Razorbacks see season come crashing to end in home regional again

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas ran out of gas.  The expectations in February and March came crashing to an end Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium as Southeast Missouri downed them, 6-3.

The result was getting knocked out of a home regional for the second straight year. Last season, it was a red-hot TCU that kept the Razorbacks from Omaha and the College World Series.

Southeast Missouri State took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on first and second with nobody out, Josh Cameron drove in Ben Palmer with an RBI single to right field while Stauss advanced to second and moved up to third on a throwing error by Kendall Diggs.

Gage Wood was relieved by Jake Faherty after allowing the RBI single, but Michael Mugan drove in Stauss on a tapper near the mound while Cameron advanced to second to lengthen the lead, 3-0. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Ian Riley singled to right field and advanced to second on the throw while driving in Mugan to give Southeast Missouri State a four-run advantage.

Gage Wood (Michael Morrison / HitThatLine.com)

Wood tossed three innings in his third start of the year (22nd appearance) and gave up three runs, four hits and a walk with a single strikeout on 60 pitches (38 strikes). For a staff that was seeing who could get to two strikes the fastest, the control seemed to disappear as the season progressed.

Peyton Holt finally put the Hogs on the board in the top of the fifth with a solo shot to left field with two outs, 4-1, for his eighth home run of the season. It was Arkansas’ first base hit of the game. Ryder Helfrick was hit by a pitch, Ty Wilmsmeyer drew a walk and Peyton Stovall was plunked to load the bases. After Redhawk pitcher Collin Wilma was relieved by Logan Katen, Hudson White grounded out to second to end the threat.

Brooks Kettering put the Redhawks back up by four with a solo shot to center field to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Southeast Missouri State put the game out of reach with a one-out RBI single by Kettering to plate Chance Resetich from second in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead to five.

“I was really surprised,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We didn’t think it would go down like this. It’s a combination of their pitchers doing a really good job of mixing pitches and locating, and our guys might have been a tick short, maybe just a little bit tired from yesterday’s ballgame.”

Senior Parker Rowland came up to the plate as a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth and blasted a two-run home run with one out for his final career at-bat of his collegiate career.

“I said, ‘hey, I really enjoyed your last swing of your career,'” Van Horn said. “It was good. I mean, that’s his first home run. This guy was our starting catcher last year on a team that won the SEC. He didn’t catch this year for us because we had other guys that were more talented. But we’ve had a few innings throughout the season. It’s tough when you’ve got younger guys playing in front of older guys or guys that have played before, and I knew this was the way it was going to be. But he kept a great attitude”

Now the target is finding players for next year because he’s losing an awful lot of players, including the best pitcher on the staff and an entire outfield. Van Horn talked in his press conference after the game (above) several times about where he’s already thinking.