FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas, ranked in the top two of the national baseball polls for much of the season, will not be one of the last two teams standing at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
The Razorbacks’ season came to an end Sunday afternoon with a 6-3 loss to Southeast Missouri State. The victory sent the Redhawks (36-26) to the regional championship round against Kansas State on Sunday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas finished the season with a 44-16 record that included losses in 9 of the final 13 games, all against teams that all made the NCAA postseason. The Razorbacks fell to 34-5 at home, losing consecutive home games for the first time since 2022.
Kansas State sent Arkansas to the losers bracket with a 7-6 victory Saturday night. The Razorbacks led that game 2-0 in the fifth inning with SEC pitcher of the year Hagen Smith on the mound, but he allowed six in the bottom of the fifth and Arkansas never led again at the regional.
SEMO three-hole hitter Ty Stauss hit a solo home run in the first inning and the Redhawks got 4 2/3 innings of solid pitching from soft-toss right-hander Collin Wilma.
Trailing 4-0, Peyton Holt broke up a no-hitter by Wilma with a two-out home run in the fifth inning. The Razorbacks’ next three hitters reached without a base hit, but reliever Logan Katen induced a ground ball by Hudson White to leave the bases loaded and preserve a 4-1 lead.
Momentum swung SEMO’s way within moments when Brooks Kettering led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run against Jake Faherty to increase the lead to 5-1.
Katen worked around a one-out single by Ben McLaughlin in the sixth inning, then retired the next five batters he faced.
Peyton Stovall singled and White doubled against Katen to lead off the eighth inning, but both were stranded in scoring position after Payton Lawrence, pitching for the third consecutive day, did not allow a ball to leave the infield. Jared Sprague-Lott grounded out to third base, McLaughlin fouled out to third and Wehiwa Aloy grounded out to second base.
Parker Rowland hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth after a single by Peyton Holt. SEMO right-hander Kyle Miller came out of the bullpen to strike out Nolan Souza before Stovall flied out to end the game, sending most of what was left of 10,788 to the gates in disbelief.
Like the night before, Arkansas struggled to hit with runners in scoring position, going 2 for 9 with runners on base and 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position.
The Redhawks out-hit the Razorbacks 9-6. Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn expressed confidence Saturday night the Razorbacks would challenge because of the way they hit in the first two games of the regional, with a combined 29 hits and 23 runs against SEMO and K-State.
Wilma, alternating between 62-67 mph breaking pitches and an upper-80s fastball, threw cold water on Arkansas’ offense. Kendall Diggs walked with two outs in the second inning to give the Razorbacks their only base runner before Holt’s home run three innings later.
Arkansas starter Gage Wood was solid through the third, but ran into trouble in the fourth when Ben Palmer led off with a double, Stauss walked and Josh Cameron hit an RBI single with no outs to score Palmer.
Michael Mugan’s fielder’s choice RBI scored Stauss on the first pitch by Faherty, who fielded a soft roller and glove tossed late to home plate. Cameron was thrown out by the third baseman Sprague-Lott at home plate for the second out of the inning, but SEMO added a two-out run and led 4-0 on an RBI single by Ian Riley to score Mugan.
Riley led off the seventh inning with a single against Arkansas reliever Will McEntire and scored on a single by Kettering to put the Redhawks ahead 6-1. Riley, Kettering and Cameron all finished with two hits.
Arkansas failed to win a regional for the sixth time in 11 times as a host. The Razorbacks also lost the Fayetteville Regional last season when they fell to TCU in the championship round.
SEMO must beat K-State twice to win the regional, while the Wildcats need only one win to advance. The winner of the Fayetteville Regional will go on the road for the super regional next week at either Virginia or Mississippi State.
