John & Tommy discuss the letdown in Game 2, Wick starting Game 3, Tom Murphy and more!
Hogs leave complete team on bases to set up huge game Monday
Arkansas hit the ball against Ole Miss’ ace Sunday, but they couldn’t get THE hit when they had runners on base.
They left a complete team — nine players — on base over nine innings. That includes several in scoring position.
Not enough to account for the difference in a 13-5 game, but it did affect momentum.
“We just couldn’t get the big hit,” Dave Van Horn said later.
For a fan base with vivid memories of how close they were to a national title last season, the Razorbacks have put them on pins and needles for a Monday game that, quite simply, is a winner-take-all to go to Omaha.
Both coaches feel good about how their pitching is set up for the finalè. Van Horn and Rebels coach Mike Bianco have had blowout losses, which meant neither one wasted their best relievers.
“We have mostly everyone left,” Van Horn said Sunday.
So does Ole Miss and they have played from behind in series all season.
“We don’t really know what tomorrow is going bring and we have to make sure we do our jobs today and not look past today,” said Ole Miss starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy. “It’s what kept us on our toes and I think we were never really comfortable, not to say we weren’t comfortable. We weren’t ever content.”
Nikhazy gave up a two-run homer to the Hogs’ Dominic Fletcher in the first inning, then the momentum shifted to the Rebels.
Arkansas could never get it back, primarily because Nikhazy last five innings, then gave way to Houston Roth, who gave up just two hits over the final four innings.
“He has pitched really well down the stretch for us, but that is as good as I have seen him against a really good offense,” Bianco said later about Roth.
For freshman pitcher Connor Noland, it was his worst outing since not making it out of the first inning against Vanderbilt early in the conference season.
“It was just one of those outings,” Van Horn said. “He was getting behind hitters.”
The technical part was that he simply couldn’t locate his fastball and the curve wasn’t breaking like it had been in recent outings.
“It wasn’t a good situation for him if he couldn’t get that fastball down,” Van Horn said.
With both teams in good shape with their relievers, it’ll be a pair of freshmen starting. Patrick Wicklander for the Hogs and Gunner Hoglund for the Rebels.
“When he’s on, he’s one of the better young pitchers in our league,” Van Horn said about Wicklander.
He’s also familiar with Hoglund.
“He’s like most of their starters, he has a really good arm,” he said. “He’s a young man who many people didn’t think would make it to college because they thought he’d sign a professional contract. When he’s on, he’s like Wicklander … he’s one of the best young pitchers in the SEC.”
Ole Miss has made a living this season out of dropping the first game, then coming from behind to win the series.
“They don’t look nervous,” was how Bianco described it Sunday. “If you were in the dugout, they look like a team that has won four or five in a row. Somewhere along the line, somewhere in the SEC Tournament, we kind of found that and maybe in the most pressure-packed parts of the game they play loose, and they play with a lot of confidence.”
“Nothing better than game three,” Fletcher said Sunday. “We have a ton of arms ready to go and a lot of confidence in them, so we’re excited.”
So are the fans, but they may be a little more nervous about the whole thing than the Razorbacks are. To be honest, that’s a normal reaction.
You get the feeling this is going to come down to pitching and with both teams starting freshmen, the well-rested staffs on both sides are likely going to come into play.
“It’ll be a tremendous game,” Van Horn said.
Just remember, he’s usually right about these things.
Ole Miss overpowers Hogs to set up winner-take-all game Monday
FAYETTEVILLE — Matt Goodheart and Dominic Fletcher combined for five of Arkansas’ 12 hits Sunday, but Ole Miss out-slugged the Razorbacks for a 13-5 win, forcing a deciding third game of the super regional Monday.
The winner-take-all game three is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch on ESPN2.
You can listen to Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter with the call on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
The winner advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska and will play its first game against the winner of the LSU-Florida State Super Regional.
Arkansas (45-18) jumped out in front early with a two-run home run by Fletcher in the first inning, his 11th of the year and first since May 9 against LSU, however, Ole Miss (41-26) responded with eight-straight runs over the first two innings to build up a six-run lead.
The Hogs pulled within three after scoring three in the fourth behind three-straight two-out doubles by Trevor Ezell, Casey Martin and Goodheart, but the pitching combo of Doug Nikhazy and Houston Roth was strong enough to keep the Razorback hitters at bay.
