The Arkansas Razorbacks were able to win their weekend series against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a matchup of top-25 ranked SEC programs.
Heading into Sunday’s contest between Arkansas and Mississippi State, the series was tied at one game apiece following Mississippi states victory on Saturday. On Sunday, it looked as if the Bulldogs were going to get the better of the No. 5 ranked Razorbacks. That is until Arkansas’s bullpen stepped up and played amazingly down the stretch to help them pick up their 42nd win of the season.
After the game, skipper Dave Van Horn took a moment to praise the performance of his bullpen for not only the work on Sunday but also for the entirety of the weekend.
“What a great job by our bullpen. I mean, really all weekend, [when] you look at it, just this weekend,” said Van Horn. “And then also, the offense doesn’t get a lot of credit, but they did it on Friday, and they did it again yesterday; just not quite enough. Then today, honestly, you’re down six-nothing [and] their dugout is about as loud as they can be over there talking a little bit of bull. And we just kept grinding it out.”
“We got a two-run homer here and a two-run homer there, and we got another one, and we had the lead, and (Will) McEntire [and] (Gabe) Gaeckle finished it up for us. So [it was] probably the best team win of the year for us just because we were down, game three; just it was fun. The last few innings were really fun for us.”
Arkansas starting pitcher Mason Molina gave up four hits and four earned runs in the second inning after shutting down Mississippi State in the first. Van Horn would pull him from the game after giving up four runs in the inning while simultaneously failing to get at least one out. Afterward, the Arkansas bullpen allowed just two runs over the remaining eight innings.
In contrast, Mississippi State’s starting pitcher, Pico Kohn, allowed just one earned run in four innings on the mound. Unfortunately, his bullpen failed to maintain the lead, giving up six earned runs and allowing Arkansas to put up eight runs over the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings. That helped the Razorbacks pick up the 9-6 victory on Sunday and the series over the No. 14 ranked Bulldogs.
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