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Razorbacks Complete Massive Comeback; Keep Perfect Home Record Intact

Arkansas overcome ace's struggles, topples Charlotte in shootout

Daniel Shi

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn in the dugout against the Charlotte 49ers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn in the dugout against the Charlotte 49ers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas kept its perfect home record with its largest comeback in nearly eight seasons with a 11-10 win over the Charlotte 49ers.

Arkansas found themselves down 9-1 after the 49ers ambushed Razorbacks starter Gabe Gaeckle. It's the Hogs' biggest comeback since they came back from a 10-1 deficit against Louisiana Tech in March 2017.

"Give them credit," coach Dave Van Horn said about Charlotte. "They came out on fire. They had a plan and they did it."

When right fielder Logan Maxwell led off the fourth inning with a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the fourth, the Arkansas fans at Baum-Walker gave a cursory cheer for a home run. The Hogs still trailed 9-2.

By the time Maxwell came back around to hit in the same inning, it was his RBI single that cut the lead to 9-7. It was only fitting that Maxwell scored the tying run on Kuhio Aloy's bases-clearing double to right-center to give Arkansas the lead and complete an eight-run comeback.

Cam Kozeal capped off the 10-run inning with an RBI single up the middle, which would end up being the winning run.

Arkansas sent 16 men to the plate, all nine players in the lineup either reached base or recorded an RBI in the inning.

Gaeckle looked to have dug an insurmountable hole, allowing nine earned runs in just three innings of work.

Coming into the game, Gaeckle had been charged just 13 earned runs across 53 1/3 innings in his college career. His season ERA ballooned from 1.69 to 7.24.

"He didn't have a good day," Van Horn said. "He didn't have a great day last weekend. Opening weekend, it was pretty good, but It was cold. He'll get another start before we open conference and hopefully it'll be a good one."

Charlotte sent at least nine men to the plate in both the first and the fourth innings, putting Arkansas in a 5-0 hole before the Razorbacks even came to bat. Charlotte batted around in the third and added four more.

"He wasn't spotting his pitches," Van Horn said. "He made a couple of good pitches early, and then he'd leave something in the zone and they'd hammer it. If you made a mistake early, they'd hit it. We need to get him on track."

Dylan Carter stranded the bases loaded to prevent any further damage in relief of Gaeckle, which would prove to be important.

The 49ers got a run back to lead off the sixth with a solo homer from first baseman Cody Gunderson off Colin Fisher, but Parker Coil and Christian Foutch combined for three scoreless innings of relief. Both Coil and Foutch have yet to allow a run on the season.

Foutch picked up his second save of the season, stranding the tying run at second in the ninth after hitting back-to-back hitters with one out.

Arkansas continues its series against the 49ers 2 p.m. Saturday. The game will be streamed on SEC+.

HOGS FEED:

• Hogs plan big weekend around last football spring practice

• Unreasonable fan demands for 2025 show lack of understanding of schedule

• Jackson's stock sees rise at combine reminiscent of former Hogs star

• This Razorback team coming together at best time for Calipari

• Which positions will Razorbacks target during spring portal?

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Daniel Shi
DANIEL SHI

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