The No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks (40-9, 17-7 SEC) completed a loud sweep Saturday against the No. 1 Texas Longhorns (38-8, 19-5 SEC) with a 13-8 win at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
With the victory, the Diamond Hogs matched their best 24-game SEC start for the sixth time in program history. The win also marks the seventh 30-win season at Baum-Walker Stadium since it opened in 1996, and it's the first Arkansas sweep over a No. 1 team since 2001.
Earning the starting nod for Arkansas was left-hander Landon Beidelschies, who made it through his usual four innings with four strikeouts, four hits, four earned runs and two walks on 75 pitches. Dylan Carter earned the win behind 2.2 innings of shutout ball and Christian Foutch retired the final four batters with two strikeouts.
Carried by a two-homerun, six-RBI performance by Reese Robinett, Arkansas' offense racked up five homeruns and 10 walks against Texas' pitching staff. Charles Davalan, Kuhio Aloy and Justin Thomas Jr. also notched long balls and the Hogs finished 7-for-22 with runners on base.
RECAP
Top 1st:
Landon Beidelschies, who has struggled to get deep into games in SEC play, walked Texas leadoff man and DH Ethan Mendoza on four pitches to get the game underway. Cheese bounced back with some nasty offspeed to strikeout C Rylan Galvan swinging and then drew a deep left-center flyout from SS Jalin Flores. On his 12th pitch, Beidelschies got 1B Kimble Schuessler to make contact on a low offspeed, which resulted in a lineout to right field.
Bottom 1st:
LF Charles Davalan took the first three pitches he saw for balls before finally seeing a strike, then walked in a 3-1 count. With dangerous SS Wehiwa Aloy in a 3-1 count, Davalan swiped second base, but Wehiwa walked on the very next pitch. Texas starter Max Grubbs carved up DH Kuhio Aloy on three pitches for a swinging strikeout. Sunglasses-wearing 2B Cam Kozeal got behind 0-2 and was retired on a low cutter. 3B Brent Iredale got ahead 3-0, but Grubbs worked the count full before drawing another swing and a miss.
Top 2nd:
CF Will Gasparino led off the inning with a flyout to left field. On the eighth pitch of the next at-bat, Beidelschies got 3B Casey Borba to popup to Arkansas 1B Reese Robinett. Texas 2B Adrian Rodriguez went down on an 83 MPH low offspeed, Beidelschies' second strikeout of the game, for the final out.
Bottom 2nd:
Grubbs worked his fourth straight strikeout on a dandy Kevin Kopps-like offspeed against RF Carson Boles before retiring Robinett on a smoked groundout to second base. C Ryder Helfrick pulled a 2-1 hanger to 3B Borba, who threw Helfrick out at first base.
Top 3rd:
With basketball coach John Calipari and former Razorback guard Anthony Black in attendance, Beidelschies struck out RF Tommy Farmer IV to start the third. LF Jonah Williams went down swinging for Cheese's third K in a row, but Mendoza broke up the fun with a walk. Up 2-1, Galvan smashed a 104 MPH single — the first hit of the game — to left field to give Texas two runners on base. Flores got the scoring started with a left-field bomb on a hanging pitch to give the Horns a 3-0 lead. Schuessler then grounded out to third base.
Bottom 3rd:
The Hogs nearly went down in order again after Thomas and Davalan flew out, but Wehiwa broke up the 1-2-3 frame with a full-count single to third base. Kuhio completed the Hawaiian brother connection by poking a hanging breaking ball over the left-center wall to make it 3-2, Horns. Kozeal hit a hard grounder to shortstop for the last out.
Top 4th:
Gasparino dumped a lazy double down the right field line off Beidelschies to get the wheels turning. Cheese worked back-to-back outs from Borba and Rodriguez before he got tagged with a first-pitch double down the left field line that chased home another run. With the Horns up 4-2, Williams grounded out to Kozeal at second base.
Bottom 4th:
Iredale took Grubbs' wipeout cutter in a 3-2 count to start the fourth off with a walk. Boles made solid contact on a 3-1 pitch, but it resulted in a flyout to left-center field. "Big Country" Robinett tied the game with a blast over the right-center wall on another hanging breaking ball, which prompted a pitching change to righty Thomas Burns, who walked Helfrick in a full count. Two pitches later, Thomas snuck a center-field moonshot over the center fielder's glove to hand Arkansas a 6-4 lead.
