We’ve managed to capture live footage of the Rebel dugout moments after Jack Kenley made it 4-1:

My goodness, what a win. I don’t know about you all, but after the performance in Hoover, I was quite nervous heading into this series. There will be more available in Game 2 for me, but the Hogs showed absolutely no sign of nervousness as they demolished Ole Miss, with a final score of 11-2. It was a great performance from the whole team— there weren’t any weak spots at all. That’s the kind of performance you need at this time of the year, and it’s the kind of performance that has the Hogs one win away from Omaha.

Hogs Hit the Ground Running

Trevor Ezell continued his amazing postseason play as he rocked Ole Miss’ pitchers, hitting 3-5 with a homer. He had another homer on the line that was taken away by an incredible catch. What a journey he’s had. The Bryant, Arkansas native began his college baseball career at Southeast Missouri State, came to Arkansas as a possible replacement for a Carson Shaddy sized hole, but a nagging shoulder issue moved him to first base. Now he’s a leadoff hitter for an SEC West champion in a Super Regional, and I can’t imagine the team without him. As a Benton native it’s hard to be happy about Bryant having success, but dang it, Ezell has transcended that rivalry.

Elsewhere, Jack Kenley had the aforementioned three run homer that gave the Hogs a permanent lead. Matt Goodheart had a moonshot home run to go with 3 RBIs. Casey Martin finally broke through, getting himself 2 hits, scoring 2 runs, and netting 2 RBIs as well. It was good to see him back. It was a wonderful day.

Campbell Cruises

The Razorback Ace faced some early adversity, as Grae Kessinger ripped off a solo home run early on in the first. Campbell rallied though, and saw that inning off. After Arkansas took what would be an insurmountable lead in the bottom of the first, Campbell never showed signs of stopping. He pitched through 8.1 innings, surrendered only 5 hits and 2 runs, had 7 strikeouts, all on 102 pitches. The man was dealing, and got a deserved standing ovation in what will be his final game at Baum-Walker stadium. Zay has been a special one, and today showed Hog fans why we’ve been lucky to have him along for our journey. He deserves another trip to Omaha, and I hope the team can give him one.

Looking Ahead

Another game tomorrow against Ole Miss will hopefully see the Hogs through to Omaha, but if things go poorly, there’s another potential game on Monday to see the series out. There probably won’t be another essentially complete game from whichever starter Dave Van Horn rolls with tomorrow, but the bullpen getting rested today should be a huge advantage. The fans are going to turn out, as they’ve already gotten in line:

If the bats do what they did today, and the pitchers put together a great game, the Hogs will be going back to Omaha for the second year in a row. This is a special team, and after a special win today, it’s hard not to feel that hope again.