Nikhazy made it through five innings with five runs allowed but struck out eight. Roth finished the game with a four-inning save, his first of the year, giving up just two hits and striking out three.
Tomorrow’s game will mark the fifth time Arkansas will play a deciding third game in a Super Regional in its history and the eighth time the Razorbacks and Rebels have faced off this year.
2019 NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional
Series tied 1-1
Game 1: Arkansas 11, Ole Miss 2 | Box Score
Game 2: Ole Miss 13, Arkansas 5 | Box Score
Game 3: Arkansas (H) vs Ole Miss – 3 p.m.
Arkansas starting pitcher Connor Noland didn’t have his best stuff early on as he lasted just one inning and gave up four runs on three hits, throwing just 20 pitches.
Kole Ramage, Kevin Kopps and Elijah Trest all followed out of the bullpen after Noland, each throwing at least two of the remaining innings.
The Rebel offense still couldn’t be slowed as Ramage gave up the next four runs while walking six, a career-high.
Kopps came in to pitch in the middle of the fourth and gave up just one walk in the fifth as Arkansas started to mount its comeback.
However, Tyler Keenan homered off Kopps in the sixth to make it 9-5 Ole Miss, one of four home runs hit in the game for Ole Miss.
After the Rebels had taken the 8-2 lead after two innings, the Razorback offense finally started to get to Nikhazy in the fourth when Ezell, Martin and Goodheart all roped two-out doubles.
Goodheart and Ezell have both had the hot bat all postseason for Arkansas as the duo has combined to hit .477 in the NCAA Tournament.
Ezell is 12-for-23 (.522) over five tournament games and has four hits in the super regional alone.
Martin’s bat has also been strong in the super regional as he is 4-for-9 (.444) over the last two games with one double and three RBIs.
Van Horn, Fletcher, Martin after dropping second game to Ole Miss
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, center fielder Dominic Fletcher and shortstop Casey Martin talking about falling to the Rebels in the second game of the super regional.
Bianco, Nikhazy, Zabowski recapping Rebels’ win over Arkansas
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy and first baseman Cole Zabowski talk about coming back from Saturday’s loss to set up winner-take-all game Monday.
One win away from getting to Omaha, Hogs staying focused
Isaiah Campbell saved one of his best pitching performances for his last outing at Baum-Walker Stadium on Saturday.
Getting some solid fielding and big hits helped.
Arkansas bombed Ole Miss in the first game of the super regional, 11-2. Now they find themselves a game away from getting to Omaha.
The last win and last out often are the hardest to get in these baseball series. Dave Van Horn and all the players know it, too.
“We’ve still got unfinished business,” Campbell said after 8.1 innings where he struck out seven while giving up five hits.
It was an emotional outing, probably even for Van Horn, who never shows a lot of that one way or the other. Many of the 11,350 announced crowd (it seemed like more) probably thought when he walked off in the eighth that was it.
He and pitching coach Matt Hobbs were talking about it when Campbell put in his two cents.
“He came running down around the corner and said, ‘I want to finish this up,’ and I said, ‘okay, you can go back out, but you’re going to get one out,’ and he said, ‘okay,'” was how Van Horn described it later.
Things started a little rocky, with Campbell giving up a homer to the Rebels’ second hitter, Grae Kessinger.
Nobody really expected Campbell to be rattled.
“Just because I got one out of the yard wasn’t going to mean he was going to give in,” Kessinger said later.
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco knew it coming in.
“He is a true ace,” he said.
Sunday, Van Horn is going with freshman Connor Noland, who will be going against the Rebels’ best pitcher by the numbers in Doug Nikhazy.
Van Horn would probably be happy with a repeat of the way everybody played around Campbell.
“We played really good defense and our offense was clicking pretty good,” he said. “We did a nice job of fouling off a lot of pitches with a lot of good two-strike swings. We got pitch counts up on (Will) Ethridge.”
But the recurring theme Van Horn has been preaching comes into play again.
“Just like last week, I told the players after the second win they still hadn’t done anything,” he said. “It’s nice winning games, but I’ve been on both sides of it – coming back and winning them and not finishing them out.
“So same as always. Go home, take a shower, eat, hang out, watch some baseball and get up and do it again.”
The advice would probably hold true for the fans, too, who showed up in force Saturday.
In case you’re wondering, Bianco wasn’t too concerned about his team.
“They get it,” he said. “They realize that it comes down to controlling what you can control. I know it sounds so mundane and coach-speak, but it’s the truth.
