Stranded runners wasted an excellent pitching performance by the Hogs' pitching staff and cost Arkansas in its 2-1,14-inning loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday night at Globe Life Field.
A scoreless six-inning start by RHP Brady Tygart was all-for-naught, as the Razorbacks finished the game 2-24 with runners on base and 8-52 overall.
"Yeah, I can’t talk about the zone too much, but you saw what I saw and everybody else saw it. It was pretty good size, especially to the outer half," head coach Dave Van Horn said after the game. "You know, you just get two strikes on you, you got to go out there and — don’t let him make that last call on you. If it’s close, you’re going to have to take a swing at it."
Five Arkansas hitters recorded a hit and three went 0-for-5 or worse at the plate throughout the game. Designated hitter Hudson White, short-stop Wehiwa Aloy, catcher Ryder Helfrick and left fielder Jayson Jones were a combined 0-24 against the Cowboys.
The lone bright spot for Arkansas was third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott and right fielder Kendall Diggs, who each recorded clutch base hits. The duo combined for five knocks with only two strikeouts. Van Horn thinks thinks the team needs to make adjustments.
"Probably other team’s pitching is pretty good, and we’ve got to make some adjustments that we didn’t make tonight," Van Horn said. But I don’t want to get into it."
Despite the strong showing by Arkansas' deep bullpen, the Hogs coudn't overcome offensive ineptitude as the game went deeper into the night. The Razorbacks ended up using six total pitchers in the outing and broke the program record for strikeouts in a matchup with 25
"Just a great job by the pitching staff," Van Horn said. "You know, put some freshmen out in some really, really tough situations, and they answered the bell. Gained a lot of really good experience tonight. It was a tough loss, but give their pitching staff credit. They just kept getting us to roll over balls. We hit a lot of ground balls to the pull side. We had a lot of shots for a hit to grab the lead, but we never got it. Just a super job by our pitching staff."
In the 14th inning, Oklahoma State finally broke through with a single and an error that advanced the runners to second and third. The Cowboys walked the game off with a squeeze on a bunt single. Even after the heartbreak, Van Horn wanted his team to be able to move on.
"Well, like I said, we’re not going to spend a lot of time out here talking," Van Horn said. "We have another one tomorrow, so the message would be to go get some rest.
Up next, No. 2 Arkansas (5-1) will take on the Michigan Wolverines (2-4) on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT and will stream on FloSports.
