Part of the culture Hogs coach Dave Van Horn has built is a team that stays focused on the games, avoiding some showboating and celebrating like others.
“That tends to come back and bit you,” Van Horn said on The Morning Rush on ESPN Arkansas on Tuesday morning ahead of his team playing a pair of games with Arkansas-Pine Bluff tonight and Wednesday.
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Doing things right these days only works for a lot of schools if they’re winning, Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara said on Halftime.
After Arkansas’ winning the series on the road against Ole Miss, Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy said it shows how this team keeps fighting.
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A lack of offense early in games has had Dave Van Horn scratching his head all year and when Arkansas finally got it Sunday they nearly blew it.
There’s not a lot of other ways to put it after the Razorbacks saw an 11-0 lead midway through the third inning vanish pretty quickly.
That lead was nearly cut in half (11-5) by the end of the third. By the end of the seventh it was completely gone and the game was tied, 14-14.
“I tried to remember during the game if I’d been involved in a game like this and maybe figure out how to handle it a little bit,” Van Horn said later after getting an 18-14 win. “I just tried to stay calm and be positive.”
It wasn’t from a lack of effort. The Hogs were still managing to score runs.
“Our guys were fighting,” he said. “I don’t remember being in one like this. Maybe one that I had a seven or nine-run lead and they came back and tied it where we don’t score. But we scored a few more runs.
“We didn’t just sit on 11. We had 14 and the next thing you know it’s 14-14. It was crazy.”
Ole Miss’ pitchers helped all of that, basically issuing 17 walks and hitting a couple of other Razorback batters. That was 19 free passes to first base.
“They walked us and we mixed in a few hits,” Van Horn said. “No lead was safe today.”
The Hogs got the final lead with three in the eighth and an insurance run in the ninth, shored up the defense and held on for the win.
Van Horn, who has built maybe the most consistent program in the country, kept his cool while Rebels coach Mike Bianco either finally had his fill of some umpire decisions and blew a gasket in the fifth inning and got thrown out or was trying to provide a spark.
“I can’t remember a day we were that bad on the mound,” Bianco said later. “Our guys competed for nine innings. For that I’m proud. We were just too bad on the mound to give us a chance to win the game.”
Kevin Kopps helped. Again.
After appearing in the first game of the series Saturday in relief, he came on in the seventh and finished the game, throwing 47 pitches (two more than any of the other four on the mound).
“Great job by Kevin Kopps coming in and giving us some hope at the end and then finishing it up,” Van Horn said in what was probably an understatement.
The bottom line is the Hogs won the series in front of the biggest crowd they’ve seen this year.
The folks in Oxford are apparently done worrying about covid restrictions and they packed Swayze Field with over 33,000 announced for the series. Most weren’t bothered by a mask, either.
Now they come back home for a pair of games Tuesday and Wednesday with Arkansas-Pine Bluff followed by a weekend series with Texas A&M.
Van Horn said Caleb Bolden would be the starter on the hill Tuesday with Kole Ramage the Wednesday starter.
They need to go deep into the game. A lack of production the last three games has put a strain on the bullpen and the Hogs are concerned about the starters getting in trouble early.
“It’s not giving us enough innings,” Van Horn said. “We’re having to get into our bullpen way too early. We’re gonna wear them out.
“The guys you saw coming out of the bullpen the last two days won’t throw all week until Friday or Saturday. We’ve got to have some starters give us some time.”
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said after the 18-14 win to win the series with Ole Miss on Sunday he’s never been part of anything like that.
Alabama scored two solo runs in the second and seventh innings to defeat Arkansas, 2-0, and claim the series on Sunday afternoon at Bogle Park.
The Razorbacks (33-5, 13-2 SEC) tried to rally and brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning.
How it happened
Arkansas had its best chance to score in the bottom of the first inning but could not capitalize after loading the bases with nobody out.
Infielder Hannah Gammill doubled to left on a ball that was lost in the sun at the last moment by Alabama’s left fielder, and infielder Braxton Burnside and outfielder Hannah McEwen both walked.
A pair of strikeouts and a popout left the bags full.
The Crimson Tide (31-5, 11-4 SEC) scored the next half inning, loading the bases on two singles and a fielder’s choice, and scored their first run on a hit by pitch.
Alabama added another run in the seventh on a passed ball.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Arkansas loaded the bases on walks issued to outfielder Sam Torres and Burnside, but a groundout to short ended the game.
Autumn Storms (6-1) went 6.2 innings for Arkansas surrendering seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
She allowed two runs, but just one was earned. Mary Haff came in for one batter and induced a popout.
Montana Fouts (13-2) registered her second complete game win against the Hogs this weekend, allowing three hits and six walks with 11 strikeouts.
Alabama outhit Arkansas, 7-3, with Burnside and infielder Danielle Gibson joining Gammill in the Hogs hit column.
Both teams combined to leave 19 runners on base (Alabama – 10, Arkansas – 9).
Arkansas hits the road again and will play a three-game series at Georgia this Friday-Sunday.
OXFORD, Miss. — There was seven hours of baseball played on Saturday at Swayze Field.
Forced to take on Ole Miss in a series-opening doubleheader due to yesterday’s weather-related postponement, Arkansas snagged a 7-3 win in game one before falling, 13-6, in Saturday’s nightcap.
The Razorbacks move to 25-5 overall on the year, including 8-3 in SEC play, with the two-game split.
The Hogs, Baseball America’s No. 1 team in the country, will go for the series win against the Rebels, the publication’s No. 3 team, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
You can hear the game at HitThatLine.com HERE or on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
Arkansas last won a series in Oxford during the 2010 campaign.
Game One
The Comeback Kids made an appearance to start the day, falling behind by three runs early before mounting yet another rally late in the ballgame.
Starter Patrick Wicklander lasted four innings, striking out seven while allowing three runs on seven hits and four walks. Arkansas trailed by three when he departed the game, and the Hog bullpen kept it that way.
Zebulon Vermillion, Ryan Costeiu and Kevin Kopps combined for five scoreless innings in relief of Wicklander. The trio struck out nine in total, led by Kopps’ five strikeouts.
Their dominance allowed the Razorback bats to piece together a comeback rally starting in the sixth.
Arkansas scored seven unanswered runs across three innings, tacking on three in the sixth and two more in both the seventh and eighth.
Matt Goodheart (three hits), Cayden Wallace (two RBI) and Christian Franklin (two RBI) powered the come-from-behind effort.
The Razorbacks took the lead on a run-scoring, bases-loaded walk in the seventh before Wallace put the game away for good with his two-RBI double in the eighth.
Kopps, who closed out the final three innings of the ballgame, earned his fourth save of the season in the 7-3 win.
Game Two
After overcoming a multiple-run deficit earlier in the day, Arkansas could not do it again in the nightcap.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings and never lost the advantage. The Razorbacks narrowed their deficit to two runs on two occasions but would not get any closer than that.
The Hog offense tallied 12 hits in the 13-6 loss, including two base knocks by both Robert Moore and Jalen Battles.
Franklin, meanwhile, hammered his eighth homer of the year in the setback.
Starter Peyton Pallette struck out five in four innings, but the Rebels tagged the Razorback righty for seven runs before getting to reliever Kole Ramage for six more.
Zack Morris and Elijah Trest each tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
Arkansas came from behind in the first game to down the Rebels, 7-3, but a five-run eighth inning led to a 13-6 loss that split the twinbill.
HitThatLine.com is the website for ESPN Arkansas. Listen at 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 FM in Fort Smith and the River Valley, 96.3 FM in Hot Springs and 104.3 FM in Harrison.
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