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A pair of home runs and strong relief pitching powered Arkansas to a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday.
Relief pitchers Zack Morris, Evan Taylor and Brady Tygart combined for 5 ⅔ scoreless innings to limit the dangerous Aggie lineup, while designated hitter Brady Slavens mashed two homers to give Arkansas the advantage it needed on the scoreboard.
Of the three times Arkansas has dropped a series opener this season, it has followed it up with a Game 2 win. The previous two came in the first two series of the year against Illinois State and Southeastern.
After graduate senior Braydon Webb grounded out on the first pitch of the game, Slavens drilled his ninth homer of the year over the wall in right-center to give Arkansas an early 1-0 lead.
Right fielder Chris Lanzilli led the top of the second inning off with a double to the wall in left. He was able to cross home plate on a wild pitch from Aggie starter Micah Dallas to give the Hogs their second run of the game.
Slavens became the first Hog to record double-digit home runs when he led off the third inning with a solo shot to right-center.
After freshman starting pitcher Hagen Smith issued a pair of walks to start the fourth, Texas A&M eventually put a run on the board thanks to a sacrifice fly by Kole Kaler. That ended up being the final run of the game by either team.
“It was really a strange game,” Van Horn said. “The first three innings we score three runs, Slavens hits a couple of home runs, Hagen Smith can’t find the zone…The zone was strange. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Relief pitching was as rock-solid as the Hogs could have asked for. Arkansas’ bats were virtually non-existent after the third inning homer from Slavens, so to have six innings of scoreless relief pitching was key to a victory.
Here are several other key takeaways from Saturday’s win…
Road Woes Continue For Smith
Life on the mound away from Fayetteville has not been easy for Razorback freshman Hagen Smith this season. That trend continued Saturday as he allowed eight base runners in three innings.
Right from the jump, Smith looked uncomfortable at Blue Bell Park. He gave up a double off the left field wall to the lead off hitter and the bases were loaded after a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Pitching coach Matt Hobbs visited Smith prior to him escaping the bases loaded situation with a fly out.
