Arkansas beats Wright State, earns series sweep
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (9-2) earned their first sweep of the 2023 season with 6-2 win over Wright State on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
On his 21st birthday, Arkansas left-hander Hunter Hollan threw six innings of one-run ball to earn the Diamond Hogs' first quality start of the season. He gave up just the one run on five hits while walking two and striking out five.
Right fielder Jace Bohrofen had a big day at the plate following his appearance on the SportsCenter Top 10 for robbing a home run in Saturday's 12-6 win over the Raiders. Bohrofen went 3-4 with three RBIs and a home run in Sunday's contest.
After recording just five hits and plating two runs across six innings against Wright State starter Luke Stofel, the Hogs racked up six hits and four runs against three different relievers. The Hogs' situational hitting wasn't necessarily impressive, as they were 2-8 with two outs and 3-13 with runners in scoring position, but they did enough to get the job done.
Here's a recap of Sunday's game, which marked the Hogs' ninth win of the season.
After getting starting the count 0-2 to Wright State's first two batters, Hollan saw both reach base on a walk and a single. The lefty hurler managed to escape the frame after giving up just one run on a sacrifice fly, but it took 26 pitches to get all three outs.
Hollan worked around a lone base runner in each of the next two innings before he earned his first 1-2-3 frame of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
A leadoff single and a one-out single put a pair of runners on for Wright State in the top of the fifth, but Hollan once again escaped trouble by inducing two straight outs.
Arkansas finally plated a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 1-1. Caleb Cali reached on a throwing error to lead the inning off and he was driven in by an RBI single from John Bolton. Prior to the fifth, the Diamond Hogs had stranded all four base runners to that point.
After walking the leadoff batter in the top of the sixth, Hollan retired the next three to become the Hogs' first starting pitcher to go six innings and earn a quality start this season.
Bohrofen belted a two-out opposite field solo shot to the Hog Pen in the bottom of the sixth to give the Diamond Hogs a 2-1 lead — their first of the afternoon.
Right-hander Koty Frank came on the relieve Hollan in the top of the seventh, but he became the third Arkansas pitcher this week to exit a game with an injury.
After throwing just two pitches and recording one out, Frank favored the area under his shoulder and the trainers came out to visit him. He threw a warm up pitch and immediately bent over in pain and the fans at Baum-Walker Stadium all groaned at the site of another injured pitcher. Head coach Dave Van Horn added after the game that it wasn't an arm injury to Frank.
"Well, it’s not his arm," Van Horn said. "That’s about all I can tell you. I don’t know anything yet."
Cody Adcock replaced Frank and induced a pair of groundouts to ease a little bit of the stress that had just made its way across the ballpark.
After recording just five hits against Wright State starter Luke Stofel across six innings, the Razorbacks were happy to see a new arm in right-hander Warran Hartzell in the bottom of the seventh. Parker Rowland took advantage right away with a 405-foot homer to left field to put the Hogs ahead 3-1.
The Raiders replaced Hartzell with lefty Alex Theis after Hartzell faced just two batters. Both Theis and Hartzell gave up a pair of runs in a frame that saw the Hogs bat around. Righty reliever Chris Gallagher got Rowland to groundout with the bases loaded to keep the Arkansas lead at 6-1 after seven.
Adcock struggled in the top of the eighth, as he saw the Raiders plate their second run on a sacrifice fly after the first two batters reached on singles. An error by Caleb Cali resulted in a bases loaded situation with one out, but Cali made up for it with a 5-3 double play on the next at bat to end the frame.
Arkansas didn't plate any runs in the bottom of the eighth, but it didn't matter as Adcock retired three straight batters after giving up a leadoff single in the top of the ninth.
Up next, the Diamond Hogs will host Army for a midweek matchup at 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday. The game at Baum-Walker Stadium will be streamed on the SEC Network Plus.
Box Score