“Tomorrow it is about winning the first pitch, winning the first out and moving on.”
Ole Miss probably won’t just show up and yield. In the postgame Saturday, Bianco wasn’t getting drawn into it talking about the series in March where the Rebels won the last two games in Fayetteville to take the series.
But for them, they have to win or their season is over.
For the Hogs?
They know how heavy the weight can get in a must-win game … all the way to the final out.
Razorbacks’ women bring home 45th national title for track teams
AUSTIN, Texas — Coach Lance Harter’s crew battled, scrapped and fought for every point Saturday night to earn the right to bring home the fourth team title in program history — the second this year — making it the 45th NCAA title between the men’s and women’s track and field programs.
The crowd was electric heading into the final event of the night as Arkansas and Southern Cal stood tied at 56-points apiece and with both programs holding an entry in the 4×400-meter relay.
Arkansas prevailed, scoring 64 points to USC’s 57 to wrap up the 2019 NCAA outdoor season.
The day for Arkansas’ started with the 4×100-meter relay of Tamara Kuykendall, Payton Chadwick, Janeek Brown, and Kiara Parker who got the night off to a quick start as they recorded the second-fastest time in program history of 42.79 that trails only the school record run they pieced together in the prelims of 42.65 in the semifinals.
Devin Clark turned in an All-American performance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing seventh in the final running 9:55.22.
Clark ran with the front pack for most of the race before falling off the pace over the final 800-meters where she settled in for her All-American finish.
Janeek Brown captured the first NCAA title of her young career running the second-fastest time in NCAA 100-meter hurdles history at 12.40, missing the collegiate record by one one-hundredth of a second.
The time by Brown is currently the No. 1 time in the world for the sophomore from Kingston, Jamacia. Senior Payton Chadwick competed alongside Brown taking eighth-place in 13.05 seconds.
Kiara Parker came through in the 100-meter final in a HUGE way, breaking the program record in the 100-meters by shaving off two one-hundredths of a second from Jada Baylark’s 2018 record, running 11.02 seconds for fifth-place.
LSU’s Sha’Carri Richardson took the event in a collegiate record time of 10.75.
Kethlin Campbell grabbed a fourth-place finish in the 400-meters with a brisk run of 51.09 seconds.
The sophomore transfer from Duke capped her first season in Fayetteville having earned First-Team honors at both the NCAA Indoor Championships and the Outdoor NCAA Championships while moving herself to No. 4 all-time at Arkansas in the 400-meters with a lifetime-best of 51.03 and running key legs on both the indoor and outdoor mile relays.
History was made in the final of the 200-meters as Janeek Brown finally moved past Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Brown, who ran an NCAA all-time No. 2 mark of 12.40 in to win the 100-meter hurdle title earlier in the day, sprinted to a time of 22.40 in the 200-meters finishing fourth while posting the fastest 100mH/200m one-day combo in world history.
Brown’s time also broke the program record held by multi-time Olympian Veronica Campbell-Brown of 22.41 by one one-hundredth of a second.
Taylor Werner ran a race of a lifetime in the 5,000-meter final running with the lead over the final lap before fading to an NCAA Runner-up finish in a time of 15:51.24.
Werner left everything she had on the track as she moved to the lead with 500-meters to go and carried the lead until about 50-meters as Colorado’s Dani Jones — the NCAA Cross Country Champion — ran by besting Werner by a little over a second.
Heading into the final event Arkansas and USC were tied with 56-points apiece, and each team with an entry to the 4×100-meter relay.
With Springdale native Payton Chadwick on the carry for the Razorbacks, a smart move by the senior on the third leg kept Arkansas out of a potential disaster as Alabama and USC ran into each other with the Trojans putting the baton on the track.
Chadwick swung wide, keeping the Razorbacks in contention for the event title as well as securing the team championships.
Chadwick handed off to the 400-meter All-American Campbell who split a 49.79 — the fastest leg of any relay in the final — to surge Arkansas from fourth-place to runner-up as the quartet ran the second-fastest time in program history stopping the clock at 3:25.89 a mere three-tenths (.30) of a second behind the National Champion relay team from Texas A&M.
