Arkansas had its chances against LSU on Wednesday night, but it appeared the Omaha jinx continued for them in the ninth inning as they fell to the Tigers 6-5 to conclude the season.
Arkansas (50-15) took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth and appeared to be on the verge of forcing a winner-take-all game on Thursday. However, the Hogs shot themselves in the foot bringing back memories of the loss to Oregon State in 2018. Dave Van Horn talked about the disappointment with the loss.
"First off, congratulations to LSU," Van Horn said. "Man, they've got a great team. They just kept fighting. We kept fighting. They took the lead. We came back, took the lead. Then they got us. It would have been nice to win the game, get to tomorrow, see what happens. But that's baseball. It's a crazy game. Seen it all, I think.
"But I feel like we played as hard as we could. Third day in a row. Really wanted to play a fourth. Hoping to get to the weekend. But it's just the way it ended up. But proud of our team. It's hard to say goodbye. I'm not good at saying goodbyes anyway. Great team, fun team, hard-working team. And probably just "team." Man, they were a team. You could tell by how emotional they were after the game.
"It was a lot of heartbreak, maybe because we lost the game but honestly probably because the season's over and they don't get to be around each other every day. So proud of them. Proud of the University of Arkansas."
Cole Gibler struck out pinch hitter John Pearson to start the bottom of the ninth. Derek Curiel then hit a ball toward second base, but Reese Robinett went for it instead of covering his base. He fielded and tried to throw to Gibler only to throw it away allowing Curiel to get to second base. It was ruled a single and then a throwing error allowing Curiel to take second. Ethan Frey then walked to put runners on first and second with one out.
Steven Milam hit a grounder to Wehiwa Aloy at shortstop. Aloy appeared to have an easy double play that would have ended the game. Instead Aloy opted to throw to third baseman Brent Iredale to get the lead runner for the second out. That would immediately come back to haunt the Hogs. Luis Hernandez hit a line drive to left field that appeared to be a catchable ball. However a diving Charles Davalan failed to catch it after slipping and the ball shot away from him allowing two runs to score and Hernandez stand on second base and the game tied at 5 with two outs. Van Horn went to the bullpen and brought in Aiden Jimenez who had pitched three innings Tuesday night throwing 41 pitches. Jimenez opted to pitch to Jared Jones who singled to center field to plate Hernandez ending another Arkansas season.
The decision to pitch to Jones was a little surprising. With Arkansas leading 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Jones hit a Gibler pitch over the fence in right field with two outs to tie the game at 3.
"Right on right, I don't think so," Van Horn said of pitching to Jones. "We didn't feel like that it was something we needed to do. Hindsight is 20-20. We could talk about all the ifs and butts until we're sick of each other."
Justin Thomas Jr. continued his hot hitting in the top of the ninth. With one out, Robinett singled and Iredale doubled to put runners on second and third. Thomas then singled to left field plating both Robinett and Iredale for a 5-3 lead.
It was a scoreless game until the top of the fourth. Ryder Helfrick led off the inning with a solo blast over the fence in deep center field for a 1-0 lead.
That lead held up until LSU plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Landon Beidelschies was outstanding in the start. He pitched five innings. Beidelschies allowed three hits, two runs, one walk and fanned nine. However, in the bottom of the sixth Beidelschies allowed a double and then hit a batter to start the inning. Van Horn came and pulled him putting in Gabe Gaeckle.
Gaeckle then forced a ground out and struck out a hitter. After an intentional walk to Josh Pearson loaded the bases LSU went to a pinch hitter. Jake Brown, hitting for Chris Stanfield, singled to plate a pair of runs to go up 2-1.
The Razorbacks regained the lead in the top of the eighth. Thomas led off with a single. Davalan reached on a fielder's choice. With one out, Wehiwa Aloy singled to left field. Both scored and the Hogs had the lead temporarily.
Gaeckle, who had thrown 90 pitches in six innings on Saturday night, returned to throw 51 pitches in three innings on Wednesday. He allowed four hits, one run, walked a pair and fanned four. Gibler (3-2) took the loss. He pitched 0.2 inning allowing two hits, three runs, walked one and fanned a hitter. The Hogs four pitchers struck out 14 and issued four walks.
LSU used four pitchers as well. Jacob Mayers (2-0) got the win. He worked 0.2 innings allowing just one hit and striking out two. Zac Cowan started and was followed to the mound by Jaden Noot and Chase Shores before Mayers. LSU's pitchers combined to strike out 11 Hogs and walked none.
The Razorbacks finished with nine hits while LSU countered with 10. The Hogs stranded six runners while LSU left eight on base. Van Horn has talked all season about this team being special and repeated that on Wednesday.
"This is one of the top teams I've ever coached, on and off the field, just being around them," Van Horn said. "It's funny, I've been doing it for a while and people will say things to me like, you know the kids have really changed over the years. I always say, no, they haven't. They're good. They just want to know that you care about them.
"Yeah, it's tough, man. Kids are good, man. I love being around them. That's why I do it."
LSU (51-15) will now take on Coastal Carolina (56-11) in a best-of-three series to determine the national champion. Coastal Carolina eliminated Louisville 11-3 earlier on Wednesday. The first game will be Saturday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
