Hogs’ Season Ends in NCAA Lawrence Regional

Oliver Grigg May 31, 2026

Box Score: ARK 10, NU 9 Box Score: KU 13, ARK 10 Presser: DVH

LAWRENCE, Kan. – No. 14 Arkansas (41-22) defeated Northeastern (39-22) 10-9 to escape the losers bracket and advance to the NCAA Lawrence Regional final, but ultimately saw its season end against No. 13 Kansas (45-16), the No. 15 national seed and regional host, with a 13-10 loss Sunday evening at Hoglund Ballpark.

The Hogs conclude the 2026 campaign with a 41-22 overall record, their SEC-best ninth consecutive 40-win season. Arkansas is one of two teams nationally (Southern Miss – 10) to accomplish the feat in nine or more consecutive years.

Despite the offense scoring 20 runs over two games on the day, the Razorback pitching staff struggled to post zeroes. Arkansas survived a late surge by Northeastern to pull out a win in Sunday’s elimination game and punch its ticket to the regional final, where it jumped out to a five-run lead over Kansas before allowing eight unanswered runs in its loss.

Between the two games, Arkansas belted eight home runs, including a pair of long balls by Reese Robinett in the win against Northeastern as well as a pair of homers by Ryder Helfrick in the finale against Kansas. Zack Stewart belted his 14th home run of the season against the Huskies before connecting on his 15th against the Jayhawks later in the day.

With his 15th homer of the year, Stewart became the fourth Razorback player with 15 or more home runs this season, joining Camden Kozeal (20), Helfrick (18) and TJ Pompey (15). Before 2026, Arkansas had never accomplished the feat.

Nolan Souza and Maika Niu also homered Sunday. Souza matched his career high with five RBI, including a two-run blast, against Northeastern, while Niu had career high-matching four hits, including a solo shot, and four RBI against Kansas. As a team, the Razorbacks finished the campaign with 105 home runs, good for fifth most in a season in program history.

Five Razorbacks – Helfrick, Robinett, Souza, Niu and Hunter Dietz, who struck out a career-high 14 batters in Saturday’s loss against Kansas – were named to the Lawrence Regional All-Tournament Team. Arkansas lost a road regional for the first time since 2014 at Virginia after winning its previous two road regionals at Oklahoma State in 2015 and 2022.

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