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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas nearly pulled off its largest comeback in a season of comebacks Sunday afternoon, but came up just short.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Chandler Jozwiak struck out Matt Goodheart and Cayden Wallace to preserve an 11-10 win for Texas A&M at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It was the only win of the weekend for the Aggies (21-17, 4-11), as the Razorbacks swept Saturday’s doubleheader, and snapped their seven-game SEC losing streak.
On the flip side, Arkansas (30-6, 11-4) missed out on a chance to take sole possession of first place in the conference, but still has a one-game lead in the SEC West and is tied with Vanderbilt for first overall.
“I think pretty much every coach in the league would be happy with 11-4,” Van Horn said. “Starting the second half, the (first) six games are on the road in conference play. That’s why we always say when you’ve got a chance to get a win, get a win because you never know how it’s going to go.”
Despite falling behind by six runs in the top of the sixth inning, the Razorbacks fought back and had an excellent shot at completing the sweep.
Having cut the deficit to one, Casey Opitz and Jalen Battles led off the ninth inning with back-to-back four-pitch walks. A perfect sacrifice bunt by Zack Gregory moved the tying and winning runs into scoring position with one out.
After opting to intentionally walk Robert Moore to set up the double play, Texas A&M called on its top reliever, Jozwiak, to get it out of the jam. The left-hander had thrown 56 pitches in 3 1/3 innings in Saturday’s nightcap and gave up the unearned run on the 10th-inning error to earn a tough-luck loss.
Less than 24 hours later, though, he struck out arguably the Razorbacks’ two hottest hitters in Goodheart and Wallace. Both of them couldn’t check their swing on an 88 mph slider in the dirt and Jozwiak earned the save.
“As a hitter obviously you’ve just got to find a way to put a bat on the ball,” Van Horn said. “Wallace had two pitches that he fouled off that he was right on, but he missed them. In his situation, he was going to have to have a solid hit. With Goodheart, we just needed some contact to tie the game.”
Quick Hook for Lockhart
Van Horn has been vocal about wanting more innings out of his starting pitchers, but pulled Lael Lockhart after only three innings Sunday afternoon.
He didn’t walk anyone, but did hit a batter and struck out four while throwing 35 of his 51 pitches for strikes. Three of the runs he was charged with were earned.
The left-hander gave up a two-out solo home run to Will Frizzell in the first and a two-out RBI single to Frizzell in the third. The fifth hit he allowed was a leadoff single in the fourth, prompting Van Horn’s call to the bullpen.
“He was behind in the count the whole time,” Van Horn said. “Pretty much every inning he struggled with runners all over the place and just couldn’t command stuff, and they were taking some really good swings.”
