Kansas outlasts Razorbacks in pitcher's duel, pushes Arkansas to the brink
No. 2 seed Arkansas (40-21, 17-13 SEC) wasted a Hunter Dietz start that featured a career-high 14 strikeouts as No. 1 seed Kansas (43-16, 22-8 Big 12) toppled Arkansas 5-3.
Dietz gave Arkansas everything he had in 6 ⅓ innings of work, throwing a career-high 116 pitches. Kansas couldn’t get any sustained contact off Dietz’s cutter/slider.
The two teams traded gift runs early in the game. Kansas gifted Arkansas the game’s first run after a leadoff two-base error came around to score on a pair of groundouts.
The Razorbacks returned the favor against Kansas when Maika Niu played a 1-out single into a triple after letting a ball back up the middle get by him all the way to the wall. Kansas tied the game on an RBI groundout off the bat of Tyson LeBlanc.
Kansas starter Mason Cook does not have the same draft shine or strikeout stuff as Dietz, but matched him pitch for pitch through the first 4 innings. Cook induced 11 groundball outs in 4 ⅔ innings of work but hit a wall with 2 outs in the fifth.
Carter Rutenbar battled back from a 1-2 count to draw a walk and extend the inning. Reese Robinett, who had not homered in his last 107 at-bats, hit just his second home run of the season, a 413-foot shot to straightaway center field over the batter’s eye.
Arkansas put two more runners in scoring position after the home run but Ryder Helfrick could not get the key hit against reliever Riane Ritter. Both teams finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
LeBlanc, already the single-season home run leader at Kansas with 22, hit his 23rd of the season in front of a Ballinger walk to tie the game just moments after Arkansas took the lead.
Razorback coach Dave Van Horn opted to send Dietz back out to start the seventh at 106 pitches, a decision that would prove costly with hindsight. Dietz issued a leadoff walk and a one-out single, pushing the go-ahead run to second.
Van Horn turned to James DeCremer to try and put out the fire. DeCremer had no command and yanked his first pitch to the backstop to advance both runners. With first base now open, Van Horn would not allow LeBlanc to hurt the Hogs twice, opting to load the bases and set up a force at any base. DeCremer threw four straight balls after a first-pitch strike to force in the go-ahead run.
Cole Gibler put out the fire by retiring the next two hitters, but it was all in vain. Arkansas did not get a hit after a Camden Kozeal double in the fifth and Kansas held the Arkansas bats to just 3 hits overall.
Arkansas pushed the tying run to scoring position with 1 out after a walk and a wild pitch in the eighth. Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald went all-in, bringing in closer Boede Rahe for the second straight day after Rahe threw 32 pitches in the regional opener against Northeastern.
Rahe struck out Helfrick and Zack Stewart to keep the lead.
Kansas got an insurance run in with a solo home run off the bat of catcher Augusto Mungarrieta. The tying run never came back to the plate, Rahe retired the side in order in the ninth.
Arkansas must now win three straight games to keep its season alive, starting against Northeastern. First pitch is scheduled for noon Saturday.
Live Updates:
No. 2 seed Arkansas (40-20, 17-13 SEC) looks to advance to the Lawrence Regional final against the host Kansas Jayhawks (42-16, 22-8 Big 12). The Jayhawks are hosting a regional for the first time in school history and have already done better than 2025 when they went 0-2 with Arkansas as the host.
The Razorbacks saved lefty ace Hunter Dietz (7-3, 3.40 ERA). Dietz threw just 21 pitches on May 22 after being hit in the shin by a comebacker against Texas. Kansas will start righty Mason Cook (5-1, 4.26 ERA).
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Starting Lineups:
Arkansas:
LF Damian Ruiz
SS Camden Kozeal
C Ryder Helfrick
RF Zack Stewart
3B TJ Pompey
2B Nolan Souza
CF Maika Niu
DH Carter Rutenbar
1B Reese Robinett
LHP Hunter Dietz
Kansas:
SS Tyson Leblanc
CF Tyson Owens
2B Cade Baldridge
1B Josh Dykhoff
C Augusto Mungarrieta
RF Jordan Bach
DH Dariel Osoria
LF Brady Ballinger
3B Dylan Schlotterback
RHP Mason Cook
Top 9th:
- Pompey struck out swinging, 1 out
- Souza grounded out to short, 2 outs
- Niu grounded out to short, 3 outs
Bottom 8th:
- Mungarrieta homered to left, Kansas 5, Arkansas 3
- Bach grounded out to third, 1 out
- Osoria struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Ballinger walked
- Schlotterback popped up to third, 3 outs
Top 8th:
- Bode Rahe replaced Ritter
- Ruiz walked
- Kozeal flied out to center, 1 out
- Ruiz advanced to second on a wild pitch
- Helfrick struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Stewart struck out swinging, 3 outs
Bode Rahe is in. He threw 32 pitches yesterday. Arkansas will have the top of the order up in the magical 8th inning.
