No. 1 Diamond Hogs crush Arkansas State in 13-0 run rule win
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (24-4, 8-1 SEC) won their 18th straight game at Baum-Walker Stadium with a dominant 13-0 run rule victory in seven innings against Arkansas State (16-15) on a chilly April evening Tuesday.
Arkansas scored all of its runs in each of the first three innings of the game, which featured a 9-run bottom of the third that was highlighted by a 459-foot grand slam from freshman Nolan Souza.
Freshman left-hander Colin Fisher threw two scoreless and hitless innings in the start for Arkansas. He was followed by six different relievers who combined to allow just one hit and four base runners across five innings. The Razorbacks walked four and struck out 13 in the contest.
"They take care of business," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said of the Hogs postgame. "I like the maturity that I’m seeing. They just, they like to play, and they’re not thinking about what happened last weekend, or they’re not getting too far ahead of themselves looking for the weekend. They’re just taking care of business."
All but one of Arkansas' starters scored a run in the contest and four Hogs had multi hit games — Souza, Ben McLaughlin, Will Edmunson and Peyton Holt. The Razorbacks had 10 two-out RBIs and they were 9-17 at the plate with runners on base.
"Two-out hits, especially two-out RBIs, in a way it really bothers the other team," Van Horn said. "Bothers the other team’s pitcher."
Fisher retired the Red Wolves in order in the top of the first. Arkansas State starting pitcher Kole Turner — a native of White Rock, British Columbia, Canada — allowed the first three Arkansas batters he faced to reach base in the bottom of the first inning.
Turner responded with two strike strikeouts, but an RBI single from Peyton Holt followed by a run-scoring error at shortstop allowed the Hogs to take a 2-0 lead after one inning.
Another 12-pitch scoreless frame for Fisher was followed up by two more runs from the Arkansas lineup, as Ben McLaughlin hit a two-run homer to left center. That was all the Hogs had going in the bottom of the second to make it a four-run lead.
Arkansas turned to sophomore right-hander Ben Bybee in the top of the third and he worked a scoreless frame despite throwing 29 pitches.
The Red Wolves followed suit with a pitching change to right-hander Coby Greiner in the bottom half of the third, and he gave up five runs on five hits with one walk before he was relieved with just two outs earned. Right-hander Brian Veniard entered and issued a walk to Kendall Diggs that loaded the bases for Souza, who tattooed the ball 459 feet to right-center for a grand slam that made it 13-0.
"I haven’t been hitting very good the last couple games so when I hit it I didn’t feel it off the bat," Souza said postgame. "I just saw it go so it was just a really good feeling. I was just really happy that I could get a good swing off and connect with it."
Junior right-hander Jake Faherty came on in relief in the top of the fourth and he followed a leadoff four-pitch walk up with three straight strikeouts for the Razorbacks.
"Got his slider going," Van Horn said of Faherty. "Upper 80s slider, and they didn’t see it at all. They swung at it and missed, and I just thought he did a great job."
Freshman Collin Maloney took the mound for the Red Wolves and worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth — the first scoreless inning of the day for the Hogs.
Another arm that needed to get on the mound for the Hogs was sophomore right-hander Gage Wood, who made his first outing since March 22. The Batesville native went three up, three down with two strikeouts.
Arkansas State senior Bryce Shared pitched the Red Wolves' second straight scoreless frame in the bottom half of the fifth inning to keep the deficit at *just* 13 runs.
Sophomore righty Cooper Dossett took over in the top of the sixth and struck out the two batters he faced before Van Horn had seen enough. The Razorback skipper elected to bring lefty Parker Coil in just to get another pitcher some action, and Coil struck out the first batter he faced to end the frame.
"Had to squeeze a couple guys in there," Van Horn said. "We were planning on throwing these guys today. Whether it went seven, nine, eight, whatever, extra innings. You just kind of see what the game’s telling you to do, but we really wanted to get everyone of those pitchers that pitched in there."
Springdale native Walker Williams pitched the bottom of the sixth for Arkansas State and managed to work himself out of a bases loaded jam with two outs by inducing a Peyton Stovall fly out.
Right-hander Dylan Carter pitched the seventh and final inning for the Razorbacks and he stranded a two-out baserunner with his second strikeout to end the contest.
Up next, the Razorbacks will host SEC West rival Ole Miss for a three game series Thursday through Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. First pitch Thursday is set for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be nationally televised on SEC Network.
Box Score
