Longhorns snap Hogs’ winning streak

AUSTIN, Texas — University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs might want to burn the videotape of Wednesday night’s midweek madness at Texas.

The night after bludgeoning No. 15 Texas with an 11hit attack, the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks stranded runners all night as their young pitchers whipped up a mess with wildness in a 7-6 loss before a crowd of 6,260 at Disch-Falk Field.

Eight Arkansas pitchers walked 14 batters, one shy of the school record, and its hitters stranded 10 runners in the first six innings and 11 for the marathon game that lasted 3 hours, 53 minutes.

“That was ugly,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “That would’ve been hard to watch from the stands if you really like baseball.

“There were some good things in there with a couple of our pitchers. But for the most part they struggled with command. We walked them, and we hit ’em, and that’s why they beat us.”

Texas (16-8) broke a fivegame losing streak to the Razorbacks (18-3) and snapped the Hogs’ seven-game winning streak.

Arkansas out-hit the Longhorns 9-6, with Jacob Nesbit providing three of the hits with 2 RBIs and Trevor Ezell notching two hits. However, the Razorbacks went 2-of-12 (.167) with runners in scoring position. Jack Kenley had a double and reached base four times, including

two on hit by pitches, to lead the Razorbacks.

The Razorbacks made it interesting in the ninth with two outs as Kenley was hit by a pitch, and Nesbit doubled into the left-field corner to make it 7-6. However, pinch hitter Matt Goodheart struck out to end the game and strand the Hogs’ 11th runner.

Arkansas ran out a string of relievers in a classic “bullpen” game, but the Hogs’ young arms were not up to the task, putting Longhorns all over the bases. The Razorbacks threw 209 pitches and 107 of them were balls.

Texas scored two runs on bases-loaded walks, two more on bases-loaded hit by pitches, and another when catcher Zack Plunkett overthrew pitcher Liam Henry after a pitch with a man on third base.

The Longhorns scored runs in four consecutive innings, overtaking Arkansas with a three-run sixth.

Texas tied it 5-5 on Zach Zubia’s run-scoring single off Elijah Trest (0-1), took the lead on Tate Shaw’s walk with the bases full and went ahead 7-5 when Michael McCann was hit by a pitch.

Arkansas right fielder Heston Kjerstad prevented the lead from growing in the seventh with a superb throw to home plate. Three Longhorns walked to loaded the bases with one out. Zubia lifted a fly ball toward the line in medium-depth right field. Kjerstad positioned himself well for the catch and threw a strike to home plate for Plunkett to tag Duke Ellis on a headfirst slide. Ellis was called out by home plate umpire Jerry Johnson and a long replay review upheld the double-play call.

Right-hander Tristan Stevens (2-1), the sixth of seven Texas pitchers, picked up the victory by recording the last two outs in the sixth.

Cole Quintanilla relieved in the seventh and got the last eight outs to post his fourth save.

Just like in Tuesday’s rout, the Razorbacks broke through with a big second inning by batting around and plating four runs.

Jordan McFarland was hit by a pitch from Kolby Kubicheck to start the inning and Kenley followed with a ground-rule double to left field. Nesbit served the first pitch he saw into right field for an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Plunkett brought home the second run with a well-executed safety squeeze bunt.

Christian Franklin hit a bouncer over the mound that trickled off the glove of second baseman Lance Ford to bring home Nesbit. With two outs, shortstop Masen Hibbeler made a nice pick on Kjerstad’s sharp grounder to the hole, but his throw short-hopped first baseman Tate Shaw and bounced free, allowing Franklin to score and make it 4-0.

The Razorbacks loaded the bases with one out in the third before Franklin hit a double-play ground ball to third base.

Arkansas stranded nine runners during a five inning stretch.

“We had a couple of chances in the middle of the game,” Van Horn said. “Instead, momentum going back to their dugout and we have all these young guys coming in that are having trouble throwing it over the plate. So you could see it swinging. We needed to score a few runs.”

SHORT HOPS

■ Jacob Nesbit extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a run-scoring single in the second inning while also stretching his on-base streak to 18 games.

■ Dominic Fletcher’s RBI double in the fourth inning was his third double of the series.

■ Jacob Burton relieved in the fourth inning for the Hogs, his first appearance since being given a fourgame suspension for hitting a Louisiana Tech batter in the helmet on March 9.

■ Home plate umpire Jerry Johnson told Texas game officials to stop showing called strike threes on the video board at Disch-Falk Field in the fifth inning.