Kjerstad walks it off to finish EIU sweep
FAYETTEVILLE — Sophomore right fielder Heston Kjerstad finished off Arkansas’ opening weekend sweep of Eastern Illinois Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium with a walk-off single to right-center field in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Freshman Curtis Washington, Jr. made his second appearance of the weekend when he was called to bat for designated hitter Jordan McFarland Sunday in the seventh inning. He drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs, which led to a run for Arkansas (3-0).
Washington singled to lead off the ninth inning and scored the winning run on Kjerstad’s walkoff single for the 3-2 victory.
“We’ve watched him play a lot,” said Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn. “He just competes and he’s not scared. He took a first-pitch fast ball and the guy spins a breaking ball and it ends up over the plate. He throws another breaking ball and Curtis singles to center and we were in business. I’m proud of him for handling the situation and competing.”
“I feel like I’m ready at all times,” Washington said. “Coach can call my name at any time, so I have to be ready at all times.
“I was ready when the moment came and got the job done. They put me in the game to sacrifice bunt and I ended up walking and that gave me confidence. Then, the big hit I had in the ninth inning got me more confidence.”
Junior Jacob Kostyshock threw five scoreless innings with
74 pitches in his first career start, striking out three batters with only three hits allowed. Freshman Patrick Wicklander relieved Kostyshock in the sixth inning and struck out the side on just
10 pitches. He finished his first career outing with four strikeouts and one run allowed on 31 pitches in 2 1/3 innings.
“His velocity was as good as I’ve seen it,” Van Horn said. “He threw a couple of nice breaking balls, a couple of good changeups. I liked the way he spotted his fastball away. He’d get them leaning out over the plate and he could bust those right-handers in. He threw the ball extremely well.”
“I had everything working today in the bullpen and I felt good coming out,” Wicklander said. “I can’t say I was surprised, but it wasn’t the debut that I was like, ‘Okay I want to come out and do this.’ I just want to get three outs as fast as possible and get us back in the dugout.”
Junior closer Matt Cronin entered the game in the eighth inning for a potential five-out save. The Panthers (0-3) scored two runs in the eighth to tie the game at 2-2.
“First thing you always tell the team no matter what is just find a way to win,” Van Horn said. “So, that was good to see and kind of what I expected, to be honest with you. I felt it was good for us to play a game like that.
“If we had another 15-2 game, I don’t know how it would have affected us going to USC this weekend. To play a tight game, kind of let the lead slip away and then to come back and win it and kind of feel what we felt in the dugout, a little bit of pressure. I thought that was good for our team.”
The walk-off hit was the third for Kjerstad in his career and his only hit of the day. Arkansas hitters struggled to get runners on base as six hits were scattered throughout the game.
“It’s just a good experience for the younger guys and us older guys to play in a game where every out matters,” Kjerstad said. “The little things add up and make the difference at the end of the game.
“A lot of our games this year are going to be one-run games, and those are the ones that normally matter the most and come down to the wire.”
The Razorbacks will head to Los Angeles this week to face Pac-12 foe USC (2-1) for a threegame series. All three games are scheduled for 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The games will be streamed live on USC’s athletic website.