The Arkansas bullpen coughed up a three-run lead in the ninth, but the bats rallied and produced a crucial opening-weekend win.
Whew! You can feel the relief in the Arkansas dugout, among the coaching staff, and throughout the fan base after the Razorbacks avoided a bad loss, rallying to beat Texas Tech 6-5 in 11 innings on Sunday in Arlington. One baseball game is a theater of unpredictability. One game can easily spin the wrong way. This one did in the ninth inning for UA. Games that get away can haunt a team and create a crippling lack of confidence. Even though this is just one baseball game on the opening weekend of the season, a victory feels large for the Hogs. A loss would have felt extra painful had it happened. Being able to escape trouble should give this team a massive lift as it moves forward.
So many Hogs did so many good things on Sunday. Colin Fisher threw five dominant scoreless innings, giving the starting rotation a huge boost and giving Dave Van Horn confidence that when he goes down to the middle of the rotation, Arkansas won't suffer. This team needs to know that its mid- and lower-rotation starters can get the job done. Fisher did.
Maika Niu drove in multiple runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th. Damian Ruiz scored that winning run and was a sparkplug in the leadoff spot, a great development for a team which has the mashers in the middle of the order but needs the table-setters to lay out the cloth and silverware. Ruiz did that for UA on Sunday.
Steele Eaves pitched a scoreless 10th and 11th to put Arkansas in position to win. He showed a lot of composure after inheriting runners in the ninth and allowing them to score, giving Tech a 5-4 lead. Bouncing back is a tremendous development for a pressure-cooker game this early in the season.
Last but certainly not least, Cam Kozeal slammed a homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 5 and rescue the Hogs from looming defeat. The big blast is the kind of clutch hit which not only changes games -- as it did on Sunday -- but can change a season. Arkansas leaves Arlington with a 2-1 record instead of a 1-2 weekend. That's a huge flip, and Kozeal made it possible.
We can't end this review of Sunday's game without noting where it all went wrong. Closer Cooper Dossett had a disastrous outing. It wasn't just that he couldn't hold a 4-1 lead in the ninth; the real problem -- and frustration -- was that he issued three walks. That's the cardinal sin for any pitcher. Make opponents hit the ball. Don't give them free bases. Fortunately, Dossett's teammates picked him up.
Dossett and Saturday starter Hunter Dietz have stuff. Now they need to locate it and trust it instead of nibbling. The Arkansas coaching staff has to make sure its pitchers can dependably throw strikes and harness their pitches with command. There is no bigger priority for this staff after the first weekend of the season.
Thankfully, it's a weekend which produced a winning record.