FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas pitcher Will McEntire was in the zone on Sunday against Murray State.
The strike zone. Over and over and over.
McEntire, a fifth-year senior right-hander from Bryant, threw the final 3 2/3 innings of the No. 5 Razorbacks' 5-3 victory at Baum-Walker Stadium and had 37 strikes on 43 pitches.
An 86% strike rate.
"That's amazing," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "That strike percentage is something else.
"Some of them were strikes they took. Some of them were pitches they thought were strikes that were out of the zone, and that's what a good pitcher can do to you. They fool you a little bit.
"But 37 out of 43 ... That's awfully, awfully good."
McEntire came into the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out with Arkansas ahead 4-2.
The first batter McEntire faced, Taylor Howell, to hit a high popup, which was an automatic out because the umpires invoked the infield fly rule.
When third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott couldn't make the catch, Carson Garner tried to score from third base and was tagged out by McEntire in a rundown for a double play.
"I heard [the umpire] yell infield fly rule, so a drop doesn't matter," McEntire said. "It's an automatic out.
"But it threw me off when [Garner] took off for home. Luckily I had my chance to back up home and the ball got to me and I just made the tag."
Van Horn said the Arkansas coaches were trying to make sure the Razorbacks knew they had to tag out Garner.
"It wasn't a force play anymore," Van Horn said. "And we were screaming as loud as we could for them to tag him and not to just step on the plate.
"When the ball hit the ground and started [rolling] away from people I was kind of getting a little on edge. But give credit to the guys. They didn't panic.
"Even though they probably couldn't hear a word we were saying -- the crowd, the wind -- they knew how to get that last out."
Arkansas junior left-hander Mason Molina, a transfer from Texas Tech, started and went five innings. He allowed a home run by Howell that gave the Racers a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Molina had 10 strikeouts and allowed 2 hits and 1 walk.
"Everything was working," Molina said. "Just felt like we stuck to the game plan pretty well. Attacked them, got ahead early for the most part.
"Missed one spot and kind of paid for it [on the home run], but other than that it felt pretty good."
The Razorbacks (9-2) went ahead 2-1 against Murray State starter Ryan Fender in the third inning when second baseman Nolan Souza hit his first home run and right fielder Kendall Diggs had a sacrifice fly that scored catcher Hudson White.
"Molina did a nice job giving us an opportunity early to stay in the game and get the lead after we finally scored there in the third," Van Horn said. "He had good stuff, didn't have his best stuff.
"But his changeup was good. He made a couple of mistakes. Their hitters, they got to the point where they started sitting on his changeup a little bit. Then we started mixing more fastballs."
Souza's two-run single in the fourth inning pushed Arkansas' lead to 4-2.
"I was just really happy that I could go out there and perform for my teammates," said Souza, a freshman. "I know they have my back, so I was really happy that I could go out there and do my job for them."
It was the second consecutive start for Souza, who also had a two-run single in the Razorbacks' 11-1 victory on Saturday.
"He's played solid defense, really good runner," Van Horn said. "I just felt like he deserved to get another game in back to back.
"It's fun to watch freshmen that have success and you know you can play them this year and you can build around them for the future."
Drew Vogel hit a two-out home run off McEntire in the seventh inning to cut Arkansas' lead to 4-3.
The Razorbacks made it 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh when Will Edmunson reached on an error, stole second base, went to third on a single by Diggs and scored when Wehiwa Aloy grounded into a double play.
Diggs dropped a fly ball with two outs in the eighth inning, giving Murray State runners on second and third base.
But McEntire left the tying runs stranded when he got Jonathan Hogart on a pop-out.
"Didn't shake him up or anything," Van Horn said of McEntire pitching around an error. "I don't think having runners on is fazing him too much at the moment."
McEntire smiled when asked about pitching with traffic on the bases.
"I bet as a pitcher I probably shouldn't say I enjoy guys on, but I kind of enjoy the pressure of it," he said.
McEntire leads the Razorbacks in innings pitched with 17 1/3 in six relief appearances. He's had 18 strikeouts and two walks.
Sunday was McEntire's second consecutive game after he went two innings on Saturday and retired all six batters he faced on 16 pitches.
"He really wanted to get back out there [Sunday]," Van Horn said. "We didn't know if he was going to give us an inning, two innings. He felt really good."
McEntire said he didn't worry about how long he could go Sunday pitching a second consecutive day.
"I just go until I'm told I'm not going anymore," he said. "So I always have that mindset."
In terms of having a high percentage of throwing strikes, McEntire referenced his Arkansas debut as a freshman in 2020 against South Alabama as being reminiscent of Sunday's game.
"I think I threw 11 straight strikes," McEntire said. "But that's the last time I remember."
McEntire said that after he warmed up in the bullpen Sunday, he didn't feel he had his "best stuff" replacing Gage Wood, who gave up 3 hits and 1 run in a 1/3 of an inning.
"So when I got on the mound I just knew I had to lock it in a little bit more," McEntire said. "I didn't realize that I was throwing that many strikes, but our pitching staff has this thing going on where it's a race to two strikes.
"You're just trying to get to two strikes, because good things happen when you're ahead."