By Harold McIlvain II

Brett Eibner did it again.

A game removed from throwing a pitch that resulted in a 7-6 loss, the Arkansas outfielder and pitcher hit another dramatic home run—similar to the one he hit against Virginia in the College World Series last year—with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game.

“My job is to get on base and score,” Eibner said. “With two strikes, I was just looking to put the ball in play. It just so happens that he hung a slider and I hit it out.”

But the come-from-behind effort was crushed in the 12th inning when Arizona State outfielder Drew Maggi picked up his first hit of the night with a two-run, two-out home run that gave the team a 7-5 win.

After freshman reliever DJ Baxendale pitched 6.1 innings while allowing no earned runs, stranding nine runners and striking out four, senior TJ Forrest took over. But Benton, La., native allowed the home run to Maggi to end the Razorback season.

“DJ did a great job, especially as a freshman coming into the game in a spot like that,” Van Horn said. “We battled back and got a couple of runs here and there.  He gave us a chance. I was proud of him. He grew up a lot tonight out there.”

Razorback ace Drew Smyly allowed three home runs—while throwing 117 pitches during his outing—as Arizona State took a 4-0 lead after three innings against the Razorbacks.

The Little Rock native allowed a home run to Sun Devil Zach Wilson in the first inning and then allowed back-to-back home runs in the third.

Arkansas used back-to-back walks in the fourth inning with the bases loaded with Zack Cox and Andy Wilkins scoring to cut the lead to 4-2.

Baxendale, who entered the game for Smyly who left with two outs and runners in scoring position, then retired the last batter of the fourth inning to keep the lead just at two.

After the strike out from the Razorback reliever, Wilkins delivered a two-out hit in the bottom of the inning to score Cox and pull Arkansas within one run.

Arizona State extended the lead after starting the seventh inning with an error and eventually scoring an unearned run with a sacrifice fly, pushing the lead to 5-3.

The Razorbacks then battled back in the eighth inning to score a run before the Eibner home run when second baseman Bo Bigham doubled and catcher James McCann singled back up the middle.

The come-from-behind effort after playing in the more than five hour game was ended when Maggi swung the bat in extra innings to help win the game and advance to the College World Series.

But just like last year—including the Virginia win at Omaha—Van Horn never doubted the Razorbacks.

“It doesn’t surprise me that we came back and tied it up with two strikes,” Van Horn said. “We always feel like we’re in the game until that last out is recorded.”