After a rough outing to start the College World Series, junior lefty Zach Root responded with a shutdown performance with the Hogs facing elimination against the UCLA Bruins.
Root put in five innings of work and allowed just three hits and two walks in that time. He struck out five of the 19 batters he faced.
"It was big," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said of Root's performance. "Playing UCLA, they played this morning, both teams are fighting to continue their season, and for him to go out and give us five innings like he did gave us an opportunity to jump out there a little bit.
"When he came out of the game we had a three-run lead, (I'm) just really proud of him. Honestly he wasn't happy when I took him out the other day...he went out today and provided why he's one of the best left-handed pitchers in the country."
It wasn't as easy as that stat line makes it look, though. Root ran into trouble right off the bat in the top of the first inning. He started the game by allowing two straight singles, and walked Bruins third baseman Roman Martin to load the bases with one out.
Root locked in, though. He induced a lineout to shortstop Wehiwa Aloy to get the second out, and the final out came after UCLA's Dean West attempted to steal home.
From there, Root settled in and retired the next six in a row. He had a streak of four straight strikeouts in that span, and the only runner who technically reached base between the second and fourth innings got there by way of an error, but he was tagged out after he slipped as he rounded first base.
Root's final inning of work also featured a bit of trouble, too. The Bruins led off the inning with a base hit, and they had runners on second and third with two outs after a walk and a wild pitch put UCLA in position to plate a run. But once again, Root was able to get out of it with a groundout to second baseman Cam Kozeal, who ended the threat.
One thing Root had on Tuesday that he didn't have on Saturday was run support, which likely helped him settle in. Wehiwa Aloy smacked a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Diamond Hogs a 2-0 lead, and Root's steady presence on the mound after that allowed Arkansas to continue tacking on runs.
After this performance, Arkansas will need to rely on some other arms if they hope to break through and hoist a trophy from Omaha. But should they get to the championship series, Van Horn said there's a chance Root could see the field again.
Arkansas will take on LSU in an elimination game on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN.
