OMAHA, Neb. — Gabe Gaeckle struck out a career-high 10 batters over a career-long six innings of relief work, but the Arkansas Razorbacks could not overcome an early deficit and was handed a 4-1 loss against the Louisiana State University Tigers on Saturday night at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in its 2025 Men’s College World Series opener.

The Tigers (49-15) jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Gaeckle entered in relief of starter Zach Root (8-6) with the bases loaded in the second inning. The right-hander induced an inningending groundout and would go on to tally 10 strikeouts while allowing only one run on three hits in his superb relief effort.

Reese Robinett swatted a solo shot, his third home run of the season, to lead off the bottom of the sixth, cutting the Arkansas deficit to 3-1. It was the Razorbacks’ only run of the night, however, as Tiger ace Kade Anderson (11-1) fired seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts.

The Razorbacks (48-14) were limited to just four hits, including singles by Wehiwa Aloy, Cam Kozeal and Charles Davalan to go with a pair of walks. Kozeal, a native of Omaha, Neb., led off the eighth with his single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but the offense was unable to capitalize.

Arkansas is now in must-win mode from now until reaching the best-of-3 championship series. The Hogs were slated to play Murray State on Monday afternoon, with a win putting them in another elimination game against the loser of Monday night’s LSU-UCLA game. If the Razorbacks win that game, they will be in the winner’s-bracket final against the LSU-UCLA winner, in which Arkansas will need to get two wins against that team to advance to the championship series.