Smith shoves, Arkansas outlasts Auburn in 1-0 road tilt victory
The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (18-2, 4-0 SEC) defeated the Auburn Tigers (14-7, 0-4 SEC) in the Hogs' first true road game of the season with a 1-0 win at Samford Stadium on Thursday evening.
Arkansas took a major step back offensively against the Tigers, as only four Razorback batters recorded a hit in the matchup. First baseman Ben McLaughlin and center fielder Ty Wilmsmeyer each recorded one knock, while catcher Hudson White collected three singles in four at-bats.
"I don’t know if they were pressing," head coach Dave Van Horn said after the game. "I think it was just a matter of the other team’s pitchers making some really good pitches in some tough situations. We swung through a couple of pitches. Just missed a couple of pitches. Hit fly balls. You could tell our hitters were frustrated. They felt like they were on a couple of pitches, but give Auburn’s pitching staff credit. They didn’t throw the ball in the middle of the plate much at all, and they got ahead in the count. They made us earn it. It was a tough win, but we’ll take it."
The most important hit of the day came from shortstop Wehiwa Aloy in the top of the first, as he hit an opposite field homerun that ended up being the game-winner.
"He did a tremendous job with the fastball, let it get deep and just hammered it," Van Horn said. "We felt like it was out right when it left the bat, and he’s been swinging the bat extremely well in batting practice. He hit two or three home runs, two or three balls out of the park in batting practice to right center, and that ball was more dead right.
"He let it get really deep and then he lined out to center, he absolutely smoked that ball. If it had been left to right a little bit it would have went to the fence and we would have scored another run, but I see Wehiwa swinging the bat with a lot of confidence, taking pitches. It’s a good time for him to get on a roll, we just need to get some of the guys around him to help out."
Smith continued to dominate in his fourth win of the season. In six innings pitched, the left-hander racked up 12 strikeouts and two walks while allowing just three hits. He lowered his season ERA to 1.24 before handing things over to RHP Will McEntire in the bullpen.
McEntire finished the day with a strong scoreless two innings with three strikeouts before freshman RHP Gabe Gaeckle took the mound in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game. He struck out two batters to give Arkansas its first true road win of the season.
Second baseman Peyton Stovall got things going for the Hogs with a leadoff hit-by-pitch, but a strike 'em out, throw 'em out later and the bases were empty for shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. He didn't mind, though, as he took a full-count pitch yard to right field to hand the Hogs an early 1-0 lead.
In some non-surprising news, LHP Hagen Smith got his day started with a swinging strikeout despite getting behind in a 3-0 count to the first batter. One first-pitch swinging single later, and Smith threw 11 straight strikes with two more strikeouts to end the inning.
The second inning was tame for Arkansas, as Jared Sprague-Lott and Ross Lovich grounded out and struck out, respectively, before Hudson White took an 0-2 pitch to right for a single. Nolan Souza struck out to end the threat for the Hogs.
Smith was hit hard to start the bottom of the second, but the line drive went straight to Lovich in left field for the out. In true Smith fashion, he forced a simple groundout and then struck out the final batter to send Arkansas to the dugout.
Ty Wilmsmeyer led the third off with a flare single to right field and Stovall backed him up with a four-pitch walk. With an opportunity to drive in some runs, Kendall Diggs struck out on a full-count pitch to set up Aloy. After homering in the first, Aloy walked to load the bases. Ben McLaughlin flied out to right field and Wilmsmeyer attempted to take home on a sac-fly but he was thrown out to end the inning by Auburn's right fielder
"Well, he's probably got if not the best arm of all right fielders in our league, one of the top," Van Horn said. "He’s been there forever, seems like he’s been here for five, six years. I think he has. We know he can really throw, but we had probably our fastest runner on third base, had to take a shot and he made a perfect throw all the way in the air. It was still awfully close, they got him though."
Tell me if you've heard this before, but Smith got the bottom of the third started with a strikeout. A single to center later, and Smith forced an inning-ending double play.
In the fourth, Sprague-Lott grounded out to Hernandez at second base who made a nice play for the out. Lovich popped out to left field before White picked up his second base knock of the night on a single to left. With one runner on, Souza grounded out to first base to end the frame.
For the first time of the night, Auburn started things off with a leadoff base runner via a walk. The Tigers dialed up the pressure with a single up the middle on an 0-2 count, but Smith battled back with a nasty strikeout on three pitches. Both Auburn baserunners moved up on a double steal, but Smith struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam in style.
Auburn turned to RHP Cam Tilly in the fifth, and Wilmsmeyer got things started with a hard groundout to short for the out. Stovall followed suit with a deep fly out in center field before Diggs struck out for the third time of the night.
Another leadoff batter, another strikeout for Smith. He then forced a mile-high fly out and struck out another Auburn batter to get out of the fifth unharmed.
Aloy got hit by a pitch to leadoff the sixth for the Hogs, but McLaughlin flied out to center field before Aloy advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sprague-Lott grounded into a fielder's choice and ended up out at second after Aloy gets caught in a run-down between second and third. Lovich struck out swinging to end the frame.
The bottom of the sixth was a circus for Arkansas. Following a leadoff strikeout, Smith plunked the next batter and then Lovich committed an error in left field to allow both runners to get to second and third. Smith struck out the next Tiger on three pitches but then walked the next on four pitches. Smith found a way to get out of the jam on a groundout.
"Yeah, well that (error) probably cost (Smith) going back out for the seventh," Van Horn said. "I think he threw 11 more pitches. Something like that. I think he ended up throwing 88, or 87, or whatever, so if you take that down and who knows? It would have been two outs with a runner on first, the way the game was going, probably would have been in the dugout in five pitches or less.
"We probably would have sent him back out for the seventh, but after that he had to fight. They had a little momentum. They were down a run, late in the game, and they got runners at second and third. I know he got at least one, I think he got a strikeout, and then I’m not sure after that. Groundout, fly out or whatever. It might have been another strikeout, but that was probably really tough for them in that dugout when he got them out."
In dire need of some runs, White led off the seventh with a fly out to center before Souza walked on eight pitches. Souza stole second base and Wilmsmeyer grounded out to second base, which allowed Souza to advance to third. Auburn turned to LHP Tanner Bauman to relieve Tilly and Stovall hit a soft liner back to the pitcher for the final out.
After another successful outing, Smith's day was done and Arkansas handed the ball off to RHP Will McEntire in the bottom of the seventh. He started things off with back-to-back strikeouts and then forced a groundout at first base to move to the eighth.
Diggs finally reached base via an error by Bauman to lead things off, but Aloy lined out to center in the next at-bat. McLaughlin took advantage of the shift and singled through the open hole on the left side of the infield to put two runners on for the Hogs. Sprague-Lott flied out to deep right field and Peyton Holt came in to pinch hit for Lovich. He struck out to end the damage for Arkansas.
The eighth was more of the same for McEntire, as he forced two groundouts and struck a batter out to keep the Tigers at bay.
Arkansas got off to a good start in the ninth thanks to a leadoff single by White, but Souza struck out and White was thrown out on an attempted steal at second base to wipe the threat off the base paths. Wilmsmeyer popped out to end the inning.
Freshman RHP Gabe Gaeckle took the mound in the ninth to close things out for the Hogs, and he did just that with a strikeout, groundout and strikeout to hand Arkansas its sixth 4-0 start in SEC play in the last seven seasons.
Up next, Arkansas will take on the Auburn Tigers in the second game of the series on Friday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT and it will stream on SEC Network+.