How one bad inning doomed Arkansas baseball against LSU in College World Series opener

OMAHA, Neb.

Twenty pitches.

Six batters.

Two soft hits.

That's all it took to put Arkansas baseball in a hole against LSU.

The end result is a mountain to climb at the College World Series.

The No.

3 Razorbacks (48-14) fell to the No.

6 Tigers (49-15) 4-1 on Saturday night, with LSU scoring three runs in the top of the second.

An early 3-0 lead was too much for Arkansas to overcome against Kade Anderson, who allowed just one run in seven innings to send LSU into the winners bracket of this double-elimination tournament.The loss puts Arkansas in the losers bracket with an elimination game against Murray State scheduled for 1 p.m.

Monday.

The Hogs must win four games over the next five days to reach the championship series.

The decisive inning began with a strikeout as Arkansas starter Zach Root retired the first four hitters he faced, but an unraveling began after back-to-back walks with one out.

Root (8-6) walked Luis Hernandez on four pitches and then yielded a free pass to Derek Curiel after he got ahead 0-2 in the count."The conditions and who we're facing and who's on the mound, it made those two walks look big, and they were," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said.Daniel Dickinson then loaded the bases with a drag-bunt single, and LSU got on the scoreboard with an RBI single from Chris Stanfield.

Michael Braswell got an RBI with a bases-loaded hit by pitch, and the third run of the inning crossed home plate on a fielder's choice off the bat of Josh Pearson.

Arkansas narrowly missed an inning-ending double play, with Pearson beating the throw from second baseman Cam Kozeal.

In a flash, Arkansas trailed 3-0 and Root (8-6) was on the ropes.

The lefty entered the night with one earned run allowed in his previous 13 innings of work during the NCAA tournament.

The Hogs couldn't overcome the early deficit."The feeling was we still have seven innings to go or actually eight because I think it was the top of the second.

We had eight at-bats," Van Horn said of his team's mindset after the poor inning "We were still in it 3-0, not a problem.

We can score three real quick."After Pearson reached safely, Van Horn turned to his bullpen and summoned Gabe Gaeckle.

The sophomore righty struck out 10 in six innings.

Both of those numbers are career highs, but they were in vain because of a dominant performance from LSU's left-handed ace.

Anderson (11-1) allowed one run in seven innings.

He struck out seven and didn't throw a pitch with a runner in scoring position."(Anderson's) a great pitcher.

He's mixing well, keeping our hitters off balance.

We had to stick with an approach and stay with it and try to put your best swing on it," said Reese Robinett, who provided Arkansas' lone run with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth.One bad inning and a quiet night for the offense has Arkansas on the brink of elimination, but Van Horn exuded confidence in the aftermath of an opening loss to LSU.

"You just can't get all uptight about it.

These guys, they've come back and won games.

They've done some great things this year," Van Horn said."So that's what I told them.

We've got a bullpen full of pitchers.

We've got a bunch of hitters that can hit.

They didn't have a good night.

We need to move on and get ready for Monday."Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: One bad inning dooms Arkansas baseball in loss to LSU at College World Series.

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