Razorbacks sweep mid-week series with Texas Tech

Arkansas on 25-game home winning streak

From the University of Arkansas

arkansasrazorbacks.com

FAYETTEVILLE –The Arkansas Razorbacks just don’t lose at home, even if it means a dramatic comebac, as was the case in Game 1 of the Hogs’ two-game set with Texas Tech.

Hogs 9, Red Raiders 8

No. 2 Arkansas rallied from a seven-run deficit to defeat Texas Tech, 9-8, in Tuesday night’s midweek series opener. The win marks Arkansas’ largest comeback win since rallying from a nine-run deficit in a 13-10 victory at Louisiana Tech during the 2017 season. The Hogs trailed, 10-1, before scoring 12 unanswered runs to pull off the improbable win.

Trailing 7-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning against Texas Tech, Arkansas scored once in the bottom half of the frame before putting together a six-run fifth to tie the game at seven. Peyton Holt’s RBI single and Wehiwa Aloy’s RBI double set the table for Ben McLaughlin’s two-out, two-run homer, cutting the Razorbacks’ deficit to one.

Hudson White, who transferred to Arkansas from Texas Tech this past offseason, tied the game at seven later in the fifth inning with his two-out double, scoring Jack Wagner from second. The Red Raiders would answer with a solo home run against Razorback right-hander Will McEntire to lead off the seventh and go up, 8-7, but Arkansas tied the game again at 8-8 when Peyton Stovall beat out a double play that allowed Ty Wilmsmeyer to score from third base in the eighth.

Gabe Gaeckle, who earned the win to improve to 2-2 on the season, tossed a scoreless top half of the ninth to give the Razorback offense an opportunity to win the ballgame in the bottom of the inning.

Arkansas did exactly that, as Texas Tech committed two errors and hit a batter to lead off the ninth, eventually allowing Jared Sprague-Lott to score the game-winning run from third base on pinch hitter Nolan Souza’s sacrifice fly to right.

McLaughlin (3-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Wagner (2-for-2, RBI) and Jayson Jones (2-for-4, 2 2B) each finished with multihit games in Tuesday night’s wild come-from-behind win.

Seven Razorbacks recorded at least one run batted in, led by McLaughlin’s two-RBI performance thanks to his seventh home run of the season.

On the mound, sophomore right-hander Ben Bybee started and was tagged for six runs on six hits with two strikeouts over his 1.1 innings of work. In relief, Christian Foutch (1.1 IP, 2 SO), Gage Wood (2.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 SO), Parker Coil (1.0 IP, 2 SO), McEntire (1.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 SO) and Gaeckle (1.2 IP, 1 SO) combined for 7.1 innings of two-run ball with 12 punchouts.

Hogs 5, Red Raiders 4

Arkansas (32-5) finished its midweek sweep of Texas Tech (26-13) with a 5-4 win Wednesday afternoon, extending its Baum-Walker Stadium winning streak to a programrecord 25 consecutive games.

With the win, Arkansas improved to 9-0 in midweek games this season. Three regular- season midweek contests remain for the Razorbacks, who are looking to go undefeated in midweek games for the first time since the 2005 season (9-0).

Peyton Stovall swatted a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Razorbacks and starter Colin Fisher an early advantage Wednesday. The true freshman fired four innings of three-run ball with three strikeouts on the mound before turning the ball over to the Arkansas bullpen, which combined for five one-run innings in the win.

After Texas Tech brought home a run in the top half of the second to even the game at one, Nolan Souza launched a leadoff shot in the bottom half of the inning to put Arkansas back in front. The true freshman connected on his seventh home run of the season, tying him with Ben McLaughlin (7) for second most on the Razorbacks this year.

The Red Raiders took their only lead of Wednesday’s ballgame in the top half of the third, scoring a pair of runs on a one-out ground rule double to open a slim 3-2 advantage.

From there, Fisher and the Razorback bullpen went to work by stringing together five scoreless frames before allowing a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning.

Arkansas retook the lead and never looked back in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to Wehiwa Aloy’s game-tying RBI single to left and Jack Wagner’s sacrifice fly to center score the Razorbacks’ goahead run. The Hogs tacked on one more run in the eighth, extending their lead to 5-3 when Jayson Jones was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The additional run proved to be beneficial as Texas Tech would cut its deficit to one with a two-out home run in the top of the ninth. Arkansas reliever Stone Hewlett was undeterred, however, and closed out the game to earn his third save.

Cooper Dossett was credited with the win and improved to 2-0 after twirling 2.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts in relief. Koty Frank (1.0 IP) and Jake Faherty (0.1 IP) also emerged from the bullpen and chipped in with scoreless outings.