Tygart asserts himself as Arkansas' closer
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FAYETTEVILLE — It looks like Arkansas has found its closer in the form of freshman Brady Tygart.
The right-hander threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball and had seven strikeouts in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Mississippi State.
Tygart took the mound in the eighth inning of Game 3 against the Bulldogs and looked like anything but a freshman. He mowed down his first six batters on strikes before finally allowing a single to lead off the top of the 10th inning.
“(I was) being aggressive on the mound, just throwing my best stuff right at them,” Tygart said.
Despite allowing the single, Tygart bounced back with an out on a sacrifice bunt and two groundouts to escape the runner in scoring position and give Arkansas a walk-off opportunity in the bottom of the frame — which it did not capitalize on.
The expectation seemed like Tygart was done for the day after the 10th inning, but he trotted back out to the mound in the 11th.
”I felt like I wanted to be in the game,” Tygart said. “Obviously, you know, we're running on (empty) that late in the game, but you've just gotta want it.”
The top of the 11th inning began with a groundout for Tygart before he issued his first walk of the game. He notched his seventh strikeout after the walk, but then hit a batter to put two runners on and bring a close to his day.
With his pitch count in the 50s, it was not surprising to see Tygart fade a bit at the back half of his outing. His 59 total pitches were easily a career-high, and it proved that he can not only close, but he can throw in extended relief.
“Tygart was outstanding,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Just felt like it was time to get him out. That was enough pitches. I think he ran out of gas there at the end anyway.”
Over his last four outings, Tygart has slowly locked in his spot as Arkansas’ most trusted pitcher at the back end of the bullpen. Since Game 3 of the Kentucky series on March 20, Tygart has thrown 9 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. In that span, he has given up just four hits, walked one and struck out 15.
The success has really been a season-long thing for Tygart. Take out his appearance against Illinois-Chicago on March 13 — when he gave up four hits and two earned runs in his second appearance of the weekend — and he has not allowed a run this year.
Of the four relievers who have pitched more than 10 innings for Arkansas, Tygart has the lowest ERA at 1.20. His 22 strikeouts are second to Kole Ramage (25) among relief pitchers.
Tygart has begun to garner national attention for his nasty off-speed pitches. Rob Friedman, best known as the “Pitching Ninja” on Twitter, has posted clips of Tygart’s off-speed pitches multiple times in the past two weeks.
“Obviously, again, his breaking ball was working for him,” Van Horn said. “His curveball was really good. He actually threw a slider — got a strikeout on a slider — and his velocity was really good… 95, 96, I don’t know, 97 maybe.”
Moving forward, Tygart will likely be the go-to guy out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations. It seems that he has earned the trust of Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs.
Up next, Arkansas will play Central Arkansas in a midweek matchup at 6 p.m. CT Tuesday in Fayetteville. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network-Plus.