Campbell soups up pitching in Hogs' win
FAYETTEVILLE - Turns out there is an “I” in team.
And for the Arkansas Razorbacks Friday night, that was spelled with a Capital I for Isaiah. For with third-year sophomore right-hander Isaiah Campbell throwing a perfect game for the first 14 Florida Gators he faced and bequeathing a 5-2 lead with one out in the sixth for relievers Jake Reindl and Matt Cronin to finish, the Razorbacks prevailed, 5-2 in their winner’s bracket final of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. They play for the national championship starting Monday night in a best 2 of 3 series against the Mississippi State vs. Oregon State bracket winner.
Campbell, up and down this season at only 5-6 even with Friday’s feat, finished with a 2-hitter and eight strikeouts vs. no walks for his 5 1-3 innings. The 6-4, 225-pounder, consistently hitting Friday’s radar gun in the 90s, proved why Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn stuck with him even if two starts ago he couldn’t get out of the first inning in a victory over Dallas Baptist.
Campbell then threw a strong four innings of Arkansas’ Super Regional clincher over South Carolina at Baum before besting SEC Pitcher of the Year Brady Singer Friday night in Omaha.
“It really started with Isaiah Campbell tonight,” Van Horn said during Friday night’s postgame. “In my opinion his stuff was electric for the first four, five innings. He had a perfect game going into the fifth.”
In sticking with starting Campbell against South Carolina in the Super Regional final after he had loaded the bases in three batters and was yanked against Dallas Baptist, Van Horn and pitching coach Wes Johnson told the hurler to approach that start against South Carolina like a closer rather than a starter. Pitch knowing you’ve got the bullpen of Reindl, closer Cronin and Barrett Loseke, the winner in middle relief last Wednesday over Texas Tech, to pick up where he leaves off.
“I came in with the same mentality that I had for the Super Regional,” Campbell of Olathe, Kansas. said. “That every
inning was a close was the situation ninth and inning. I just It went with the fastball and cutter today. And it was actually funny because the cutter was the worst pitch in the bullpen. But, I found it in the game and just attacked the strike zone, let my defense do the work.”
It certainly cut the Gators off Campbell’s conventionally blistering fast ball, Florida first baseman J.J. Schwarz said when asked to compare Campbell Friday in Omaha to Campbell lasting one 6-run inning, during Arkansas’ eventual 17-2 SEC loss to the Gators back in March.
“I would say he was throwing way more strikes, and his fastball was playing up.,” Schwarz said, “It was a lot harder than the radar gun was showing. And I think that was evident by our swings. He was throwing his slider at the right times, and he was playing off his fastball. So it was a tough night for us.”
Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan was asked postgame if Campbell surprised him given how the Gators gashed him in Gainesville.
“I'll answer it honestly, yeah, a lot better than I thought,” O’Sullivan said. “He had, I think, a perfect game through four. Didn't walk anybody. Once we got him in the stretch, seemed like he lost some of his command, but it was certainly a different pitcher than we saw in Gainesville, that's for sure.”
A pitcher with the velocity to throw it by Gators but with the finesse to change speeds putting Florida off balance when fancying Campbell would throw all heat.
“I mean it was 94, 96,,” O’Sullivan said of the velocity that Campbell lit the radar guns. “He was pounding the outer half of the zone and threw enough off-speed pitches to keep us off his fastball. He was good, really good tonight.”
Campbell was asked if atoning for the Gators chomping him in Gainesville motivated him in Omaha.
“I mean, I had it in the back of my mind when I woke up this morning,” Campbell said. “I know I didn't help the team at all in that start. It's one of my worst starts of the year. I didn't think about it too much once I got to the field. I was all just ready for the night just giving our team a chance to win.”
That’s all he and Van Horn wanted and that’s what they got knowing what the bullpen of Reindl, Loseke and Cronin, 13 saves, can bring off Campbell bringing it the best he can until fatigue signals he’s not bringing it at his best.
“We went out and got him with two outs left in the (sixth) inning,” Van Horn said. “I told him what a great job he did and how proud I was of him.”