FINAL TEAM SCORES (top-10)
| PLACE | WOMEN [21 out of 21 scored] | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Arkansas | 64 |
| 2 |  |
USC | 57 |
| 3 |  |
LSU | 43 |
| 4 |  |
Texas A&M | 38 |
| 5 |  |
Oregon | 34 |
| 6 |  |
Florida | 32 |
| 7 |  |
Alabama | 29 |
| 8 |  |
New Mexico | 27 |
| 9 |  |
Colorado | 24 |
| 10 |  |
Texas | 20 |
| 10 |  |
South Carolina | 20 |
| 10 |  |
Stanford | 20 |
| 10 |  |
Florida State | 20 |
Campbell’s final home outing paces Hogs to blowout over Rebels
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas had an offensive explosion Saturday in the first game of the NCAA Super Regional, as they beat Ole Miss, 11-2, behind 11 hits, three home runs and four players with multi-hit performances.
With the victory, the Razorbacks take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with game two scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
You can hear Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter with the call on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
A win on Sunday would give Arkansas its 10th trip to the College World Series in program history.
Arkansas (45-17) jumped on Ole Miss starter Will Etheridge for four runs in the first and two runs in the second, allowing Razorback starter Isaiah Campbell to work with a big lead.
The Hogs ended up chasing Etheridge in the fourth after he put two runners on by a hit by pitch and a single. Those two runners later scored on Matt Goodheart’s three-run blast to left-center, making Etheridge responsible for eight runs, six being earned.
Trevor Ezell finished with the top hitting line in the game, going 3-for-5 with one RBI, a home run. Casey Martin, Matt Goodheart and Dominic Fletcher all had two hits each.
Goodheart drove in three, two off of his home run, while Fletcher finished with one RBI.
The 11-2 victory is Arkansas’ second largest postseason victory in the last three years and the third-most runs ever scored in a super regional. It’s also the Razorbacks largest victory over Ole Miss since an 11-1 win in 2014.
Saturday’s game was played in front of 11,350 fans, the largest postseason paid attendance in Baum-Walker Stadium history and sixth-most all time. It’s the fourth-straight postseason game that the attendance has topped 10,000 or more.
NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional
Arkansas leads 1-0
Game 1: Arkansas 11, Ole Miss 2 | Box Score
Game 2: Arkansas vs Ole Miss (H) – 2 p.m.
Game 3: (if necessary): Arkansas (H) vs Ole Miss – 3 p.m.
Campbell gives Baum-Walker Stadium a curtain call
Redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell couldn’t have given the fans at Baum-Walker Stadium a better final showing on his home field than he did today.
Campbell gave up just two runs, both solo home runs, over 8.1 innings, a career long, while striking out seven with one walk.
Ole Miss got to Campbell early with the first inning solo homer by Grae Kessinger, but the Olathe, Kansas, native settled in after that to twirl seven more scoreless frames before coming back for the ninth.
It was Campbell’s second-straight start of eight or more innings and one walk. He easily earned the victory for his 12th of the year, which is third-most ever in a single season by a Razorback.
Longball leads Hogs
For the 11th time this year, Arkansas showed off its power, hitting three or more home runs, as Jack Kenley, Trevor Ezell and Matt Goodheart all went deep in the game.
Kenley’s three-run home run in the first capped a four-run inning. It was his 13th home run of the year and first three-run home run. Goodheart homered in the fourth after Ole Miss went to the bullpen to replace Etheridge with Tyler Myers.
It was his fifth homer of the year and third in the last five games. Ezell hit his home run in the sixth, his 10th, to lead off the inning and build Arkansas’ lead to 10-1.
Welcome back Casey Martin
After going 1-for-23 in his last six games, shortstop Casey Martin broke out of that slump on Saturday, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
His single in the first inning followed Ezell’s lead-off double to put the pressure on Etheridge before the first out was recorded. He later scored on Jack Kenley’s homer.
He brought in Arkansas’ fifth run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the second and later drove in Christian Franklin with a single up the middle in the fourth.
It was Martin’s 24th multi-hit game of the season and first since May 18 against Texas A&M.