Bottom 7th:
- Osoria walked
- Ballinger struck out swinging, 1 out
- Schlotterback singled to left, Osoria to second
- Osoria to third on a wild pitch, Schotterback to second
- Leblanc intentionally walked
- Owens walked, Osoria scored, Schlotterback to third, Leblanc to second, Kansas 4, Arkansas 3
- Baldridge struck out looking, 2 outs
- Dykhoff flied out to left, 3 outs
Top 7th:
- Niu struck out swinging, 1 out
- Rutenbar flied out to right, 2 outs
- Robinett struck out looking, 3 outs
Seventh heaven for Riane Ritter in the seventh. He’s gone 7 up, 7 down against the Hogs since coming in.
Bottom 6th:
- Dykhoff struck out swinging, 1 out
- Mungarrieta struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Bach struck out swinging, 3 outs
Top 6th:
- Stewart struck out looking, 1 out
- Pompey struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Souza flied out to left, 3 outs
Bottom 5th:
- Osoria struck out looking, 1 out
- Ballinger walked
- Schlotterback struck out swinging, 2 outs
- LeBlanc homered to left, Ballinger scored, Kansas 3, Arkansas 3
- Owens singled to right
- Baldridge grounded out to short, 3 outs
Interesting subplot: Hunter Dietz is at 94 pitches through 5. Season high is 107. Dietz threw just 21 pitches against Texas last Friday. With McElvain already used yesterday, how much will DVH push Dietz in a 3-3 game.
Top 5th:
- Souza grounded out to second, 1 out
- Niu struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Rutenbar walked
- Robinett homered to center, Rutenbar scored, Arkansas 3, Kansas 1
- Ruiz hit by a pitch
- Kozeal doubled to right, Ruiz to third
- Riane Ritter replaced Cook
- Helfrick fouled out to left, 3 outs
Bottom 4th:
- Dykhoff struck out looking, 1 out
- Mungarrieta grounded out to short, 2 outs
- Bach struck out swinging, 3 outs
Top 4th:
- Kozeal grounded out to second, 1 out
- Helfrick grounded out to short, 2 outs
- Stewart walked
- Pompey grounded into a fielder’s choice, Stewart out at second, short to second, 3 outs
10 out of 12 outs recorded on the ground for Kansas’ Cook. Both pitchers doing it differently, but Cook matching Dietz so far.
Bottom 3rd:
- Ballinger lined out to short, 1 out
- Schlotterback tripled to center
- Leblanc grounded out to short, Schlotterback scored Kansas 1, Arkansas 1
- Owens doubled to center
- Baldridge struck out looking, 3 outs
Top 3rd:
- Rutenbar grounded out, pitcher to first, 1 out
- Robinett grounded out to second, 2 outs
- Ruiz grounded out to third, 3 outs
Bottom 2nd:
- Mungarrieta struck out swinging, 1 out
- Bach grounded out, pitcher to first, 2 outs
- Osoria struck out swinging, 3 outs
Top 2nd:
- Stewart reached on a fielding error by the third baseman, Stewart to second
- Pompey grounded out to short, Stewart to third, 1 out
- Souza grounded out to first, 2 outs, Stewart scored, Arkansas 1, Kansas 0
- Niu grounded out to short, 3 outs
Bottom 1st:
- Leblanc struck out swinging, 1 out
- Owens hit by a pitch
- Baldridge struck out swinging, 2 outs
- Owens to second on a wild pitch
- Dykhoff struck out swinging, 3 outs
Top 1st:
- Ruiz grounded out to short, 1 out
- Kozeal singled to left
- Helfrick flied out to right, 2 outs
- Kozeal out at second, pitcher to short, 3 outs
