Baseball
Gabe Gaeckle included in Razorbacks’ three preseason All-Americans
Hogs ranked No. 13 in preseason Top 25 as practices starting soon for new season with very different roster
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Three Razorback pitchers have been named preseason All-Americans by Perfect Game. Sophomore right-hander Gabe Gaeckle, junior left-hander Landon Beidelschies and junior left-hander Zach Root were on the teams.
Beidelschies and Gaeckle earned first-team honors, while Root nabbed second-team praise. Arkansas is the only school with three preseason All-America pitchers and the only program with two first-team pitchers on Perfect Game’s list.
Beidelschies, a transfer from Ohio State, was the Buckeyes’ Friday night starter last season, going 6-7 with a 4.15 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 84.2 innings across 15 starts on the mound. The Canfield, Ohio, native logged seven quality starts during his sophomore campaign and recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts in an outing at West Virginia (March 15, 2024).
Gaeckle, meanwhile, looks to build upon his historic rookie campaign in which he was named a unanimous first-team Freshman All-American after emerging as the Hogs’ most dependable bullpen arm. The Aptos, Calif., native made 22 relief appearances on the mound, posting a 3-3 record with a 2.32 ERA, 57 strikeouts and a team-leading seven saves in 42.2 innings of work to become the fifth Arkansas freshman pitcher since 2003 to record five or more saves in a season.
Root, a transfer from ECU, went 6-2 with a 3.56 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 68.1 innings across 13 appearances, including 12 starts, on the mound during his stellar sophomore campaign for the Pirates, earning a spot on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. The Fort Myers, Fla., native recorded four quality starts on the year, punctuated by a career-best 10-strikeout performance against Cal State Fullerton (March 2, 2024).
The Hogs, ranked No. 13 in Perfect Game’s preseason top 25, begin the year with a four-game series against Washington State on Feb. 14-17 at Baum-Walker Stadium. Arkansas, the winningest program in the country since 2017 with 333 total victories, is one of only two schools in the country to win 40 or more games in each of the last seven full seasons.
