LAWRENCE, Kan. — A pair of transfers who made their NCAA Tournament debuts played critical roles in Arkansas baseball‘s win over Missouri State.
The Razorbacks (40-20) rallied for a 9-5 victory against the Bears (34-20) on Friday, May 29. Arkansas trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the third when Maika Niu spearheaded the comeback.
Niu went 4 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs while hitting seventh in the Hogs’ lineup. All four of his hits drove in one run, and three of them came with two outs. Niu provided Arkansas’ first run of the game and had an RBI double for some insurance in the bottom of the eighth.
“It was definitely a different feel, Niu said. “I never played in a tournament game, so I was excited, and I just wanted to win.”
This was the first four-hit game of Niu’s Arkansas career. The Marshall transfer hadn’t produced a three-hit game since March 20.
“(Niu) hit the ball hard three out of four times. Yeah, four RBIs, that was the main thing. Drove in runs,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said.
Niu’s heroics might not have been enough if not for the stellar defense of Texas Tech transfer third baseman TJ Pompey.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, Curry Sutherland hit a line drive that Pompey reached and snared out of the air. The catch saved multiple runs, and Missouri State head coach Joey Hawkins called it a turning point in the game.
Arkansas went on to score the next eight runs.
“The line drive he caught was starting to sink, and he kind of found it. It found his glove,” Van Horn said. “If the ball gets by him, that’s two in, probably runners at first and third with two outs, and who knows what would happen there.”
Pompey made another big defensive play in the top of the eighth. Missouri State had runners on second and third with one out when Taeg Gollert hit a hard grounder to Pompey. He caught the ball off a short hop and fired to first for the second out of the inning. Pompey also recorded the final out of the eighth, and it maintained an 8-5 lead for Arkansas.
“We had some loud outs,” Hawkins said.
Arkansas’ two newcomers made the right noise in their first games at the national tournament. They’ll try to have a similar impact in Saturday’s winners-bracket bout with Kansas.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Two transfers play major roles in Arkansas baseball triumph over Missouri State
