Aptos High alum Gabe Gaeckle pitched brilliantly in relief for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks suffered a 4-1 loss to LSU in the teams’ opener at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday night.

The sophomore right-hander, who moved to the bullpen after making nine starts, including the Razorbacks’ season opener, relieved ace Zach Root after 1 2/3 innings and kept his team in the game. He recorded 10 strikeouts over six innings — both career highs — and allowed just three hits, one walk, and one earned run.

“It’s the same mentality, you’re just going out there and pitching,” said Gaeckle, during the post-game press conference. “I just wanted to eat up some innings to save some guys, because we’ve got a lot of game ahead of us.”

Gaeckle was pulled with two outs and a runner on second base in the eighth inning. Cole Gibler came on and Derek Curiel sent his 0-2 pitch to left field for an insurance run.

“You know, Gibler made a mistake 0-2. It was supposed to be down in the dirt, and probably gets a punch out and Gaeckle doesn’t give up any runs, because that was his run out there,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “He (Gaeckle) pitched great. He did everything we were hoping he would do, and that’s hold down a really good lineup and give us a chance to chip away and get back in, but their staff didn’t let us.”

Arkansas (48-14) plays Murray State (44-16) in an elimination game on Monday at 1 p.m. on ESPN.

Pro baseball

Gilbert sent to Triple-A >> Tyler Gilbert, a San Lorenzo Valley High alum, was activated from the 15-day injured list on Friday and gave up one hit over two scoreless innings of relief for the Chicago White Sox in their 3-1 loss to host Texas, but the left-hander was optioned back to Triple-A on Saturday

Gilbert has pitched in 14 games for the White Sox this season and is 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He has given up nine hits, seven walks, and seven runs over 15 innings while striking out 17 batters.

Surfing

USA Surfing Championships >> Santa Cruz’s London Lorber took third place in the Girls Longboard U14 division at the USA Surfing Championships, which ran Monday through Saturday in Oceanside.

Lorber posted a 7.43 total score in the final. She finished behind Estorya Martinez (16.33) and Amaya Ranne (8.67), and ahead of Jewel Evans (4.50).

Santa Cruz native Joshua Loya took second in the Para Surf (Vision Imp 1 Men & 2 Women) division with a 3.64 total. He finished behind Emily Purry (4.13) in the final.