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Nobody wanted a game Monday, but that’s what Hogs have
Arkansas’ inconsistency at the plate finally caught up with Dave Van Horn’s team Sunday night and now they have a win-or-end game Monday night.
“We haven’t swing the bats well this whole weekend,” he said after the 5-3 loss to Nebraska that sets up a regional final Monday at 6 p.m.
The winner goes to a Super Regional. The loser goes home.
“We just have to be better,” Van Horn said.
After falling behind by a run in the first, the Razorbacks used two singles, an error and a wild pitch to score three times in the top of the third.
The Hogs blew that two-run lead when the offense struggled to produce against Huskers reliever Spencer Schwellenbach, who started the game at shortstop then came on in the fifth to pitch.
Arkansas couldn’t get a run after that.
All five of Nebraska’s runs came against Arkansas starter Lael Lockhart, who allowed four earned while striking out five in 4.1 innings. A throwing error in the bottom of the third led to the first of four unanswered runs, helping the Cornhuskers chip away at the Razorbacks’ lead.
Ryan Costeiu and Connor Noland followed Lockhart out of the bullpen, combining for five strikeouts in 2.2 innings of relief work. Noland faced the minimum in two innings, retiring the Nebraska side in order in the bottom of the seventh.
“They just out-played us,” Van Horn said. “It was just sloppy at times.”
Nebraska didn’t use a lot of pitching in down NJIT 18-4 earlier on Sunday and just two pitchers against the Hogs.
Van Horn didn’t bring Kevin Kopps in, so he may actually be ready for some work Monday.
Connor Noland came on in relief and got a previous bad outing out of his system, working the final two innings, giving up just a single hit and walking nobody.
After the game, he said the Hogs’ pitching staff was ready to do it with guts Monday if necessary.
“Every pitcher on that staff has something left in the tank,” he said. “We all want to be out there and we’ll do anything to win the game.”
Hog fans have been making reservations in Omaha, but they now will have to sweat out an elimination game against a Nebraska team that was Big 10 champions that is in a position to pull off the biggest upset in the regionals.
If nothing else, though, this team has shown the ability to shake off a bad game to win a series matchup.
That’s how you go undefeated in series throughout an SEC season.
Now they just have to do it on a bigger stage.
With bigger stakes.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Van Horn says Huskers out-played Hogs, who couldn’t get key hits
Dave Van Horn said after the game the Hogs “didn’t do much all night” at the plate, “just have to do better” in Monday’s key game.
Noland says Hogs ‘have plenty left in tank’ on pitching staff for Monday
Connor Noland bounced back from a rough outing for the final two innings against Nebraska and said later the staff would be ready for final game.
Bolt after staying alive with win: ‘Win or lose, you gotta have that dog in you’
Nebraska coach said after beating Arkansas to force a decisive game Monday they’ve got another game to finish to keep playing.
Schwellenbach said he was ‘pretty drained, but it was worth it’ after win
Nebraska shortstop and pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach said after downing Arkansas they will have the same message for Monday’s game.
Everitt said Nebraska thought they’d play again before win Sunday night
Huskers catcher Griffin Everitt said after the 5-3 win they will “just do what we did today” against Hogs in regional championship Monday.
Bolt after Nebraska explodes for win over NJIT to advance to meet Hogs
Huskers coach Will Bolt after they downed the Highlanders, 18-4, to advance to Sunday evening’s matchup with Arkansas.
Most important thing for Van Horn is being 2-0 right now
Dave Van Horn got what he really wanted with Saturday night’s 5-1 win over Nebraska that felt like it could have been a lot bigger than the final margin.
“Now we don’t have to win three games in two days,” he said later.
At this time of the year, Van Horn probably doesn’t care what a win looks like as long as it’s a win. Both wins in this Fayetteville regional haven’t exactly looked great but now they get nearly a full day to get ready to face a team that has already lost one game.
Win Sunday night against either Nebraska or NJIT and the Razorbacks will host a Super Regional next weekend. That will be a lively crowd of over 12,000 for whoever comes to town.
Van Horn isn’t thinking about that right now. He’s got a game Sunday night and hopefully he can wrap things up right there. Don’t be too surprised if the top pltcher in college baseball throws a few.
Kevin Kopps has thrown two straight days and his coach isn’t ruling out the possibility he comes trotting in again.
“He’s a different cat,” Van Horn said Saturday night with a chuckle. “You’ve seen it like I have all year.”
That’s part of why starting 2-0 in this regional was important. Having him is critical, but Kopps being available three straight games is almost unfair.
He said after the win over the Huskers with anybody else you could count them out of three straight appearances but he wasn’t ruling anything out.
“Probably wouldn’t want to pitch him tomorrow,” Van Horn said. “It kinda depends on him.”
For a change, the Hogs didn’t fall behind early in the game. Matt Goodheart started it with a solo homer in the first inning.
“It was nice to jump out ahead,” he said later.
Patrick Wicklander didn’t have his best stuff but faced just three batters over the minimum over five innings and Van Horn brought in Kopps in the sixth.
With another stellar defensive effort, the Hogs drew 10 walks from a Nebraska team that had avoided that all year, but managed to leave 13 runners on base to make it feel like the 5-1 win could have been bigger.
Don’t wander off into those high weeds. This regional is just the first step towards Omaha, which is the big goal.
Van Horn wants to wrap up this step as fast as possible so everybody is available for next weekend’s series against the winner of the Ruston Regional.
Which is why he’s not making any decisions on who will start on the mound until after that first game Sunday.
And it’s also why he’s not ruling out another trifecta for Kopps.
Van Horn: ‘We scored just enough’ in downing Nebraska, 5-1, to go to 2-0
The Hogs advance and stay perfect in the NCAA Regional by “playing really good defense” and some uncharacterstic walks by Huskers.
Wicklander’s goal was to go as deep as possible into game with Huskers
Pitcher Patrick Wicklander wanted to go deeper than five innings, but had confidence in Kevin Kopps and the Hogs’ defense.
