Already having secured a likely path through Baum Walker Stadium back home in Fayetteville, Ark., for the upcoming College World Series, the No. 5 ranked Arkansas Razorback baseball team didn't have much to lose or gain when they opened the 2025 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament against the No. 17 ranked Ole Miss Rebels.
Co-Razorbacker of the Week: Gabe Gaekle and Cole Gibler
Ole Miss ended up winning the game 5-2 thanks to four of five unearned runs in the first inning off starting pitcher Zach Root courtesy of uncharacteristic fielding errors by SEC Player of the Year Wahiwa Aloy and his infield teammates. However there were a few positive takeaways going into today's NCAA Baseball Selection Show to be announced at12 p.m. ET on ESPN2. That take away was the Razorbacker-of-the-Week worthy performance of Razorback bullpen led by sophomore Gabe Gaeckle who pitched three scoreless innings after coming on in the top of the fifth inning in relief of Root.
Gaeckle gave up only two hits while striking out four Rebel hitters as fellow relievers Cole Gibler and Christian Fouch joined Root and Gaeckle to hold Ole Miss scoreless over the final eight innings of what amounted to a glorified exhibition game for Arkansas.
"Both pitching staffs really did a nice job," long-time Razorback coach Dave Van Horn said after the game on Friday. "I think both teams had double digit strikeouts. Both bullpens did a tremendous job of coming in and pretty much shutting down the offense. I try to be positive with everything that we do. Obviously you learn from everything that happens. We talk about it a little bit but the positive for us was that we pitched well."
"(Gaeckle) just sits in the mid 90’s and he can pitch. We can use him in so many different roles — whether we finish a game with him, start him or long relief. He’s such a good teammate that he doesn’t care what he does."Dave Van Horn
Root was credited with seven total hits but only one earned run and two walks while Gibler gave up one hit while striking out four in one-and-two-thirds innings of work. Fouch struck out the only hitter he faced in Ole Miss' final at bat.
In all, Arkansas finished with 13 strikeouts to Ole Miss' 11. The Rebels were led by starter Riley Maddox who retired seven Razorback hitters in 5 and two-thirds innings while allowing a pair of earned runs.
"We pitched good enough to win," Van Horn said. "I thought Zach got a couple of bad breaks in the first inning. We spotted them five and I felt like if they had scored maybe one...
"We’ve fielded the ball all year. We’ve turned double plays but we didn’t do it today and it cost us. I didn’t think their five runs would hold up. I thought we would score five but we didn’t and hats off to them."
While Van Horn said his team came into the SEC Tournament hoping to get more live action in preparation for Friday's home regional round, he liked what he saw from his pitchers — starting with Gaeckle.
"I thought he threw the ball extremely well," said Van Horn. "We could have left him out there, but we wanted to get Gibby in there for a little bit. (Gaeckle) hit maybe a couple too many three-two counts but he threw his breaking ball, fast ball and slider for strikes. He was around the zone with only a couple of bad misses.
"He just sits in the mid 90’s and he can pitch. We can use him in so many different roles — whether we finish a game with him, start him or long relief. He’s such a good teammate that he doesn’t care what he does."
Gaeckle, who hails from Aptos California, came into his sophomore season at Arkansas by being voted SEC Preseason Pitcher of the Year and tagged as Arkansas' No. 1 starter by Van Horn. The right-handed sophomore struggled in that role and has a 5.02 era on the season after finishing with a stellar 2.32 era out of the bullpen as a freshman.
After being moved back to the bullpen, Gaeckle has put up multiple shut down performances which led to a previous Razorbacker of the Week nod. That came tandem with a relief appearance with the team's current No. 2 starter Gage Wood when they teamed up to shut down the Florida Gators in Gainesville back in April.
"The positive for me today was Gaeckle and Gibler, and then Fouch coming in and getting them on a one-hitter," Van Horn said. "But Zach threw pretty good. He gave up five runs but only one of them was earned. He should have been off the field pretty quick a couple of innings in and who knows how the game would have turned out."
Van Horn, who last led the Razorbacks to an SEC Tournament title in 2021 with 12 NCAA Regional Titles and nine College World Series appearances — including a heartbreaking national runner up finish in 2018, says his team will close ranks this week and rally around one another.
"The message going forward is that we’ve got to tighten up as a group. We can’t let this happen again. We need to have a good week back in Fayetteville and get ready to go."