FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Diamond Hog season was on the line Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker, after a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to Kansas State on Saturday night.
The Razorbacks squared off with Southeastern Missouri State in an elimination game, the same team Arkansas beat 17-9 on Friday to start the Fayetteville Regional.
Gage Wood got the start for the Hogs, just his third of the season. He gave up a solo shot in the bottom of the first, and Arkansas quickly found themselves in a 1-0 hole.
Meanwhile, SEMO start Collin Wilma, who Arkansas scored a trio of runs off of on Friday, baffled the Razorbacks on Saturday, taking a no-hitter into the 5th.
After the first-inning homer, Wood cruised until a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth. Wood followed with a walk and an RBI single, and his day was done. Enter Jack Faherty, with runners on the corners and no outs. The Red Hawks plated three more before the inning ended with SEMO leading 4-0.
The Arkansas offense finally broke though in the 5th, a Peyton Holt solo shot ending the no-hitter and the shutout in one swing. The Hogs then loaded the bases with two outs, but Hudson White grounded out to end the threat.
Two pitches later, a SEMO solo homer erased any Arkansas momentum, putting the deficit back to 4 runs.
Bryant native Will McEntire was next out of the pen, giving up one run in 1.2 innings before ceding the mound to Stone Hewlett. Hewlett got a strikeout to end the 7th with Arkansas trailing 6-1.
Arkansas got two aboard to start the 8th, but, as is apparently tradition, left them stranded. Stone Hewlett and Koty Frank pitched around trouble in the bottom of the 8th, and Arkansas had three outs left to save the season.
It wasn't meant to be. Arkansas made things somewhat closer with a two-run homer from Parker Rowland, but it was too little, too late, and for the second year in a row, the Razorbacks are eliminated in their own Regional.