The Razorbacks waltzed their way to a two-game midweek sweep over the San Jose State Spartans with an 8-2 victory on Wednesday in Baum-Walker Stadium to lengthen their home winning streak to 23 games.
Jackson McAfee
No. 1 Arkansas (29-3, 11-1 SEC) rolled past the San Jose State Spartans (12-21, 7-8 MWC) on Wednesday in Baum-Walker Stadium to pick up the midweek sweep, 8-2. The Razorbacks are on a 10-game winning streak and extend their home winning streak to 23.
Colin Fisher had an impressive afternoon in his sixth start of the season on the mound for the Hogs. He threw three hitless innings while giving up three walks and carving up three batters on 65 pitches (38 strikes) to lower his ERA to 1.96 through 23 frames on the year.
Arkansas found its first two runs of the game in the bottom of the second inning with the bases loaded and one out. Peyton Stovall drove in Jared Wagner from third base on a sacrifice fly to right field and Ben McLaughlin came through with an RBI single to score Ross Lovich. Stovall went 4 of 4 on the day with a double and two runs batted in while McLaughlin went 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.
Nolan Souza extended the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double to left center field to drive in Wehiwa Aloy and Kendall Diggs for his fifth two-bagger of the season while raising his RBI total to 22 to extend the lead, 4-0. After Matt Spear hit a two-run homer for San Jose State in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to two, Jack Wagner responded with a solo shot to center on the first pitch in the bottom half of the frame to start a four-run rally.
“We did a great job of getting on base,” Arkansas head coachDave Van Horn said. “We drove in eight runs, but you take a step back and on a really good day we could have maybe scored 14 of 15 runs. So maybe we're saving those for the weekend or downtime road. But I do like the way that we fight and get pitch counts up and we take a walk, get hit by a pitch, whatever. But we were a few big hits away from blowing the thing open and we didn't really do that.”
Koty Frank delivered two strong innings out of the bullpen for Arkansas.He allowed a hit and carved up two batters on 29 pitches (19 strikes) while reducing his ERA to 2.57 in his 13th relief appearance of the year. Jake Faherty followed with a perfect inning of his own with two strikeouts on 12 pitches (eight strikes) while Parker Coil and Cooper Dossett closed out the final three frames.
THE RUNDOWN
1-0 Arkansas -Peyton Stovall lifted a sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the second inning with one out and the bases loaded to plate Jared Wagner from third to give Arkansas the early lead.
2-0 Arkansas -Ben McLaughlin followed Stovall's sacrifice fly with a single to right to score Ross Lovich for his 25th RBI of the season.
Pitching Change -TylerAlbanese was relieved by Corey Sanchez to begin the bottom of the third after going two innings in his second start of the year. He allowed two runs, five hits and a walk with two strikeouts on 42 pitches (24 strikes) in his 11th appearance of the season.
Pitching Change -Koty Frank took over on the mound for Colin Fisher to start the top of the fourth. Fisher tossed three hitless frames while giving up three walks and carving up three batters on 65 pitches (38 strikes).
4-0 Arkansas -With runners on the corners in the bottom of the fifth with nobody out, Nolan Souza drove a double to drive in Wehiwa Aloy and Kendall Diggs to raise his RBI total to 22.
Pitching Change -Joey Cammarata relieved Sanchez after the two-run double. Sanchez put in two innings of work while allowing two runs, four hits and a walk with a punch out on 45 pitches (27 strikes).
Pitching Change -Jake Faherty was placed on the mound to open up the top of the sixth. Frank hurled two scoreless frames while giving up a hit with two strikeouts on 29 pitches (19 strikes).
Pitching Change -Parker Coil came out of the pen to relieve Faherty at the beginning of the seventh. Faherty threw a perfect sixth inning while striking out two batters on 12 pitches (eight strikes).
4-2 Arkansas -After Coil allowed a leadoff single to Theo Hardy, Matt Spear hit a two-run homer to right field to cut the deficit to two. The ball traveled 413 feet at 106 miles per hour.
Pitching Change -Cade Cushing was brought out as the fourth pitcher of the afternoon for San Jose State in relief of Cammarata in the bottom of the seventh.Cammarata went two innings while allowing no runs, a hit and two walks on 33 pitches (16 strikes).
5-2 Arkansas -Wagner swung at the first pitch thrown by Cushing and sent the ball center for his third dinger of the year.
6-2 Arkansas -Stovall plated his second RBI of the day with a single to left that scored Ross Lovich from third to put the Hogs back up by four.
7-2 Arkansas -McLaughlin followed with an RBI double to left that plated Will Edmunson and advanced Stovall to third.
Pitching Change -Drew Stapleton came in for Cushing with runners on second and third with one out. Cushing recorded one out while surrendering four runs and four hits on 19 pitches (15 strikes).
8-2 Arkansas -Aloy drove in Stovall on a sacrifice fly while moving McLaughlin to third to left to cap off the four-run seventh.
Pitching Change -Cooper Dossett came out to close out the game in the top of the ninth. Coil tossed two innings while allowing two runs and three hits with two punch outs on 28 pitches (22 strikes).
1st INNING
Colin Fisher made his sixth start of the season on the hill for Arkansas and struck out Robert Hamchuk swinging on a full count to begin the day.Sebastian Orduno grounded out on a chopper to first base and Dalton Bowling hit a grounder to second for San Jose State to go down in order.
Tyler Albanese started on the mound for the Spartans for the second time of the year and allowed a leadoff single to Peyton Stovall. Stovall stole second base easily and Ben McLaughlin grounded out short. Wehiwa Aloy went down swinging but Diggs drew a four-pitch walk to keep the inning alive. Nolan Souza lined out to third to close out the opening frame.
