HOOVER, Ala. — Arkansas couldn’t have asked for much more from its closer Wednesday afternoon.

The Razorbacks called on Matt Cronin for a four-out save and he struck out all four batters he faced to seal a 5-3 win over Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament.

Normally a hard-throwing left-hander who relies on a plus-fastball, the junior even landed a 70 mile per hour curveball in his strikeout of Tyler Keenan that ended the game.

“I think it was the first breaking ball I’ve thrown for a strike in about five weeks, so it definitely felt good,” Cronin said with a smile. “I was just having fun out there, trying to pound the strike zone and it ended up going well for me.”

It was Cronin’s 11th save of the season, which is tied for fifth on UA’s single-season chart and trails his own record by three, and the 26th of his career. That ranks second in school history, trailing Phillip Stidham - a three-year closer from 1989-91 - by seven.

This save stood out because of the aforementioned curveball, as that would be a dynamic second pitch that would make Cronin even more unhittable in the postseason and more desirable in next month’s MLB Draft.

“I was really excited to see him drop that curveball in there on the left-handed hitter because after that happened, you could just see a different demeanor in the body language of the hitter,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Like, ‘Wow, I thought I was just going to have to sit on fastballs,’ and now he doesn’t know what to see.”

Second baseman Jack Kenley described Cronin’s performance as “nothing short of spectacular,” although he’s come to expect it. He even felt some sympathy toward the Ole Miss hitters.

“His fastball is electric and you could kind of see it on the faces of those guys that he faced,” Kenley said. “Locating that one curveball, that was gross. As a hitter, having to come back from that is tough and Matt is definitely making it hard on them.”

Van Horn called on his closer in a tight spot. The Rebels had runners on the corners and two outs in the eighth, with Arkansas clinging to a 4-3 lead.

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco countered by pinch hitting with Chase Cockrell, a struggling senior with a .217 batting average after being a Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist last season, and Cronin got him to strike out to strand the tying run 90 feet away.

“That could have been the game right there, so I have to come in and find a way to get that out without letting anyone score,” Cronin said. “I think my preferred way is a strikeout and I got that.”

Making it even better was the fact that he did it on three pitches, as Cockrell fouled off the first two pitches before swinging and missing at strike three.

“The only hitter he faced in the eighth inning, the best swing he took was his first swing,” Van Horn said. “He hit the ball hard down the left field line and after that, Matt just got after him.”

That kept his pitch count low enough that Van Horn felt comfortable letting him finish things off in the ninth, especially with every pitcher being on a slightly lower pitch count because of the upcoming NCAA Regionals.

In the final inning, Cronin struck out Thomas Dillard, Grae Kessinger and Keenan on 12 pitches, giving him 15 total for the game. All but two of them were strikes.

It was the second time in his career that Cronin has struck out every batter he faced for a save, with the other coming at USC earlier this year and also being a four-out situation. Van Horn was much more impressed with this one, though, as it came against the top of the lineup of a ranked team at on a big stage.

“It was one of his best outings ever and it was against a pretty good team,” Van Horn said. “He went through 1, 2 and 3 in the order and they can all hit, so I’m just happy he didn’t have to throw a lot of pitches and he had a lot of success.”

Although the Razorbacks were focused more on the curveball he threw, Cronin’s fastball still demanded most of Bianco’s attention.

“He’s got that big-time fastball and gets a lot of swings and misses,” Bianco said. “It’s not just velocity; it’s a high spin rate ball where hitters think they’re on it, but they’re not. You get blown away a lot. We weren’t very good against him.”

Cronin slammed the door on a 4 2/3-inning outing by Arkansas’ bullpen, which also included outings by Kevin Kopps, Cody Scroggins and Jacob Kostyshock.

Kopps was the first reliever and allowed both inherited runners to score and got some bad luck - a dropped third strike that Casey Opitz couldn’t find in time - in the sixth to give up the go-ahead run, the lone earned run charged to the bullpen.

After that, Scroggins threw a scoreless seventh, working around a two-out single. It wasn’t until the eighth that Arkansas found itself in some trouble, but it was largely because of the leadoff man reaching on a throwing error by Casey Martin.

It got worse when Kostyshock hit Cooper Johnson in the head with a pitch, but he retired the next two batters before turning it over to Cronin.

“I think Kosty did a great job bouncing back after hitting a guy in the head,” Cronin said. “I know from experience that’s hard to come back and pound the strike zone after that.”

For a bullpen that has been up-and-down throughout the season, it was a solid showing in the Razorbacks’ first postseason game of 2019.

The only main reliever who didn’t pitch was sophomore right-hander Kole Ramage, so Arkansas might be a little thin, but that was by design.

“Our plan was to do whatever we needed to do to win today,” Van Horn said. “If we needed to use them all in our bullpen, then we’d use them.”

It helps that ace right-hander Isaiah Campbell (10-1, 2.50 ERA) will be on the mound for the Razorbacks, as he can go deeper into games than their other starters. However, the bullpen will still be a key Thursday afternoon against Georgia because Van Horn said he would be on an unspecified pitch count.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

SUBSCRIBE to HawgBeat and get access to exclusive prospect interviews, the best recruiting network in the industry, inside scoops on recruiting and team news, videos, podcasts and much more.

Join the discussion on THE TROUGH, the Arkansas Rivals premium message board for thousands of Hog fans.