Razorbacks struck out a dozen Kentucky hitters and still came home without a win and path to hosting regional just got steeper.
Three runs. Nine innings. A trip home without a win. That's what Thursday night in Lexington looked like for Arkansas.
The No. 12 Razorbacks dropped the series opener to the Kentucky Wildcats 4-3 at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington. It wasn't the kind of start the Hogs needed heading into what amounts to the most critical weekend of their regular season. The stakes couldn't be more clear. The Razorbacks currently rank 27th in the Rating Percentage Index and would likely need to jump at least four or five teams to have any chance of hosting a regional.
Kentucky, meanwhile, is fighting just to get into the tournament. The Wildcats sat 33rd in the RPI and were one of the Last Four In in D1Baseball's latest projection. Losing to a team that's barely clinging to an at-large bid isn't exactly a confidence-builder for Arkansas. The Wildcats jumped ahead with a two-run home run by Ethan Hindle in the bottom of the first and never relinquished the lead.
Hindle tagged a 3-2 cutter over the left-field wall with Tyler Bell aboard and just like that, Arkansas spent the rest of the evening chasing a deficit it couldn't close. What makes the loss sting a little more is that the pitching didn't really fail the Hogs. The offense did and the defense helped Kentucky when it didn't need to.
Hunter Dietz had another good start, but his defense let him down at critical times and the early home run he surrendered to Hindle. That ended up proving decisive since the offense was non-existent against the Kentucky pitching staff. That's the brutal truth. Dietz did his job.
He had nine strikeouts in six innings of work, giving him 115 punch-outs on the season, the 10th most in a single season by a Razorback pitcher. The Razorbacks had won each of Dietz's last six starts heading into Thursday. He came in at 7-2 with a 3.22 ERA. None of that mattered when the bats couldn't generate enough production to overcome a two-run deficit that appeared before the Hogs had even come to bat.
James DeCremer made his second appearance in as many weeks after missing more than a month with a calf injury. He quickly retired the first two batters in the seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts. After a single up the middle and a hit batter, he was replaced by senior Parker Coil. Coil pitched the last 1.1 innings and allowed one hit.
The trio combined to strike out 12 Wildcat batters. Defense has been an issue for the Razorbacks at different points this season and it came back to bite them in a game they couldn't afford to give away. Kozeal's came in the fourth inning when Kentucky scored two runs with two outs. A two-out grounder by Owen Jenkins was scooped by Kozeal, but the throw was low.
Carter Rutenbar appeared to have dropped the low throw, but the error was charged to Kozeal and the fourth run of the night scored for the Cats. Going from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-1 hole against a pitching staff that was keeping Arkansas off the board made a comeback feel unlikely from that point forward. The Hogs weren't completely lifeless at the plate. They just couldn't string anything meaningful together.
TJ Pompey led off the third inning with a walk, stole second base and advanced to third on a Damian Ruiz grounder before scoring on a wild pitch to make it 2-1. That was a perfectly executed sequence being patient, aggressive on the bases and opportunistic. It just didn't lead to anything more. Ryder Helfrick knocked in Reese Robinett with a two-out single to right field in the seventh to make it 4-2.
Robinett had walked and reached second on a wild pitch before Helfrick came through. Again, a solid moment when it didn't really matter. Zack Stewart led off the inning with a solo home run off Jaxon Jelkin to make it 4-3, but Jelkin retired the next three batters to close out the Kentucky win.
With Kentucky likely needing two wins this weekend to feel comfortable about its tournament chances, Wildcats coach Nick Mingione turned to ace Jaxon Jelkin in the eighth. Burning your Friday starter to protect a lead in the eighth and ninth says everything about where Kentucky's head was at entering this series. After scoring 34 runs last weekend against Oklahoma, the Hogs' offense fell flat starting this series. That's been the case for this team all season.
Fans around Fayetteville have been trying to convince themselves they would host an NCAA Regional that most Hog fans have started taking for granted. The Hogs can't afford to drop two in a row this weekend. Friday's probable pitching matchup has Arkansas sending junior right-hander Gabe Gaeckle against Kentucky junior left-hander Ben Clever. Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades.
He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.
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