COLLEGE BASEBALL

Hogs bust up bullpen of Bears

Arkansas pitcher Patrick Wicklander (33) throws against Texas during an NCAA college baseball game, Tuesday, March 19, 2019, in Austin, Texas.(Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The University of Arkansas baseball team got its offense going against Missouri State's bullpen.

The No. 8 Razorbacks rallied to beat the Bears 8-2 Tuesday night at Hammons Field after trailing 2-0 through five innings against Bears starter Ben Cruikshank.

Arkansas junior closer Matt Cronin got a shallow flyout and double-play grounder in the ninth inning after the Bears teased a comeback by loading the bases with nobody out against freshman Elijah Trest.

"It's really cool to watch," said Arkansas freshman starting pitcher Patrick Wicklander, who threw two scoreless innings. "Cronin's been shutdown ever since he's been here. Great mindset on the mound, great competitor. So I have complete trust in him."

Cronin, who hasn't allowed a run in 11 innings this season, needed just eight pitches to get three outs.

"It was big because if he would have gotten to around 20 pitches, we were probably going to take him out," Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn said. "So then we've got to have another guy ready to try and finish the game, and it might be getting a little bit scary. So just glad he got it done quick."

Cruikshank, a freshman left-hander who came into the game with a 10.38 ERA, held the Razorbacks to 2 hits and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts while shutting them out.

"He pitched really well," Van Horn said. "Give him credit. His numbers going into the game weren't great, but he commanded the strike zone pretty good and started working his changeup. His fastball was in the upper 80s, 90 miles an hour. He just held us down."

Arkansas was able to break out against the Bears more experienced pitchers.

"That's when our guys started scoring runs," Van Horn said. "I told our guys, 'Good job. You got down to your last 12 outs, down 2-0, and you ended up outscoring them 8-0 the last four innings.' "

Arkansas went ahead 3-2 in the sixth inning with three runs.

The Razorbacks (21-4) loaded the bases against Davis Schwab on Dominic Fletcher's single, a walk by Matt Goodheart and Jack Kenley's single. Jacob Nesbit followed with a two-run single -- which extended his hitting streak to 15 games -- against Hayden Juenger to tie the score 2-2.

"I was just sitting on a fastball, seeing if he was going to give me something to work with and he did," Nesbit said. "I actually took the first fastball I saw, and then I didn't miss the next one I saw."

Trey Harris, pinch-hitting for Zack Plunkett, hit an RBI single that scored Kenley to put Arkansas ahead 3-2.

The Razorbacks added three runs in the seventh inning to push their lead to 6-2 when Juenger walked Heston Kjerstad and Trevor Ezell, Fletcher had an RBI single against Nate Witherspoon, and Goodheart had a two-run single.

Kjerstad led off the ninth inning with his fifth home run of the season, and Kenley had an RBI single to push the Razorbacks' lead to 8-2.

Wicklander struck out five of the six batters he faced.

"Everything was working today," he said.

Connor Noland, a freshman right-hander who has made six starts, pitched a scoreless third inning after allowing 3 runs, 3 hits and 3 walks in 1⅔ innings Saturday at Alabama when the Crimson Tide beat the Razorbacks 10-0.

"I thought Connor's velocity was up a little bit," Van Horn said. "I think he was throwing the ball harder than he did on Saturday, and maybe the Saturday before.

"Really hard to evaluate him too much on one inning, but it was just good to see him go out and let it rip a little bit."

Van Horn said Wicklander and Noland are the two leading candidates to start Saturday against Ole Miss.

"We're still not sure who we're going to start on Saturday," Van Horn said. "It'll probably be one of those two guys. We'll make that decision in the next couple of days."

Missouri State (5-17) took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jordan Fitzpatrick hit a two-out RBI single off Marshall Denton that scored Joey Potak from second base.

The Bears made it 2-0 in the fifth inning when Jack Duffy was hit by a pitch from Zebulon Vermillion, advanced to third on a groundout and fly ball, and scored on a wild pitch.

Arkansas got two shutout innings from Kole Ramage and a scoreless inning from Kevin Kopps.

"I think we were all pretty relaxed, and we know what we're capable of," Nesbit said of the Razorbacks' mindset when they fell behind 2-0. "So we weren't really freaking out that much."

Arkansas finished 4-2 on a road swing at Texas, Alabama and Missouri State.

"We've played pretty well on the road," Van Horn said. "We've played the same on the road as we have at home. We haven't really shot ourselves in the foot. We've played pretty steady."

Up next

NO. 8 ARKANSAS

VS. NO. 22 OLE MISS

WHEN 8 p.m. Friday

WHERE Baum-Walker Stadium, Fayetteville

RECORDS Arkansas 21-4, 5-1 SEC; Ole Miss 18-8, 3-3

SERIES Tied 47-47

TELEVISION ESPNU

THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY Off

THURSDAY Off

FRIDAY vs Ole Miss, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY vs Ole Miss, 3 p.m.

SUNDAY vs Ole Miss, 1:30 p.m.

MONDAY Off

TUESDAY vs UALR, 6:30 p.m.

Sports on 03/27/2019