Gabe Gaeckle is giving Arkansas the starting pitching consistency this team sorely needs
Gabe Gaeckle is pitching as advertised. The ace of the Arkansas staff in 2026 is living up to the billing. Gaeckle allowed just one run in five solid innings on Friday, pacing the Hogs to a 5-2 win over Xavier and helping the Razorbacks move to 4-1 on the young season.
One of the key themes in the first week of this Arkansas season -- likely to continue throughout the campaign -- is the need for UA pitchers to not walk many batters and force hitters to put the ball in play. Gaeckle allowed just two walks in his five innings of work, which is not spectacular but certainly acceptable. As the season goes along, Gaeckle should only get better and more polished, so in mid-February, a two-walk outing is not going to elicit any real concern.
Cole Gibler was even more effective at not issuing walks on Friday. He came out of the bullpen and pitched four innings of one-run ball for the save. Xavier got five hits off Gibler but no big blasts. The Musketeers rapped nine hits but scored only two runs because they collected singles and never got the big knock. Their one large chance to change the game came in the seventh when they loaded the bases, but Gibler pitched out of the jam, and the Hogs were able to handle the final two innings for the 5-2 victory.
It's very encouraging to see the pitching staff grasp the importance of not issuing many free passes, allowing relatively harmless singles instead, and not giving up big extra-base hits in high-leverage situations. That's a formula for winning baseball. Arkansas' pitching staff needs to adhere to that Bible throughout the coming weeks and months.
SEC BASEBALL RESULTS FROM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Nearly all SEC baseball teams won on Friday. Several SEC teams played cupcake opponents and a few played power conference foes. Most of the scores weren't especially close, but Tennessee and Texas A&M won by only one run.
The full collection of results from Friday: LSU beat Indiana, Georgia beat Samford, Kentucky beat Evansville, Tennessee beat Kent State, Mississippi State beat Delaware, Oklahoma defeated Coppin State, Florida defeated Kennesaw State, Texas A&M shut out Pennsylvania, Texas handled Michigan State, Vanderbilt whipped Marist, Ole Miss hammered Missouri State, Alabama clobbered Rhode Island, Missouri trounced New Haven, and Auburn topped Kansas State. South Carolina was the only SEC team to lose, falling to Army.