Dave Van Horn believes seventh inning killed Arkansas' chances vs. Kentucky

Kentucky lead Arkansas 6-4 after six innings during Thursday’s SEC Tournament matchup. Despite a late rally from the Razorbacks, a three-run performance by the Wildcats in the seventh would turn out to be the difference in the matchup.

Arkansas had just scored four runs in the top of the sixth and the momentum seemed to be tilting in favor of the Razorbacks. After the game, head coach Dave Van Horn broke down what went wrong for his squad down the stretch.

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“The bottom of the seventh kind of was when the momentum went back over them,” Van Horn explained. “And we found ourself back down five [runs]. But it’s really good to see Mason [Molina] pitch well. Again, he threw well in relief in game two against Texas A&M, which was the game we needed to win to wrap up the [SEC] West. And this was his first outing since and he matched it again really well. We’ve been on the road about a week, and obviously you didn’t like the outcome, but, you know, we know that we’ve got a big week ahead of us.”

Molina was the only Arkansas pitcher that saw more than one inning of work and did not give up an earned run. He pitched for two innings where he allowed two runs on two hits, allowed one walk and struck out four of the seven Kentucky batters he faced across 23 total pitches.

While Van Horn was pleased with his pitcher’s performance in relief, he was not as impressed from his team’s effort on offense.

“It’s spotty right now,” Van Horn said. “I think guys are trying too hard, trying to do too much instead of just take what they give you sometimes. What I’m talking about is maybe a couple guys going out of the zone, put themselves in a bad count. We got to flip that, take the pitch, work for the next one. Yeah, we’re going to have to swing the bats a lot better when we get to the regional.”

The Razorbacks dropped its first game in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday, falling to South Carolina 6-5 in heart-breaking fashion. Arkansas now waits for its fortune to be told during Monday’s selection show while the Wildcats keep their SEC Tournament hopes alive. They are expected to host a Regional as one of the NCAA Tournament’s top 16 seeds once the field is set.