FAYETTEVILLE — Many Razorbacks players lingered on the field and dugout at Baum-Walker Stadium long after watching the victorious North Carolina State celebration and long after their emotional postgame meeting in left field.
First baseman Brady Slavens squatted just by himself for a long time on the left-field line and finally retreated to the dugout, just ahead of pitcher Kevin Kopps.
Several of the Razorbacks appeared to be soaking in the memories for perhaps the last time. Junior Patrick Wicklander, who became the leading starter this season, sat on the tarp-covered mound for a long time by himself.
He was eventually joined by senior left-hander Lael Lockhart, and the two shared a long embrace on the mound.
Wicklander (7-1) recorded the final three outs in the ninth inning, two days after pitching the Razorbacks to a 21-2 win in the opening game of the super regional.
Kopps closes out with fans
Arkansas pitching ace Kevin Kopps suffered the most excruciating loss of his career and his only loss in 2021 on Sunday.
That didn’t stop the senior from being the last Razorback to leave the field after signing dozens and dozens of autographs and posing for pictures with fans long after North Carolina State eliminated the Razorbacks 3-2 on a pair of home runs to advance to the College World Series, putting a halt to the Hogs’ dream season short of Omaha.
Kopps chatted and hugged fans and posed for pictures for nearly an hour after he pitched eight innings and threw a career-high 118 pitches against the Wolfpack.
“One of the great things to think about, it’s a quote from Michael Jordan and he’s talking about that it’s important to give back to the fans because they give so much to us,” Kopps said.
The Razorbacks rode their ace in his first start of the year as far as they could.
“Kevin Kopps is an amazing pitcher, an amazing human being,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Just, man, he really wanted the ball today.”
Told of Kopps’ extended visit with the fans, as if the game was a season opener rather than a season ender, Van Horn said: “Kevin’s an incredible person. He’s a great baseball player, and he made himself great. There’s not too many guys I would let pitch as much as I let him.
“He’s going to be really successful in everything he does, anything he does, honestly. He’s got a plan for his life. That’s just how he is. He’s very humble, and he did everything he could for this team. I think you’re going to see some pretty good awards come his way in the next couple of weeks.”
North Carolina State Coach Elliott Avent and the Wolfpack players all complimented Kopps.
“He’s just an incredible pitcher and an incredible competitor,” said N.C. State outfielder Jonny Butler, whose two-run homer off Kopps gave the Wolfpack a lead it would hold for three tense innings until Cayden Wallace’s tying home run in the seventh. “He pitched so well. When he’s on, there’s not much you can do.”
Kopps’ 33rd appearance tied for fifth in the country.
Frosh record
Cayden Wallace’s seventh inning home run tied more than just the game.
Wallace’s shot over the left-field wall off left-hander Chris Villaman was his 14th of the season, tying the school freshman record previously set by Heston Kjerstad in 2018.
Wallace also broke a tie with Christian Franklin and Matt Goodheart to tie Brady Slavens for second on the team with 14 homers, one behind team leader Robert Moore.
Justice served
North Carolina State closer Evan Justice (5-2) earned the win with two perfect innings on 23 pitches the day after firing 48 pitches to close out a 6-5 win for his 11th save.
“I usually don’t bring Evan Justice into a tie game, but I thought if this team is going to beat us, they’re going to beat our best,” Wolfpack Coach Elliott Avent said. “Thank goodness Jose [Torres] hit that home run because I don’t know how long we could’ve went with Evan.”
Near catch
Jonny Butler hit Kevin Kopps hard on his first two plate appearances, with a long fly ball to the track in center field and a two-run home run to right-center field.
On the home run ball in the third inning, Arkansas center fielder Christian Franklin timed his jump perfectly, got his glove over the wall and came within inches of making an over-the-wall catch.
“The wind was blowing out of the north, northeast, so it was blowing out to right,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “The first ball he hit in the first inning, he hit it to dead center and it didn’t go out, obviously. That one there, he pulled a little bit more and he got a little bit of help.
“Christian still almost got it, but it got over the fence. But it was close.”
‘K’ Kings
The Razorbacks extended their school record for strikeouts with Kevin Kopps’ nine against the Wolfpack.
Arkansas pitchers struck out 657 batters this season, 38 higher than the previous record of 619 done in 64 games in 2017 and 69 games in 2018.
Jump catch
Arkansas right fielder Matt Goodheart made a strong catch in the top of the seventh inning. North Carolina State right fielder Devonte Brown drove a Kevin Kopps pitch the other way to the warning track, Goodheart tracked it and made a leaping catch before falling onto the warning track at the wall.
Moving up
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn and North Carolina State Coach Elliott Avent advanced one place on the active wins list for NCAA coaches Sunday night.
The Wolfpack were batting in the top of the first inning when Tennessee closed out a 15-6 victory over LSU to take the NCAA Knoxville Super Regional. The loss ended the career of Tigers Coach Paul Mainieri, who announced his retirement prior to the postseason.
Mainieri’s 1,505 career wins were the most among active coaches. John Anderson, who has won 1,331 games in 40 seasons at Minnesota, took over the top spot in career victories.
Avent ranks fifth among active coaches with 1,148 victories in 33 seasons, while the NCAA acknowledges 1,121 victories by Van Horn in 28 seasons to rank sixth among active coaches.
Key guests
Arkansas football Coach Sam Pittman and his wife Jamie attended the game and sat in Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek’s suite with Yurachek, Jennifer Yurachek, deputy AD Jon Fagg and other UA officials.
North Carolina State Chancellor Randy Woodson, who has been in attendance throughout the super regional, is from Fordyce and is a University of Arkansas graduate, in addition to having a degree from Cornell.