FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (16-2, 2-0 SEC) shutout the Missouri Tigers (9-10, 0-2 SEC) for the second straight game with a 6-0 win on a sunny afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas benefited from one big inning at the plate and a combined gem from right-handed pitchers Brady Tygart and Will McEntire, who combined to give up just one hit and zero runs.
The win marked the second straight shutout for the Hogs, as they also beat the Tigers by an 8-0 score on Friday. According to Arkansas Communications, that's the first time an SEC team shutout another SEC team in back-to-back games since Tennessee did so against Georgia in Week 5 during the 2019 season.
"You’ve got one that throws a cutter that’s a breaking ball in McEntire that’s 84," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said postgame. "Then you’ve got a 74, 75 mile an hour breaking ball from Tygart. So it’s a little confusing, probably, for a while. Today, McEntire got through the lineup a couple of times, so they had seen him and he did just as well. I just think his stuff was just really good today."
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Razorbacks hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the first time since March 1, 2023, when they did so against Illinois State in a midweek win. All three homers — from Peyton Stovall, Wehiwa Aloy, Kendall Diggs — were solo shots to start the inning, and the Razorbacks added three more runs later in the frame to make it a six-run half inning.
"Credit to the offense there in the sixth inning," Van Horn said. "We had a two-strike home run that gave us the lead. Then we had another two-strike home run, opposite field that put us up three then because we had another home run on the first pitch. And then another two-strike triple that scored two and put us up five. Then they wild pitch in the sixth run. That’s how quick it can happen."
Tygart struggled with command in the start for the Hogs, but he was nearly un-hittable anyways. He gave up just one hit and struck out seven in 4.2 scoreless innings pitched, but he did walk four and hit two batters. McEntire then tossed 4.1 innings of scoreless and hitless relief to pick up the win.
Tygart and Missouri starter Javyn Pimental both notched a pair of strikeouts each in a scoreless first inning by the bats of the Tigers and Hogs.
Both pitchers put runners on via hit by pitches in the second inning, but they were each able to work around it to keep the game scoreless and hitless. Tygart and Pimental cleaned their acts up by both going three up, three down in the third inning.
The first hit of the game was a single from Mizzou second baseman Trevor Austin to leadoff the top of the fourth inning. He was quickly back in the dugout after a 6-3 double play on a lineout to short in the next at bat. Tygart then walked the bases loaded with two outs, but got out of it with a nice grab by Aloy on a lineout to shortstop.
Pimental's no-hitter continued to chug along with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth that saw him pickup his third strikeout of the game. Tygart looked to be keeping pace when he struck out the first two batters he saw in the top of the fifth, but the righty gave two free passes in a row after that to bring his outing to an end.
"He left a few up and in to some righties, but he also could throw it for a strike most anytime he wanted," Van Horn said of Tygart. "I think he got two or three backwards Ks on full count breaking balls. If you’re going to throw that with a full count, you really feel like you can command it. He did a great job with it."
McEntire struck out Jackson Lovich to strand the runners and close the frame.
Arkansas finally got to Pimental with a two-out single from former Missouri Tiger Ross Lovich in the bottom half of the fifth, but the Tigers' left-hander retired the other three batters he faced in the frame to keep the Hogs scoreless. After McEntire retired the Tigers in order in the top of the sixth, Mizzou elected to change to right-hander Bryce Mayer.
Mizzou changed to right-hander Bryce Mayer to begin the bottom of the sixth and the Hogs hit back-to-back-to-back homers off him. Stovall led it off with a 404-footer to right, Aloy went 396 feet to left and Diggs' traveled 372 feet to the Hog Pen in left field.
Not long after, Mayer gave up a two-run triple to Ross Lovich that made it 5-0 for the Razorbacks and brought an end to his day. Right-hander Charlie Miller came on in relief and allowed Lovich to score via a wild pitch to make it 6-0, but that was the end of the scoring in the bottom of the sixth for Arkansas.
Both teams went scoreless in the seventh, as McEntire worked around a two-out walk, and Missouri lefty reliever Ryan Magdic retired the Razorbacks in order during the bottom half.
Neither team put a runner on base in the eighth inning, which led to McEntire trotting back out for the top of the ninth to the tune of "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath being played over the speakers. He did the music selection well with a 1-2-3 frame to close the game down.
"But he’s got to go out there and pitch well and he did," Van Horn said of McEntire. "That was big to save our pen. It was good for us to find a way to win this game when things weren’t looking real good early. But very rarely do you get a chance to win three in a row against the same team and we have that opportunity tomorrow and I hope we come out play well."
Up next, the Razorbacks and Tigers will play the third and final game of the series Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
