HOOVER, Ala. — Arkansas’ approach to the SEC Tournament was on full display Thursday evening.
With a top-eight national seed virtually locked up, the Razorbacks didn’t let ace Isaiah Campbell go as deep as normal in their 3-1 loss to Georgia.
The redshirt junior right-hander threw five scoreless innings on 71 pitches before head coach Dave Van Horn removed him to ensure he’s healthy and well-rested for the NCAA Regionals next weekend.
“I’m a competitor and having a pitch count, it sucks, but it’s baseball,” Campbell said. “Hopefully we still have a long journey ahead of us to get to Omaha, so that’s a couple more weeks. It’s good for my arm, but at the same time, I wanted to get out there and keep competing for the team and help us win.”
Even though he didn’t allow a run, Campbell wasn’t as sharp as he’s been most of the season. His biggest issue, Van Horn said, was not having consistent command.
That led to three walks, a hit by pitch and one wild pitch, with most of the wildness contained to the second and third innings. After a perfect first inning, Campbell threw a combined 41 pitches over the next two innings.
“The first, fourth and fifth inning, I felt really good,” Campbell said. “I had all my pitches working, was commanding my fastball really well. It was just that second and third inning, I got behind hitters, walked a couple guys.
“All in all, I didn’t have my best stuff at all, but just competed, got out of some jams and gave this team a chance to win today.”
Georgia loaded the bases against him in the second with the help of a pair of infield singles - the only hits he allowed - but failed to capitalize on the opportunity when Chaney Rogers grounded out.
The very next inning, the first two Bulldogs reached base with free passes - a walk followed by a hit by pitch - only to get stranded on second and third when John Cable also grounded out.
“Campbell is really talented,” Georgia first baseman Patrick Sullivan said. “He threw really well. He kind of kept us off-balance. I feel like we kept plugging along, though, and we were able to finally break through after they took him out of the game.”
Luckily for the Razorbacks, Campbell settled in and needed only 18 pitches to get the next six outs, which included a double play by his defense.
Although he had thrown 95-104 pitches in his last three outings, Van Horn decided that five innings was all he needed to see from his ace in Hoover. The limited work means Campbell should be available to pitch in Arkansas’ NCAA Regional opener, whether it’s on Friday or Saturday.
“He had a couple really good innings for us and did work out of a really tough jam, which is really good to see,” Van Horn said. “Now he can probably get an extra day or two of rest getting ready for next weekend.”
We won’t see Campbell, who also struck out three Thursday’s no decision, but Arkansas enters the loser’s bracket with the loss and will play Ole Miss in an elimination game at 3 p.m. Friday on the SEC Network.
The winner of that game will face Georgia in the SEC Tournament semifinals, which are back in the single-elimination portion of the event.
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