Baseball falls 3-2 to Arkansas on opening day

ARLINGTON, Texas Texas Baseball fell to No. 8 Arkansas, 3-2, on the opening day of the College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field. All the goals were scored in the seventh inning, as both teams attacked well throughout the game.

The Longhorns (0-1) return to action against Missouri (0-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Globe Life Field.

Lucas Gordon started opening day and was terrific, allowing just two hits in five scoreless innings. Gordon struck out six batters and walked just one.

Gordon faced a small jam in the second round before landing back-to-back punches to break out of it. The last base runner Gordon allowed was a single to third that fell into a double play. He retired the last eight batters he faced.

After six shutout innings from both pitching staffs, Arkansas broke the deadlock with three runs on four hits in the top of the seventh. The Razorbacks started the seventh with back-to-back singles before Texas came calling Chris Stuart of cattle. After loading the bases, a two-run single and RBI double gave the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead. Stuart was able to limit the damage with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.

Porter Brown got Texas on the board in the bottom of the seventh and hit his first home run as a Longhorn. The Longhorns scored after another run Garret Guillemette doubled and later scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 3-2.

LeBarron Johnson Jr. came out of the bullpen in the sixth and was stranded, but was able to get a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. He was credited with the loss after allowing two singles in the seventh.

Other Duplantier II pitched two scoreless and hitless innings with three strikeouts to keep it 3-2 in the late game.

Eric Kennedy was the only Longhorn with multiple hits in the game, going 2-4.