Razorback Offense Stalls In Home Finale
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three home runs from Missouri State (31-19) hurt Arkansas’ (26-26) chances for a win in their regular season home finale Tuesday night at Baum Stadium as the Hogs failed to make a rally in the 8-2 loss in the mid-week matchup.
Arkansas’ bats struggled all night with the only hit being an infield single in the first inning by Carson Shaddy. Missouri State pitchers struck out 12 Razorback batters. Arkansas was able to get six other baserunners by way of two hit-by-pitches and 4 walks. Both RBIs were pushed across by Luke Bonfield with a sacrifice fly in the first and a groundout in the third inning.
Missouri State starter Austin Knight recorded his fifth win of the season after only allowing 1 hit and holding the Hogs to just 2 runs along with 4 strikeouts over five innings. Barrett Loseke picked up his third loss of the year after giving up 2 runs in two innings of work.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
An infield single in the first inning by Shaddy was followed by a throwing error on a steal attempt at second, allowing him to reach third base. Luke Bonfield brought him home on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat. The Bears quickly recovered to take the lead during the top of the second from a solo shot by Jeremy Eierman and a wild pitch to score a run from third, four batters later.
Kacey Murphy came in after Loseke and struck out a career high five batters, four in a row, in 2 1/3 innings of work.
RAZORBACK QUOTABLES
“That’s probably the positive thing that’s gone on over the last couple of weeks. We have had some young guys gain a lot of experience, and hopefully learn some lessons that will get us better for the future.” – Dave Van Horn on team’s growth
“It’s probably about as tough as it gets as far as environment. They’ve been hot; they’re going to give us everything they’ve got. It’s going to be a really good environment for our young players to try to handle and try to learn from.” – Dave Van Horn on playing on the road at Mississippi State
UP NEXT
The Razorbacks head to Starkville, Mississippi, this weekend in the final SEC series of the year. Game 1 of the series between Arkansas and Mississippi State will be played on Thursday at Dudy Noble Field. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. CDT and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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