Game, series lost; Van Horn tossed
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn missed most of LSU’s 2-0 victory Sunday at Baum Stadium.
Van Horn was ejected by home plate umpire Seth Buckminster for arguing a called third strike against Jared Gates on a 3-2 pitch that ended the second inning with Carson Shaddy stranded at second base.
It was the first ejection
for Van Horn since March 27, 2015 during Ole Miss’ 5-4 victory over the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville at Baum Stadium.
“Basically I kept telling him, ‘That pitch was low,’ ” Van Horn said of Buckminster calling out Gates. “That pitch was down, and he argued back a little bit.
“He never gave me a warning or anything, and he just tossed me. That’s not the protocol. The protocol is ‘That’s your warning. That’s it, I’ve heard enough.’ And then you have to shut up basically.
“He never gave me a warning. He just threw me out. Another new umpire in our league.”
Buckminster has worked several Arkansas games this season, including the Razorbacks’ doubleheader sweep of Grand Canyon on Wednesday.
“Yeah we’ve had him a couple of times,” Van Horn said. “I can’t really say a whole lot, but there’s a lot of attitude there.”
LSU shut out the Razorbacks for the first time since a 5-0 victory at Baum Stadium in 2009.
“That wasn’t exactly how we drew it up, that’s for sure,” Tigers Coach Paul Mainieri said. “You can’t even dream of shutting out Arkansas in their ballpark.
“That thought would have never crossed my mind. But the kid obviously made a lot of great pitches.”
The kid was LSU freshman right-hander Eric Walker (40), who threw a 4-hit shutout. Of his 119 pitches, 70 were strikes.
“He has a lot of confidence,” Shaddy said. “His fastball pops and he’s got a three-pitch mix, so he can go in-out.
“He’s really good. He’s going to be a force one day in this league.”
Arkansas (25-8, 8-4 SEC) hasn’t won a series against LSU (22-11, 7-5) since a threegame sweep at home in 2011.
The Razorbacks beat the Tigers 9-3 Friday night. LSU won 10-8 Saturday night after trailing 8-1.
“I think we played pretty good for the most part,” Van Horn said. “We just didn’t win 2 of the 3 games, which we should have won.
“Letting that game slip away yesterday [Saturday] … it was bad obviously. It’s something that can’t happen, but it did happen.
“You just hope you can go steal a game down the road in SEC play, maybe one you shouldn’t win but you win it.
“We proved we’re every bit as good as them, maybe better. Today we just didn’t get it done. And again give credit to Walker and give credit to their defense, too. Their defense was outstanding.”
LSU turned ground-ball double plays to end the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that many double plays behind me,” Walker said. “It was a great team win.
“That fires you up as pitcher when your defense is making plays like that.”
Walker said he mixed up his fastball, slider and changeup to keep the Razorbacks off balance.
“He changes speed and throws strikes and lets his defense work,” Mainieri said. “He’s got tremendous poise and composure. You just saw it all on display today.”
Walker said Mainieri talked to him before the ninth inning.
“He came over and asked if I was 100 percent,” Walker
said. “I said, ‘Yes sir, I feel
great. Let me go back out there and get it done.’ “
Arkansas, which left five runners on base, got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning after Walker hit Luke Bonfield. Walker then struck out Grant Koch and got Dominic Fletcher on a groundout to end the game.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead on Nick Croomes’ RBI double in the second inning. They made it 2-0 in the eighth inning when Greg Deichmann singled in Kramer Robertson.
LSU improved to 10-1 against Arkansas in the third game of an SEC series after the teams split the first two games. The Razorbacks’ victory was 7-6 in 1999.
“They were dominating the series,” Mainieri said of the Razorbacks outscoring the Tigers 17-4 the first 16 innings. “Then we turned it around last night and Walker went out and pitched a gem today.
“Now we’re getting on an airplane after winning the series. It’s hard to believe.”