Razorback quotables
“Just a really good job by our team overall. We played really good defense and our offense was clicking pretty good. We did a nice job of fouling off a lot of pitches with a lot of good two-strike swings. We got pitch counts up on (Will) Ethridge. Obviously, Isaiah (Campbell) was really good today just locating and working ahead. I think he had one walk, seven Ks and pitched to contact when he needed to. That allowed him to get really deep in the game. He gave up a solo homer to the second hitter of the game and it didn’t faze him. He did a great job of getting out of that inning. He kept the same demeanor, went with the same approach and kept attacking.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on Arkansas’ 11-2 win over Ole Miss
“I kind of wanted to get him out with maybe two outs in the eighth and then we said, ‘Aw, let’s just let him finish,’ because I wanted him to get a little bit of an ovation. It was going to be his last outing here at home. Then he got a quick out and Coach (Matt) Hobbs and I had decided, ‘That’s it.’ I think he was right at a hundred pitches or so. He came running down around the corner and said, ‘I want to finish this up,’ and I said, ‘ok, you can go back out, but you’re going to get one out, and he said, ‘ok.’ So that’s kind of what went down there.” — Van Horn on Isaiah Campbell going back out for the ninth inning
“It feels like we haven’t really done anything. Just like last week, I told the players after the second win they still hadn’t done anything. It’s nice winning games, but I’ve been on both sides of it – coming back and winning them and not finishing them out. So same as always. Go home, take a shower, eat, hang out, watch some baseball and get up and do it again.” — Van Horn on his team taking a 1-0 lead in the super regional
“Nothing changed after that home run. In all honesty, I made a pretty good pitch inside that got in on his hands. He works out and is a strong kid and a really good batter. He got enough on it and got it out. But no, it didn’t faze me at all. I just took a deep breath, got back in the strike zone and just kept taking one pitch at a time.” — Isaiah Campbell on bouncing back after the home run
“He just shook my hand and said good job today. Just proud of me pretty much. Just walking off for the last time on the mound at Baum, it was special. A lot of emotions when I was walking off that mound, just seeing the fans giving me a standing ovation, it was awesome. I’m going to miss this place and everything, but we’ve still got unfinished business.” — Campbell on exiting the game in the ninth to a standing ovation
Van Horn, Campbell, Ezell after opening super regional with win
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell and first baseman Trevor Ezell recapping the Hogs’ starting the super regional with an 11-2 win over Ole Miss.
Bianco, Ethridge, Kessinger after losing to Hogs in first game
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, starting pitcher Will Ethridge and shortstop Grae Kessinger on how they will put the 11-2 loss behind them in the super regional opener.
Nine Razorbacks close out careers with All-American honors
AUSTIN, Texas — Arkansas wrapped up the 2019 outdoor season with a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships fueled by three All-American performances Friday afternoon.
The Razorbacks scored 19-points to bring home yet another top-20 finish at the outdoor championships finishing in a tie for 15th-place with North Carolina A&T.
A beacon of consistency at the NCAA Championships year in and year out, Arkansas leaned heavy on their Friday finalist to contribute to the team total and they came through when it mattered the most.
Hogs coach Chris Bucknam:
“I’m just extremely proud of this team. We battled, fought, and crawled our way to a 15th-place finish after entering the meet outside the top-20 in the rankings, a similar scenario to the indoor championships.
It’s like I said before after the SEC meet, our culture and our DNA is strong, we compete and fight and our mission is to get back on the rung. we want to be No. 1 again and we had a championship level effort by all our guys and hopefully, this is a catapult to even better things next year.
Our 4×100 had two freshmen on it and they turned in a season-best. Cameron [Griffith] beat the defending NCAA Champion and the defending indoor national champion and nearly won it all with a great run today.
I’m just proud of all these guys and looking forward to next year.”
The 4×100-meter relay of Josh Oglesby, Kris Hari, Tre’Bien Gilbert, and Roy Ejiakuekwu ran a season-best time of 38.58 — the fourth-best performance in program history — to earn a fourth-place finish at the meet.
Florida, the NCAA Champion in the event erased a year old record set by Houston last season at 38.17 as the sprinted across the line in 37.97 to set a facility record, meet record and a collegiate record.
Cameron Griffith capped his career at Arkansas with a huge effort down the final 100-meters to walk down the defending NCAA Champion Ollie Hoare of Wisconsin at the line, securing a third-place finish.
Griffith finished with a time of 3:42.14 to earn the highest finish of his career at the NCAA Championships. This marked the second-career first team All-American performance for Griffith in the 1,500-meters.
Arkansas would have to wait until the final event of the day to step on the track one more time.
The 4×400-meter relay team of John Winn, Hunter Woodhall, Jalen Brown, and Rhayko Schwartz saved their best for last, running a season-best time of 3:03.40 — the fourth-fastest in program history — for seventh-place.