A mound visit took place after Davalan walked, and it seemed to work, as Wehiwa Aloy struck out looking on a nasty splitter and Kuhio Aloy swing and missed on another splitter.
Top 5th:
Bullpen right-hander Ben Bybee took the mound for the Hogs in the fifth. Bybee drew a high popup, but instead of RF Boles charging it for the out, Wehiwa snuck back into the outfield and couldn't make the catch over his shoulder. Mendoza made his way to second for the double. Fortunately for the Hogs, Bybee drew a popup and then a foulout on three pitches. Damage was still struck though when Schuessler singled up the middle on a full-count pitch to make it 6-5, Hogs. Then a homer by Gasparino gave the Horns a 7-6 lead before Bybee got out of the frame with a strikeout.
Bottom 5th:
Burns set down Kozeal on a groundball out into the shift. Iredale walked in a full count to bring up Boles, who also walked in a full count to give the Hogs two baserunners. Robinett, who hit a homerun earlier in the game, nuked a ball in Heston Kjerstad fashion over the scoreboard in right center field to give the Hogs a 9-7 lead. Burns got Helfrick swinging for the second out,
Thomas continued the walk parade in a full count, which forced Texas to make a change to left-hander and SEC saves leader Dylan Volantis, who struck out Davalan on three pitches.
Top 6th:
Arkansas brought out the big bullpen guns in the sixth, as righty Dylan Carter made his mound appearance and got Rodriguez to lineout to deep left field. Carter earned a strikeout and then a groundout for a much-needed 1-2-3 frame.
Bottom 6th:
Wehiwa singled to right field on a 0-1 pitch from Volantis, then Kuhio struck out looking on a perfect outside offspeed pitch. Kozeal worked the count full but struck out looking on another perfect offspeed. Iredale quickly got behind 0-2, but singled to right center to advance Wehiwa to third base. Boles was first-pitch swinging and grounded out to second base to close the books.
Top 7th:
Carter drew a 3-1 flyout from leadoff man Mendoza, then got himself in a 2-2 count against Galvan. Before throwing again, Helfrick went out to talk strategy with Carter, who ended up walking Galvan in a full count. Flores stroked one to Boles in right field for out No. 2 and Carter struck out Schuessler looking on a fastball right down the chute.
Bottom 7th:
Robinett was unable to add another homerun to his resume, as he popped up to the Texas shortstop for the first out. Helfrick walked in a full count and successfully took second base with a steal. Volantis attempted to pick-off Helfrick at second, but a throwing error allowed the Arkansas catcher to advance to third base. Thomas walked in a full-count to give the Hogs runners on the corners.
Davalan took the first pitch he saw, then absolutely annihilated a ball over the building in right field, and Arkansas led 12-7. The fun wasn't over just yet, as Wehiwa took a 3-1 pitch to right field for a single. Kuhio nearly hit one over the wall in right, but Farmer made an oustanding catch to secure the out. Kozeal struck out swinging to bring an end to the inning.
Top 8th:
Carter took the mound again in the eighth and recorded some hard-hit outs to deep parts of the field from the first two Texas batters. He then went down 3-0 to Rodriguez, fought back to make the count full, then allowed a double to left center. Arkansas made a pitching change to righty Christian Foutch, who allowed Rodriguez to advance to third without a throw and then walked Farmer on four pitches. Farmer then advanced to second without a throw, then Foutch walked LF defensive replacement Easton Winfield to load the bases.
Pitching coach Matt Hobbs went out to talk with Foutch, who took inspiration and got ahead 0-2 to Mendoza before drawing a flyout to end the jam.
Bottom 8th:
Right-hander Jason Flores entered the game for Texas in the eighth. Iredale got ahead 3-1 and singled a blooper to right field to lead things off. Boles slapped a ball to deep right center, but a communication error allowed the ball to drop and hop over the wall for an automatic double. With two runners in scoring position, Robinett hit a 104 MPH groundout to drive in a run. Helfrick advanced Boles to third on a groundball, then Thomas got plunked by a pitch. Davalan ended the inning with a fielder's choice groundout.
Top 9th:
Foutch was asked to get the final three outs of the game in the ninth. The flamethrower got started with a foulout from Galvan. A one-out solo homerun by Flores simply delayed the inevitable, as Foutch worked back-to-back strikeouts to complete the sweep.
