HOUSTON — Arkansas believed the short trip to the Southeastern Conference Tournament was a “blessing in disguise,” allowing a weary pitching staff some extended rest to prepare for NCAA Regionals.
The Razorbacks showed just how important their refreshed arms could be in the Houston Regional.
Arkansas recorded another strong effort on the mound, got more offense than its previous two games, and beat Sam Houston State 5-1 Sunday in the Houston Regional final at Rice’s Reckling Park.
Starter Randall Fant and three relievers combined to limit the Bearkats to one run on seven hits Sunday. It pushed Arkansas into an NCAA Super Regional for the third time in four seasons.
“What they have on the mound is going to take them a long ways,” Sam Houston State coach David Pierce said. “They’ve got a chance to be in Omaha.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Arkansas (42-19) will play Baylor in a best-of-three series. Baylor defeated Dallas Baptist 9-2 Sunday and 8-2 Monday to win its own regional in Waco.
The Razorbacks can thank their pitching staff for making it a possibility. Arkansas allowed one earned run in three games during the Houston Regional. The Razorbacks also had a stretch in which they threw 21 straight scoreless innings, which included the pivotal 1-0 shutout against top seed Rice on Saturday night.
“Every pitcher did a phenomenal job,” Arkansas third baseman Matt Reynolds said. “Giving up one earned run all week just shows the kind of caliber arms we have with starters and in the bullpen.”
Fant — who has struggled most of the season — turned in one of his better efforts during a 4 1/3-inning stint Sunday. The junior allowed four hits and, when he did run into minor jams, got some key plays from the defense to keep SHSU scoreless.
The Bearkats — who advanced to the regional final by eliminating host Rice with a 4-1 win earlier Sunday — couldn’t push a runner across the plate until the eighth inning. Arkansas already led 5-0.
“That’s why we won,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said of the pitching performance. “It’s a fact.”
Arkansas entered the game hitting .161 in its two previous Houston Regional games. But the Razorbacks did get their best offensive performance of the week, too, putting together 12 hits Sunday.
Van Horn said the biggest key was breaking through early. Arkansas took advantage of three throwing errors by Sam Houston State shortstop Corey Toups to score three runs. It helped the Razorbacks build a 4-0 lead before Fant left the game in the fifth.
“We did what we wanted to do and that was get the lead early,” Van Horn said. “I kept telling our guys we’ve got to take the life out of them a little bit by jumping on them.”
The offense did its job. So did Fant. Then, the Arkansas bullpen took over to wrap up the win.
Sophomore Nolan Sanburn (4-1) struck out three and didn’t allow a hit in 2 2/3 innings in relief. Sophomore Brandon Moore gave up the only run in the eighth, which was the first Arkansas had allowed since Sam Houston State plated four unearned runs in the fifth inning Friday. But closer Colby Suggs — in his first weekend appearance — retired three batters in the ninth to wrap up the regional win.
“There’s not a weak spot in their bullpen,” SHSU outfielder Jake Arrington said. “It’s real stout.
“You can never take at-bats off against them.”
Arkansas enters the final stage before the College World series confident its rejuvenated pitching staff will help them get to Omaha.
“We’ve been telling them since September that we have enough players to get where we want to get,” Van Horn said. “That’s where we’ll go if we win one more series. And we never wavered on it. Even in the outfield in Birmingham (at the SEC Tournament) we talked about winning a regional. We can still win a regional if you believe you can do it.
“They responded, came down here and played well.”