FAYETTEVILLE — Bryant starting pitcher James Karinchak looked every bit the part Friday of a top college prospect who is expected to go in the top two rounds of June’s Major League Baseball draft.
But after giving up just one hit through the first five innings, Karinchak (1-1) left a ball up to Arkansas’ Evan Lee to lead-off the bottom of the sixth. The true freshman's double started a rally that knocked out the Bryant ace.
Luke Bonfield walked before Grant Koch rocketed a triple of the center field wall to chase Karinchak and continue a parade that would see 15 Arkansas hitters come to the plate in the half-inning in the Razorbacks’ 11-8 win at Baum Stadium.
“I was locating my fast ball well and (catcher) Mickey Gapser was doing a hell of a job behind the plate for me,” Karinchak said. “I was also getting my off-speed pitches over.
“I had a real bad sixth inning and it started by throwing a ball right down the middle to the two hitter I think and he hit a double right down the left field line.Then I had a four-pitch walk and another meat ball for a triple to the number four batter.
“I have to do a better job than that.”
Karinchak - Bryant’s first preseason All-American - came into the game with a career mark of 21-8 with a 2.54 ERA in 30 appearances.
He went five innings last weekend in a win over New Mexico State while throwing 82 pitches and striking out 12.
But Lee’s rifle shot opening the sixth was the beginning of the end for the right-hander on Friday after he entered the inning having thrown 80 pitches.
“He was at like 85 pitches and we had been traveling so that’s as far as we wanted to go with him since he is going to be a pro pitcher,” Bryant coach Steve Owens said.
“He is just a really competitive kid and he makes pitches when he has to. He has got three good pitches and he usually pitches out of jams.
“I think he got tired and left a couple balls up that they weren’t taking. He walked the one guy and gave up back to back hits and so we made a change.”
Lee talked about how Arkansas (4-0) was doing its best to get Karinchak’s pitch count up even it wasn’t getting hits and scoring runs.
“We knew he was going to be really good and it would be a real challenge for us early,” Lee said. “We just had to grind him out and get to the next guy. It's a wolf pack mentality as (hitting coach Tony) Vitello likes to call it. It doesn't have to result in a hit, but you just grind and get his pitch count up. You do whatever you can do to win that at-bat.”
Koch had a triple and 4 RBI with his second home run of the season that put Arkansas up 11-7 in the eighth.
“He was good,” Koch said. “He was fired up, for sure, and once that wound down we all got together and said we needed to have good at-bats as a team. No one guy was going to get him out. Once we did that, that led to that inning for sure.”
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn was impressed with Karinchak and Bryant (2-3), which lost 85 percent of its offense from a 47-12 team that set a school record for wins last season and was a No. 2 in the NCAA Regionals.
"We had heard all about this big breaking ball, a 12-to-6 downer; it was good, but he didn't command it," Van Horn said. "We did a good job of laying off of it.
"He'll probably tell you he didn't have his best stuff, but he had good stuff because he had command of that fastball. He's a veteran, strong pitcher that doesn't give in. You're going to have to wear him down because he doesn't make many mistakes."
Owens praised Arkansas’ lineup, but was disappointed in his bullpen and his team’s defense, which had “a blow up inning” with a couple of errors, two wild pitches, two walks and two hit batsmen in the bottom of the sixth.
“Their hitters are good and they have a deep line up with good kids and tons of left-handing hitting in there,” Owens said. “They have a deep SEC line up with a lot of options in there.
“I thought he (Karinchak) did a good job against them. I just wish we could have done a better job in the bullpen keeping the gamer close because we are a very good hitting team, especially having six or seven freshmen in the line up.”
Karinchak, whose team out-hit Arkansas 10-7, notes he is trying to stay in the moment and not think about his future pro options.
“I just try to compete hard every day,” Karinchak said. “It’s awesome hearing you name up there, but I have to do a better job than I did today.”
It won’t get much easier for the Razorbacks in Saturday’s 2 p.m. game as the Bulldogs will trot out sophomore left-hander Steve Theetge, who is 10-0 in his career.
Theetge was 9-0 last season and allowed five runs (three earned) in a win over New Mexico State in his first start last weekend.
“He is a real good pitcher,” Owens said. “He does a good job, controls the game, controls the running game, has a three-pitch mix to both sides of the plate, does not give in and gets a lot of double play balls and is 10-0.”