Arkansas baseball: What went wrong in Fayetteville region for Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas baseball season met a familiar end Sunday. For the second straight year, the Razorbacks went crashing out in front of their home fans in the Fayetteville Regional.

It was a magical spring inside Baum-Walker Stadium, where the Hogs went 33-3 and won the SEC West title for the fifth time in the last six seasons, but the team flamed out in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and the dreams of a run to Omaha felt more foolish than prophetical.

Here’s a look at three reasons why the Hogs (44-16) couldn’t get out of the regional, as they enter another offseason with disappointment lingering throughout the program.

Hagen Smith couldn’t cover the Arkansas baseball cracks

“(Hagen) Smith was the guy. He was a rock. He carried us. The whole season, that guy carried us.” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “I just think the pitching got a little tired.”

Those were Van Horn’s thoughts in the immediate aftermath of a season-ending 6-3 loss to Southeast Missouri State Sunday. Holes in the pitching staff were covered by Smith throughout the SEC, until they weren’t.

Arkansas won each of Smith’s first 13 starts, but the Hogs lost his final three appearances.

More: Arkansas baseball rally falls short again, Razorbacks eliminated in Fayetteville regional

More: Pitching concerns arise after Arkansas baseball’s blowout win over SEMO in 2024 NCAA Tournament

The dagger came Saturday night when Kansas State punched Arkansas in the mouth with a six-run fifth inning that forced the powerful lefty out of the contest. He walked the first two batters and gave up a three-run homer to Kaelen Culpepper, and the Wildcats held off a late rally for a 7-6 win that sent the Hogs into the losers bracket.

Smith will go down as one of the best pitchers in Arkansas history, now holding the career and single-season strikeouts record. He helped Arkansas win two SEC West titles and make a run to the College World Series as a freshman in 2022.

He was excellent in 2024, but Smith needed to be perfect in the postseason for the Razorbacks to replicate that type of run. That’s simply too small of a margin of error, and Arkansas paid the price.

“You take him off our team and we’re just really average. That’s the way it is. One guy can make a difference,” Van Horn said.

Not enough offense in clutch spots

Arkansas left 27 runners on base in three games this weekend. Nearly half of those came Saturday night against Kansas State when the Hogs stranded 13 runners and left multiple men on base in five straight innings.

The lack of a clutch hit carried over to Sunday as Arkansas went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Their only three runs came off homers.

This problem was not exclusive to the Fayetteville Regional. Arkansas failed to put teams away throughout the regular season, leading to close games that wore down the Hogs’ roster.

“You just go back and look at our scores, I’m going to say in the SEC we had played 15-to-18 games, win-or-lose by less than three runs,” Van Horn said. “Everything was tight. We didn’t blow anybody out. They didn’t blow us out. A lot of 5-4, 3-2. I mean, it was stressful. I think maybe it just beat us up a little bit mentally.”

The Arkansas offense wasn’t good enough this season. The Hogs ranked 60th out of the 64 tournament teams. Sunday’s three-run performance of SEMO encapsulated the season.

Pitching struggles Friday prove costly

Arkansas won the regional opener against SEMO 17-9, but the Hogs had to use five pitchers against Fayetteville’s lowest seed. That set the tone and put Arkansas in a disadvantageous spot for the rest of the regional.

Mason Molina couldn’t get past the third inning, and Will McEntire didn’t eat enough outs. Arkansas had to burn freshman star Gabe Gaeckle. If Gaeckle had been available Saturday, maybe Arkansas has a quicker trigger in removing Smith.

“We didn’t pitch very well. That was pretty obvious the last month. It’s, you know, we were rolling pretty good early,” Van Horn said. “You’ve got 1-2-3. You’ve got two lefts and a right, and they’re all going to give you innings. They’re all experienced, and then all of a sudden you can see a little crack in the armor.”