FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas players weren't dejected after letting LSU off the hook last weekend.
They were mad.
Mad about letting the Tigers climb back into a game they trailed by seven runs on Saturday. Mad about not coming through offensively on Sunday. Mad about playing better than one of college baseball's most storied programs - a rival, no less - for much of the weekend, only to lose a series for the first time all year.
"For 16 innings, we kicked butt," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "Then for two innings (Saturday) it didn't happen and the next day they made four really good plays, and their pitcher never really threw the ball over the middle of the plate and they got us.
"We felt like we should have won the series, and obviously we should have. I'm not saying we're better than LSU, but for the first two days we felt like we were, for a game and then three quarters of a game. But we didn't finish."
Arkansas beat LSU 9-3 in the opener and led the Tigers throughout much of their second game. The Razorbacks were up 8-1 in the seventh inning before LSU began to chip away at the lead.
The Tigers scored five runs in the ninth inning, including the tying and go-ahead runs on a two-out error. The Razorbacks had two errors, two hit batters and a wild pitch in the inning.
But instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the Razorbacks let the losses refocus and energize them.
"I think it showed us we can play with anyone in the country," Arkansas outfielder Luke Bonfield said. "All those games were close games, so I think it's a good confidence boost for us. It's a good reality check, as well."
The Razorbacks took out their frustration with a 12-4 win at Missouri State on Tuesday. Arkansas' offense rebounded well from being shutout the game before with 17 hits and 25 total base runners.
Van Horn said being able to play two days after the LSU series was good for his team.
"That's the beauty of baseball," Van Horn said. "If you're playing football on Saturday and you have a 10-point lead with two minutes left, and they score and kick it onside, go down and score again, you're sick. You've got to wait a whole week to go play somebody else. We got a chance to get that kind of nauseated feeling out of our stomach a little quicker. I'm just glad we played well and we did it."
The LSU losses could be good for Arkansas in the long run, Van Horn said. The Razorbacks still are tied for the lead in the SEC standings, but had come close to blowing leads in winner-take-all finales at Missouri and Alabama the previous two weeks.
"Now that it's happened, hopefully it doesn't happen again with this team," Van Horn said. "They were upset - mad, disappointed, whatever you want to call it. But I think going out and playing yesterday on the road in that environment, and getting a win, it's behind us now and we're looking forward to going out and playing Georgia."