There's a strikeout to start it pic.twitter.com/yLXXczbR9Y
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 10, 2024
2nd INNING
Nathan Cadena went down looking at strikes and Theo Hardy walked to become the first baserunner of the day for San Jose State and moved to second on a balk by Fisher. Matt Spear flew out to center field to advance the runner to third and Zach Griffin walked in a 12-pitch battle to place runners on the corners. Jake Maroney struck out looking to end the top half of the second.
Jack Wagner, Ross Lovich and Will Edmunson roped three consecutive singles to load up the bases but Parker Rowland was carved up on a check swing. Stovall drove in Wagner on a sacrifice fly to right to give the Razorbacks the lead while Lovich advanced to third. McLaughlin singled to the right side to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead and Edmunson moved to third. Aloy grounded into a force out at second to end the two-run second.
Benny bashes baseball ? pic.twitter.com/ZoHvkg8ZDo
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 10, 2024
3rd INNING
Jackson Forbes worked a full count walk but was thrown out at second after Hamchuk reached on a fielder's choice. Orduno grounded out to second that moved Hamchuk to second and Bowling lined out to left.
Corey Sanchez made his 13th appearance of the year out of the bullpen for the Spartans in relief ofAlbanese and made Diggs ground out back to the mound. Souza went down looking on a full count and Wagner flew out to right for Arkansas to go down 1-2-3 for the first time of the game.
4th INNING
Koty Frank came out of the Razorback bullpen in relief of Fisher to start the fourth inning and struck out Cadena swinging.Hardy doubled down the first baseline on a ball that bounced off the bag but Spear grounded out to short. Griffin fouled out behind the plate for San Jose State to strand its fourth runner of the afternoon.
Lovich flew out to center on the first pitch he saw and Edmunson skied out to right. Rowland singled to left and Stovall smacked a double down the right field line to put runners in scoring position but McLaughlin struck out on a check swing to end the fourth.
5th INNING
Maroney struck out looking for Frank's second punch out of the game and Forbes popped out to the left side. Hamchuk lined out to center to three up, three down for the second time of the game.
Aloy led off with a full count walk and moved to third after Diggs singled up the middle. Souza drove both men in with a two-run double to left center to give the Hogs a 4-0 lead.Joey Cammarata relieved Sanchez and walked Wagner. Lovich advanced both runners up a base on a sacrifice bunt and Edmunson popped up to second. Rowland lined out to center to cap off the two-run rally.
Stay HAWT @NolanSouza808 ? pic.twitter.com/vB0OgOihaC
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 10, 2024
6th INNING
Jake Faherty was inserted on the mound to begin the top half of the sixth and made Orduno line out to center on a diving play by Edmunson. Bowling and Cadena both struck out swinging for San Jose State to go down in order for the third time of the day.
With the rain picking up, Stovall roped a single to right for his third hit and advanced to second after McLaughlin grounded out to first. Aloy walked on four pitches but Diggs flew out to center and Souza grounded out to first on a high chopper.
FREE WILLY pic.twitter.com/GHqNd6PX9f
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 10, 2024
7th INNING
Parker Coil came out of the bullpen for his sixth appearance on the mound and allowed a single to Hardy. Spear followed up with a two-run home run to right to put the Spartans on board. Coil settled back in and struck out Griffin looking.Maroney grounded out to third andForbes lined out to center.
Cade Cushing became the fourth Spartan pitcher of the game in relief ofCammarata and surrendered a solo shot to Wagner to center for his third home run of the season. Lovich was hit by a pitch and Edmunson legged out an infield single to short. Both runners advanced into scoring position after Rowland laid down a sacrifice bunt and Stovall drove in Lovich on an RBI single but Edmunson did not advance. McLaughlin doubled to left to drive in Edmunson while advancing Stovall to third to put Arkansas up by five and Cushing was relieved byDrew Stapleton.
Aloy drove in Stovall on a sacrifice fly to left while moving up McLaughlin to third and Diggs grounded out to short to finish the four-run seventh.
One pitch is all @Jack_Wagner1 needs pic.twitter.com/I87C4mHQpd
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 10, 2024
8th INNING
Coil came back out for his second inning of relief and forced Hamchuk to ground out to third.Orduno struck out looking for Coil's second strikeout butBowling singled to left to keep the inning alive. Cadena grounded into a force out to short to end the frame.
Souza grounded out to third and Wagner flew out to left field to open up the home half of the eighth. Lovich struck out swinging for Arkansas to go three up, three down for the first time since the third.
9th INNING
Cooper Dossett came in to close out the game for his eighth appearance of the season on his 20th birthday and made Hardy pop out to second. Spear struck out looking and Griffin grounded out to second to give the Razorbacks their 23rd consecutive win at home while sweeping San Jose State in the two-game midweek series. Fisher picked up his sixth win of the year to tie Hagen Smith for the most on the team with the Hogs striking out a combined 10 batters.
UP NEXT
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS FOR GAME 1 VS. NO. 25 ALABAMA FRIDAY
(ARK) Jr. LHP Hagen Smith: 6-0, 1.76 ERA, 41.0 IP, 83 K/14 BB vs. (ALA) Jr. RHP Ben Hess: 3-2, 6.03 ERA, 34.1 IP, 57 K/20 BB
WHEN: Friday, April 12 at 6 p.m. (CDT)
WHERE: Sewell-Thomas Stadium (8,500 cap.) | Tuscaloosa (Ala.)
TV/STREAMING:SECN+ | Stream available via the ESPN App
RADIO: RSN (92.1 FM in Fayetteville) |TuneIn| Full list of radio affiliates can be foundHERE
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