ARLINGTON, Texas — For the third day in a row, the No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2) received an impressive outing from their starting pitcher on their way to a 4-3 win over the Michigan Wolverines (2-5) at Globe Life Field on Sunday.
After ace Hagen Smith struck out 17 batters Friday against Oregon State and right-hander Brady Tygart threw six scoreless innings Saturday against Oklahoma State, left-hander Mason Molina had a lot to live up to.
The transfer from Texas Tech lived up to hype, as he hurled five innings of hitless baseball while striking out 10 batters and walking just one. He threw 81 total pitches (52 strikes) in the outing, which likely led to his day being done after just five innings.
"Well, he did a great job obviously," head coach Dave Van Horn said after the game. "I mean, he didn’t get much help behind him, none of our pitchers did. Offensively, we weren’t swinging the bat worth a darn all weekend. I think it put a lot of pressure on our pitchers and they did a tremendous job. He got us rolling and gave us a chance to get a lead without doing much, they did it for us (by) walking people, hitting people. Just another great job by our pitching staff."
Right-hander Will McEntire relieved Molina and tossed three innings of one-run ball. He walked just one batter and gave up only two hits. Sixth-year senior Koty Frank threw in the ninth and made it interesting by giving up two runs on three hits, but he escaped a bases-loaded situation and picked up the save.
The Razorback lineup continued to struggle mightily despite some changes Sunday. Arkansas batters struck out nine times, plus the Hogs were 3-16 with runners on base and 3-12 with runners in scoring position. They were 0-4 on opportunities with runners on third and less than two outs.
Getting his first start of the weekend, JUCO transfer Will Edmunson drew a leadoff walk for the Razorbacks. First baseman Ben McLaughlin drove Edmunson in with a one-out RBI double to left that gave the Hogs a 1-0 lead after the first half inning.
"Yeah, it’s a great motivator when they start the game off like that," Molina said after the game. "Just being able to go out there already having a 1-0 lead is a nice thing to have, especially when you’re away. That definitely got me going, then the good defense behind me just got me rolling."
Molina's return to the state of Texas started with a perfect bottom of the first that featured a pair of strikeouts, which pushed Arkansas' weekend total to 50 as a team.
While the Razorbacks stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the top of the second to make it 15 of the last 16 plate appearances with runners in scoring position unsuccessful. Molina responded by striking out the side with a one-out hit by pitch sprinkled in during the bottom of the second.
The Arkansas lineup went down in order in the top of the third, and Molina worked around a leadoff walk by retiring the next three batters he faced, two of which came on strikes.
Michigan freshman Dylan Vigue ran into trouble in the fourth after he started things off with a three-pitch strikeout to Arkansas right fielder Ross Lovich. Vigue then issues free passes to the next three batters and after a Ty Wilmsmeyer strikeout, Vigue gave up an RBI hit by pitch to Will Edmunson and an RBI walk to Kendall Diggs to give the Hogs a 3-0 lead and end his outing.
The Wolverines brought on right-hander Will Rogers in relief and he retired the first batter he faced to end the top of the fourth. Molina continued his dominance in the bottom of the frame by retiring the side in order and picking up two more strikeouts.
"Fastball was pretty good," Molina said. "Changeup also felt pretty nice. But everything pretty much, I’m really happy with the way me and Parker (Rowland) worked together and called the game."
Arkansas' hitting woes continued to trend in the wrong direction, as Rogers struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the sixth. McEntire came on for Arkansas in the bottom half and worked around a two-out walk to retire three of the four he faced as well.
After Kendall Diggs led the top of the seventh off with a double, Ben McLaughlin singled to the second baseman, who made a throwing error that allowed Diggs to score and make it 4-0. Rogers gave up a single to Sprague-Lott after that, but then struck out three in a row to strand two runners.
Michigan earned a run back with an RBI single off McEntire with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. The veteran right-hander bounced back with a fielder's choice out and a 6-3 double play to limit the damage.
Things hot hairy in the bottom of the ninth, as RHP Koty Frank relieved McEntire to close the game. After a leadoff single, Frank managed to record a strikeout and forced an out on a fielder's choice to put the Wolverines on the brink of a loss. Michigan kept fighting, though, and scrapped up two hits to score two runs thanks to throwing errors by Jared-Sprague Lott and Peyton Holt. Frank finally got the final out of the ball game on a flyball.
Up next, the Razorbacks will return home to Fayetteville for a midweek matchup with Grambling on Tuesday at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.
