Hogs fall 7-6, split during trip west

SAN DIEGO — Arkansas was ranked No. 6 heading into the season, but the Razorbacks will need some time to confirm their status as a top-10 baseball team.

That’s the impression that came out of this week’s Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament, which concluded Sunday with a 7-6 loss to San Diego.

“You can use the excuse that we’re tired — we left Monday — but I’m not buying it right now,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “We just didn’t play very well.”

Arkansas (5-2) split its four games on the West Coast trip. It started on a positive note Wednesday night with a 1-0 victory over Arizona and included a 5-2 victory Saturday night against San Diego State, which delivered Van Horn’s 600th victory with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

But it is a pair of one-run losses — Sunday against San Diego and Friday’s 4-3 defeat against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo — that will occupy Van Horn’s mind for a while.

“We’re trying to give guys opportunity,” said Van Horn, who had three freshmen in the starting lineup against San Diego and used several others off the bench or out of the bullpen over the weekend. “Hopefully, this trip will be beneficial to us. I think in the next few weeks we’ll be able to tell if it helped or not.”

Arkansas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning when San Diego starting pitcher Nick Sprengel experienced control problems. Jax Biggers’ two-run double to left-center was the big hit in an inning that saw the Razorbacks send nine batters to the plate.

San Diego (7-2) scored seven runs in a row over the next three innings for a 7-3 lead.

“We got out to a good start and then just sat on it a little bit,” Van Horn said. “That’s the frustrating thing because in our league you’ve got to keep going.”

San Diego cut the lead to 3-2 in the third inning on Tyler Herburger’s two-run home run off junior righthander Barrett Loseke.

Disaster struck the Hogs in a five-run fifth for the Toreros, who used four hits, a pair of well-placed bunts and two Arkansas throwing errors for a 7-3 lead.

“We need to make the

routine plays,” Biggers said. “We take care of the little things, and we’ll be a good team.”

Most frustrating was when San Diego’s Kevin Collard was trapped between first and second after a two-out single. Arkansas freshman catcher Casey Opitz threw to second base, but the ball sailed into center field for an error that extended the inning.

“A three-run inning ends up being five,” Van Horn said. “That’s what I tell them, it’s hard to give up five runs in an inning and win the game. Three, you can overcome that. Five, it’s very rare.”

Arkansas displayed some resolve, chipping away with a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to make it 7-6. Pinch hitter Grant Koch’s sinking single to center field drove in a pair of two-out runs to make it a one-run game.

Casey Martin followed with a grounder to the hole on the left side, but San Diego shortstop Jeff Houghtby made a diving stop and flipped to second to end the inning.

It was one of two nice defensive plays by Houghtby. San Diego third baseman Brhet Bewley made another,

snagging a ninth-inning liner off the bat of Eric Cole that prevented the Hogs from getting anything started.

San Diego has a revamped lineup after losing four of its top hitters, but the Toreros kept coming up with the timely hit, the key defensive play or the big pitch when they needed it.

The Toreros also defeated Michigan, Grand Canyon and Arizona in the tournament, but beating Arkansas is the feather in the Toreros’ cap.

“We’ve had a lot of wins like this over the years, kind of signature, nonconference wins,” San Diego Coach

Rich Hill said. “It’s good for this year’s players to get that confidence. Having success breeds confidence. They know that they can play with anybody in the country.”

Van Horn believes the Razorbacks can play with any team in the nation as well. It just may take a few weeks before they can prove it.

“We made three or four errors this week,” Van Horn said, “and that was young guys getting the ball in their hands, maybe for the first time, trying to make a play that didn’t go very good.

“Hopefully, they’ll relax now and learn. It’s still the same game as it was in high school, just a little faster.”

Van Horn