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Razorbacks' Hunter Dietz Got Rocked Early, Then Became Untouchable

Arkansas starter gave up three runs on the first four pitches, then was nearly untouchable the rest of the way.
Andy Hodges|
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz before game with Missouri Tigers.
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz before game with Missouri Tigers. | Arkansas Communications

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Arkansas Razorbacks

Hunter Dietz got punched in the mouth right away and kept throwing anyway.

The Arkansas starter watched Missouri's Jase Woita turn the very first pitch of the game into a 405-foot leadoff home run — 99 miles an hour off the bat, straight into the bullpen in left field.

It could've unraveled from there. Instead, Dietz did what good starters do: he buried the moment and got back to work.

By the time the night was finished, the Razorbacks had a 5-4 win over Missouri, a 28-15 overall record and a 10-9 mark in the SEC.

And Dietz had had one of his better outings of the season ... if you can manage to look past the first four pitches he threw.

First Inning the Hogs Had to Survive

The first inning wasn't pretty and Arkansas knew it had to weather the storm fast.

Woita's leadoff homer set the tone in the worst possible way.

Kam Durnin followed with a hit-by-pitch and Blaize Ward, a guy with just two homers entering the night, jumped on a Dietz offering and sent it to left for a 2-run shot.

Three batters in, the Hogs were already staring at a 3-0 hole before a single out had been recorded.

The Arkansas offense had a chance to answer immediately. Missouri's Josh McDevitt walked three Razorbacks to load the bases in the first, pushing his pitch count to 31 in the inning alone.

Zack Stewart struck out swinging to strand all three runners and leave Arkansas without a run despite the opportunity.

It was the kind of missed chance that can haunt a team, but the Hogs didn't let it.

Dietz Finds His Groove

What unfolded from the second inning on is the reason Arkansas walked out of Tuesday night with a win.

Dietz stopped the bleeding and then some. Once he got past that chaotic first frame, he settled into a rhythm that Missouri's lineup couldn't solve.

Through one complete trip around the Mizzou order, he'd scattered 3 hits — both came by the long ball in the first — while posting three strikeouts without issuing a walk.

The Razorbacks needed him to be steady and that's exactly what he was.

The fourth inning was a good example of how locked in Dietz had become. Pierre Seals singled with two outs, but Dietz erased the threat by getting Keegan Knutson to fly out to right.

The Arkansas dugout had to feel good watching their starter work through contact and keep Missouri from adding to its lead.

By the fifth inning, Dietz was only using four pitches to get through the frame — a sign that he was dealing with efficiency.

He struck out 8 and threw 73 of 101 pitches for strikes across 7 innings of work.

For a staff that's needed its starters to eat innings in SEC play, that's exactly the kind of performance Arkansas was looking for.

Pompey Gives the Hogs Life

The Arkansas offense had been quiet through four innings and McDevitt had looked the part of a pitcher in control despite his pitch-count troubles early.

He'd punched out five Razorbacks by the end of the second inning and kept the damage minimal.

TJ Pompey changed the tone in the fifth.

With one out and the Hogs trailing 3-0, Pompey worked a 2-1 count and then went the opposite way, sending a fastball to right field for his 10th homer of the season.

It was his second long ball in back-to-back games — a sign that the outfielder is heating up at exactly the right time for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks didn't add to it that inning. Rutenbar popped up to third and Ruiz flied out to center.

The solo shot trimmed the deficit to 3-1 and gave the Arkansas lineup something to feel good about heading into the game's second half.

Arkansas Rallies to Tie It

McDevitt had been dealing, but the Hogs wore him down.

By the time the seventh inning arrived, the Missouri starter was sitting at 94 pitches and his tank was getting close to empty.

Arkansas smelled it. Aloy drew a 1-out walk to get things started and Robinett followed with a double to left, putting runners on second and third.

Missouri pulled McDevitt and turned to right-hander Trey Lawrence, who struck out Pompey on a 1-2 slider to put the Razorbacks one out from escaping the inning without scoring.

That's when Rutenbar delivered. He lined a 2-run single up the middle, scoring both runners and knotting the game at 3.

Arkansas had battled back from a 3-0 deficit without a ton of flash — just timely hitting and patience at the plate.

Ruiz grounded into a force play to end the half inning, but the damage was done in the best possible way for the Hogs.

Stewart Puts Arkansas in Front for Good

The eighth inning has been Arkansas's strongest frame of late and Tuesday was no different.

Souza drew a 2-out walk to set the table. That brought up Stewart, who was playing this game about 115 miles from his hometown.

He didn't waste the moment. Stewart got into a pitch and launched it 450 feet to right field for a 2-run home run, giving the Razorbacks a 5-3 lead and flipping the script on a night that had started so badly.

It was the kind of swing that defines games in SEC play — a clutch two-out, two-run blast that put Arkansas firmly in the driver's seat.

The Hogs had gone from chasing to leading and they weren't about to give it back.

Gaeckle, McElvain Finish the Job

Gabe Gaeckle had been sharp all night. He struck out the side in a dominant eighth inning — one of his best frames of the season — and carried that momentum into the ninth with a 5-3 lead in hand.

The ninth got complicated when Gaeckle issued a five-pitch walk to Serna to start the inning.

Arkansas turned to McElvain, who gave up a 2-out RBI single to pinch hitter Donovan Jordan that pulled Missouri within one. The tying run was standing at first base with the game on the line.

McElvain didn't flinch. He struck out pinch hitter Tyler Macon to end it and the Razorbacks walked off with a 5-4 victory that wasn't as clean as the box score might suggest, but a win in SEC play is a win.

Arkansas is 28-15 overall and 10-9 in conference play. Dietz did the heavy lifting,

Stewart delivered the blow that mattered most and the bullpen held on when it had to.

That's a winning formula for the Hogs.

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Andy Hodges
ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.

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