Hogs can’t get timely hits in 5-0 loss at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — Arkansas struggled to get a timely hit with runners on base in Sunday’s 5-0 road loss at 13th-ranked LSU.

With the setback, the Razorbacks close out the 2018 regular season with a 37-14 record overall and a 12-12 mark in SEC play.

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The Razorbacks turn their attention to the postseason beginning with next week’s SEC Softball Tournament in Columbia, Mo.

Arkansas, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, is scheduled to play No. 20 and No. 10 seed Kentucky in Wednesday’s first round.

Game time is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

With a perfectly placed single up the middle in the first inning, senior Autumn Buczek registered her fourth hit of the weekend and tied her career high with 58 hits this season.

Freshman Hannah McEwen drew a walk to lead off the game when LSU starter Allie Walljasper was called for an illegal pitch on a 3-1 pitch.

The Razorbacks had two on with no outs after Buczek’s single but the home team worked out of the jam unscathed.

Freshman starter Mary Haff retired the top of the LSU lineup in order to start the game but the home team got on the board with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning.

LSU (40-13, 13-10 SEC) extended its advantage with four runs in the third which prompted head coach Courtney Deifel to turn to Autumn Storms in the circle.

The sophomore pitcher responded with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief work. In the sixth, the Tigers threatened to add to their lead with runners on second and third with nobody out but Storms responded by retiring the next three hitters without a run crossing the plate.

Arkansas had runners on first and second in the fifth and sixth innings but couldn’t produce a timely hit to break through on the scoreboard.

In the sixth frame, Katie Warrick tallied a one-out single with a shot deep in the 5-6 hole and Loren Krzysko dropped a single into center field to give the team two runners on base. However, Walljasper posted a strikeout to get out of the inning.