LINCOLN ‹ Arkansas rediscovered its power stroke Wednesday just in time to put an end to Nebraska's 14-game winning streak.
With the score tied 3-3, the Razorbacks scored six runs in the top of the eighth inning on their way to a 9-4 victory over the No. 22-ranked Cornhuskers at Haymarket Park. Ryan Cisterna's two-run homer to deep left field proved to be the key blow as Arkansas snapped a three-game losing skid.
Arkansas (13-6) tacked on four more runs against Nebraska relievers Mike Nesseth (2-1) and Zach Herr. Two errors and two walks issued by the Huskers (15-3) contributed to NU's first loss since Feb. 24 at Stanford.
"We hadn't seen anything like that for a long time," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "It's just one of those things that happens. More than making mistakes on our part, I thought they did a good job.
"Give credit to them, they hit the ball, hit it hard and that's a good team."
Arkansas, which entered the two-game series with 32 home runs more than three times Nebraska's output finally got back into its hitting grove. Tim Smalling started it with a solo homer in the fourth, cutting the Razorbacks' deficit to 2-1 and Chase Leavitt added a solo shot in the fifth, slicing the Huskers' advantage to 3-2.
Seven of Arkansas' 10 hits went for extra bases. A two-out RBI double by Andy Wilkins in the sixth tied the score at 3-3, setting the stage for Cisterna's monstrous blast. Four of the Razorback catcher's nine hits this season have been homers.
"He's all or nothing we know that," said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, who coached five seasons at Nebraska and took the Huskers to the College World Series in 2001 and 2002. "Honestly, we saw that in the fall. If you make a mistake and he hits it, he's got a good chance to hit it out of the park and he did. He hammered that ball.
"It was big. Right when it left the bat, we all knew it was gone."
Van Horn, whose team dropped the final two games of last weekend's Southeastern Conference series with Georgia before losing 6-1 at Nebraska on Tuesday, said Wednesday's performance was more like what he expects from the Razorbacks.
"We hit some home runs that's kind of our style," Van Horn said. "We can also steal a base or two like we did there, but I thought we did a good job of really hanging in there because our games, from mid-day Saturday on have been really disappointing.
"We just needed to get a big hit to really change all that."
While the hitting was the highlight, Arkansas got a solid pitching effort from its bullpen. After closer Travis Hill started and allowed three runs in three innings, Dallas Keuchel, Stephen Richards and Brett Eibner combined to allow one run over the final six frames.
"We just hung in there and I thought our pitching did a great job," Van Horn said. "We pieced it together. I just got done telling them, 'You gave us a chance to get some confidence at the plate."
Nebraska had a good start toward keeping its streak alive, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Andy Cotton bunted Bryce Nimmo home on a squeeze play and Jake Mort singled in Tyler Rank. The Huskers went ahead 3-1 in the fourth when Cotton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
NU's only other run came in the eighth when Nick Sullivan's single scored Mitch Abeita.
Anderson said some of the mistakes Nebraska made against Arkansas will help him emphasize fundamentals Thursday in practice. The Huskers play their Big 12 Conference home opener Friday, starting a three-game series with Oklahoma.
"When you win a game and you make some mistakes, it seems to get covered over," Anderson said. "When you lose a game, they get emphasized. To be honest with you, it's never good to lose, but there are some things that stand out that we can improve on."
Anderson said he isn't concerned about the winning streak's demise taking the wind out of Nebraska's good start.
"If we go 55-0, we've done something right," Anderson said. "That's not going to happen.
"Every game, I think we've come out with excitement and energy and good preparation. Today, I think the same thing. It just didn't translate into a win. We'll try to get after it again tomorrow."
Game notes
& Anderson said the Huskers expect to again use the pitching rotation of Grand Island senior Johnny Dorn (2-0, 1.33 ERA), Thad Weber (3-1, 5.40 ERA) and Aaron Pribanic (2-0, 0.76 ERA) against Oklahoma.
& Normally a reliever, Erik Bird started for Nebraska and had career highs in innings pitched (five) and strikeouts (four). He left with a 3-2 lead.
& Anderson and Van Horn both had line shots hit directly at them Wednesday while in the third-base coach's box. Van Horn was drilled in the thigh by a Smalling liner in the second, while Anderson just missed getting hit by Bryce Nimmo's hard-hit ball in the eighth, diving out of the way.
Arkansas (13-6) 000 110 160 9 10 0
Nebraska (15-3) 002 100 010 4 7 2
W Richards (1-0). L Nesseth (2-1). 2B Arkansas, Leavitt (4), Forsythe (5), Wilkins (6); Nebraska, Belfonte (7). 3B Arkansas, Eibner (2). HR Arkansas, Leavitt (2), Smalling (2), Cisterna (4).
[an error occurred while processing this directive]