FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (15-2, 1-0 SEC) opened conference play with an impressive 8-0 win over the Missouri Tigers (9-9, 0-1 SEC) on a perfect Friday evening at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Ace left-hander Hagen Smith was his usual dominant self for the top-ranked Diamond Hogs, as the junior tossed 99 pitches across six scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out 10 batters.
"Obviously Hagen pitched outstanding again," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. "Even his misses were close tonight. It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to watch from the side. And I think maybe people don’t realize what they’re watching because I’ve watched a lot of baseball games, watched a lot of pitchers, had a lot of pitchers but Hagen is really good."
Arkansas' lineup provided Smith with seven runs on three total swings across the second, third and fourth innings. Freshman Nolan Souza homered first, then former Missouri Tiger Ross Lovich hit a three-run shot in the third and Kendall Diggs hit one of his own in the fourth inning.
Souza later hit a solo homer 405 feet to right field for his second longball as designated hitter in his SEC debut.
"It was unbelievable," Van Horn said of Souza's performance. "You’re talking about a true freshman, first SEC at-bat, he hits a home run. Gives us a 2-0 lead there in the second with one of the best pitchers around on the mound. It was a big swing for us.
:That last one he hit, that was pretty impressive. Breaking ball kind of down, he went down and got it and hooked it out of the park and hit it a long way. He’s a really good athlete. Strong, as you can see. Brings a lot to the batter’s box, because he’s got a pretty good eye. He can run and obviously he’s got some power."
Sophomore right-hander Christian Foutch gave the Hogs two frames of scoreless relief, and fellow sophomore Cooper Dossett finished things off with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
"Really glad to see two of our younger pitchers come in and finish that up," Van Horn said. "And you know Cooper there in the ninth threw seven pitches and they were all strikes. And he got us off the field so that was really good."
Smith began his outing with two strikeouts and then issued a two-out walk to Missouri's Jackson Lovich, who is the brother of Arkansas' Ross Lovich. Smith quickly made up for it by picking off Jackson Lovich and staring him down as he walked off the field.
Missouri starter Logan Lunceford also worked around a two-out walk in the bottom of the first, and then Smith countered that by going 1-2-3 in the top of the second.
Lunceford hit the Arkansas Lovich — Ross — with a pitch to leadoff the bottom of the second, and freshman Nolan Souza drove Lovich in with a 335-foot laser two-run homer to right in his first SEC at bat to give the Hogs a 2-0 lead after two innings.
Smith worked another perfect frame in the top of the third, and his lineup once again provided run support, this time via a three-run homer from Lovich that was hit 394 feet to right field and over the Hunt Family Development Center. That big swing against Lovich's former team gave his new team a 5-0 lead after three.
"I’m sure that meant a lot to him and I’m sure his parents have mixed emotions," Van Horn said. "They’ve got a son on one team and one on the other. But I’m sure they’re incredibly proud of that."
After retiring seven batters in a row, Smith finally saw a runner reach when his no-hitter was lost on a one-out double in the top of the fourth. He bounced back with career strikeout No. 245 and a line out to stand the runner.
Arkansas gave its ace more run in the bottom of the fourth via a two-run shot hit 400 feet to right field by Kendall Diggs to give the Razorbacks a 2-0 lead. That hit chased Lunceford and brought on right-hander Jacob Peaden, who closed the frame with four pitches.
Smith worked his third perfect frame of the game in the top of the fifth, and he picked up strikeouts number seven and eight in the process. Peaden followed suit with a 1-2-3 bottom half.
After giving up a leadoff single that turned into a runner in scoring position via a sacrifice bunt, Smith picked up back-to-back strikeouts to get to 10 on the evening and end his outing after 99 total pitches and six scoreless innings.
Arkansas led the bottom of the sixth off with back-to-back singles, but Peaden retired the next three in a row to strand the runners.
The Razorbacks brought sophomore right-hander Christian Foutch on in the top of the seventh to relieve Smith. Foutch gave up a leadoff single, but sat the next three down in a row.
It took Peaden just 10 pitches to retired the Arkansas lineup in order once again in the bottom of the seventh to make it six sat down in a row for the Missouri reliever.
Missouri nine-hole hitter Jeric Curtis hit a two-out double in the top of the eighth, but Foutch worked around it. Souza drove his second homer of the game 405 feet to right in the bottom half to give the Hogs an 8-0 run entering the final frame.
Dossett picked up an out on his first pitch and then he struck out the next two batters on six total pitches to end the game.
Up next, the Razorbacks and Tigers will play the second game of the series Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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