert Moore shifted up the middle, it was definitely on his mind.
“I'd be lying to you if it wasn't going through my mind that last inning to go out there,” Lockhart said. “I was pulling for the boys to get the ten runs so it would shorten up and make it a little bit easier.”
On top of being sharp himself, Lockhart also benefited from a large strike zone by home plate umpire Damien Beal. He took advantage of it several times by painting the corners.
“When you get an umpire today that was being a little generous, maybe one ball, ball and a half off, that's what he's going to do to teams,” Smith said. “Dudes can't hit that when he's consistently painting the ball, and he's keeping the slider, curveball low, it's almost unhittable. I knew that was going to happen after that first inning.”
With the Razorbacks up 10-0 and the run rule in play, Lockhart struck out Luke Wagner and Cole Tate to start the seventh.
One out away from the first perfect game in UA history, McAllister hit a chopper to the left side. Third baseman Jacob Nesbit made a diving attempt, but it got by him and Jalen Battles fielded it deep in the hole. His throw got by Smith at first base, but it would have been well late even if it had been on line.
“That was the only pitch on the night where I was like, ‘Alright, let's really rear back, try to get after it,’” Lockhart said. “Saw it go through the 6-hole, Jalen gets to it (and) I thought, ‘If he makes the play, he makes the play. I'll treat Jalen to a dinner.’ It was fun, that's for sure.”
The disappointment about not finishing it off was evident in his teammate’s comments after the game.
“I was hurting for him, man,” Smith said. “I wanted it so bad. … I tried to stay on the bag as long as I could. I was like, I won't let this ball get by me before it's not an out. It's a hit all day. It is what it is.”
After the infield single, Lockhart was a strike away from notching a complete game and putting the finishing touches on a seven-inning shutout, but Collins hit his 2-2 pitch over the right field wall.
He didn’t let it bother him, though, bouncing back to strike out Randon Jernigan on three pitches to end the inning. The game was already in hand at that point, but Van Horn was still pleased with how he responded to the back-to-back hits.
“Kind of a seeing eye single and it was kind of a bummer,” Van Horn said. “Then he's right there to at least get the shutout, and he makes a pitch that their lefty put a really good swing on it and back spun it and traveled, got out of the park.
“I was disappointed for him, but I like the way he went out there and he finished it, got through the inning.”
Lockhart finished with season highs in innings (7) and strikeouts (11), while not walking anyone and allowing just the two runs on two hits. He threw 58 of his 74 pitches for strikes.
“We knew he had it in him obviously,” Van Horn said. “I would say we felt like tonight he'd pitch really well, (but) you never know. It's a big stage. He's never been here, but he is older.”
Making the performance even more remarkable is the fact he had lost his spot in Arkansas’ weekend rotation earlier this month.
Over a span of three starts, he gave up nine earned runs in 5 2/3 combined innings, culminating with a disastrous outing at LSU in which he recorded just one out.
He didn’t pitch in the Georgia series at all, but came out of the bullpen in a midweek win over Arkansas State and was dominant in two scoreless innings. It wasn’t anything mechanical, but that seemed to get him back on track from a mindset standpoint and he has since turned in solid outings at Tennessee and now at the SEC Tournament.
“I think a lot of it was mentality-wise,” Lockhart said. “It wasn't thinking pitch count, trying to stretch the game; it was attack every hitter every out, all the same, starting from the very first pitch, rather than stressing out over trying to extend or whatever the case was.”
With a regional looming and Peyton Pallette likely out for the rest of the year, his emergence could be vital in Arkansas’ efforts to reach the College World Series for a third straight season.
“Towards the end of the season, some guys kick it in late,” Van Horn said. “He started out pretty good this year, and he faded a little bit, but then he got better. He dug himself out, and we're getting what we thought we were getting from him. He's throwing the ball extremely well.”
Big Inning
As good as Lockhart was on the mound, Arkansas didn’t need to give him much run support, but it poured it on Georgia anyways.
The Razorbacks expected to face freshman left-hander Liam Sullivan, who held them down for six innings and had a career-high 11 strikeouts at Baum-Walker Stadium a few weeks earlier, but redshirt freshman Charlie Goldstein got the start instead.
