FAYETTEVILLE - Any other game Cullen Gassaway would have been the biggest deal. Bottom of the ninth, bases-loaded walk-offs are not an every day occurrence.
And the senior first baseman, who entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth, was the hero. His five-pitch walk forced in Darien Simms for a 3-2 Arkansas win over Eastern Illinois and salvaged a series victory over a team that arrived in Fayetteville for a three-game set winless.
But Gassaway wasn’t the most impressive, nor, in the long-term line of thinking, the most important part of the day. Arkansas (10-2) would not have had a shot Sunday, though, without the return of Keaton McKinney.