Kozeal's big day gets Arkansas off to 1-0 start in regional over Bison

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 3 Arkansas rode a 3-for-4 day with four RBIs from second baseman Cam Kozeal to beat North Dakota State, 6-2.

"Not going to call it a boring game but it was just a solid game," coach Dave Van Horn said. "We didn't make any mistakes. Just feel good getting a win."

The Razorbacks advance to face the winner of Kansas and Creighton in the 1-0 game.

Kozeal finished just a triple short of the cycle, hitting a single, double and two-run homer in his first three at-bats.

"Hit the fastball hard," Kozeal said about his approach. "He [NDSU starter Nolan Johnson] didn’t have great control over his off speed at some points. As a hitter, it frees you up because you’re kind of focused on one thing. It was a fun day at the ballpark."

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— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 30, 2025

North Dakota State put up plenty of resistance in the early innings, scoring the first run of the game in the top of the first and hitting the regional's first homer.

The Bison had no problem getting baserunners off starter Aiden Jimenez. Centerfielder Sam Canton opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single, to give the Hogs an early lead.

Jimenez used good defense behind him to get through, 3 2/3 innings on 63 pitches, allowing just two runs. Ryder Helfrick threw out two baserunners, both to end innings.

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— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 30, 2025

Making just his second start of the year, Jimenez managed just three strikeouts. A swinging strikeout of the No. 2 hitter Dante Smith stranded the bases loaded in the second in a tie game.

Jimenez ran into more trouble in the third, but a nice leaping play from Brent Iredale at the hot corner turned a ball destined for left field into a inning-ending 5-3 double play.

The Bison had runners on first and second with just one out and were threatening to tie or take the lead. Iredale jumped up, calmly gathered, steped on the bag at third and fired to first to get the Hogs back in the dugout.

Kozeal's big day out of the No. 6 spot of the order underlines Van Horn's point from Thursday about this year's team being deeper.

Last year in the regional opener against Southeast Missouri State, Kendall Diggs hit out of the six spot with an average of .232.

This year, Kozeal's average sits over 100 points higher at .345 with all five in front of him in the lineup over. 300.

Johnson held the lineup mostly in check outside of Kozeal, allowing all six runs in five innings of work.

Parker Coil and Landon Beidelschies handled the Bison offense with relative ease. A runner never got in scoring position until the ninth inning after Jimenez left the game.

Arkansas now awaits the winner of Creighton and Kansas. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Count Masters:
Arkansas battled back from a pair of 0-2 counts early that set up the early runs as their offense struggled to click into gear. Kuhio Aloy worked a walk to extend the inning to allow Kozeal to come up to bat with two outs in the first.

In the second, Robinett worked back from a 0-2 hole to leadoff the inning with a walk and would eventually come around to score on a Wehiwa Aloy sac fly.

"We felt like we needed to get his pitch count up and we fought him," Van Horn said. "We had a couple of 0-2 count walks. It really frustrates pitchers when you do that. His pitch count after three innings was almost 70 pitches."

Kozeal's the Only Bomber
Because of the Hogs going one-and done in the SEC Tournament and Kozeal being the only one to homer in Hoover, he's the only one Razorback to circle the bases in the past two weeks and takes over second place on the team with 14 homers.

HOGS FEED: