Arkansas's time in Omaha is over after losing a heartbreaker to Miami (FL) 4-3 on Monday night:
The Razorbacks had such an incredible run over the last two months that it's really hard to end the season with a heartbreaking gut punch like they did, but it happened and the Hogs' run at the College World Series is over after two games.
We all know making it to Omaha was a tremendous success for this team, and nobody will soon forget the magical weekend Arkansas fans were able to experience during the super regional. That will never be taken away from them. It's just unfortunate they won't get an opportunity to play any more games because this is such a memorable team.
The first four innings of the game went by in a breeze, with neither team getting more than four batters to the plate in any of them. Arkansas put Rick Nomura on third in the second, but but a Michael Bernal pop out to left ended the threat.
Arkansas continued the trend with four batters appearing in the top of the fifth, but Miami finally snapped the game out of the pattern. Keaton McKinney allowed a single and got a fly out, but that was all his ailing hip would allow him to do on the day. Jackson Lowery relieved him and got another out, but he surrendered a homer to Jacob Heyward that gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead.
Arkansas would cut the lead in half in the sixth when Nomura singled home Tyler Spoon. In the seventh, the Hogs tied it up with Bobby Wernes knocking a single that got Clark Eagan home from second. Some sloppy defense allowed Miami to take a lead again in the bottom of the inning though, as a disjointed play with a pair of throwing errors allowed Heyward to score from second in the confusion.
The Hogs plated a runner for the third straight inning in the eighth, with a Brett McAfee single knocking in Spoon. From there, it was a tale of missed opportunities for Arkansas. Bernal grounded into a double play stranded Nomura on third in that inning, and Nomura grounded out with the bases loaded to end the top of the ninth. That set the stage for Miami to end it, and it did. Willie Abreu doubled off of Zach Jackson to start the inning, and Heyward sent pinch runner Carl Chester home with a single to close it out.
After the terrible funk the Razorbacks went through in March, making it this far was a tremendous achievement for the team. It probably wasn't realistic that Arkansas might win the whole thing with two of its four starters sidelined, but the Hogs went down fighting. Despite the 0-2 record in Omaha, this season was a real success for the program.