Dominant pitching carries Arkansas baseball to series sweep of Murray State

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas baseball picked up its first sweep of the season this weekend, taking all three games from Murray State.

The No. 5 Razorbacks (9-2) sandwiched a blowout win Saturday between two tight victories in the series opener and finale. The Racers (6-5) made things tight on Sunday, trimming the Arkansas lead to just one in the seventh inning, but the Hogs held on for a 5-3 win.

Here are four observations from the weekend sweep.

Continued dominance from Arkansas baseball's starting pitchers

Smith (1-0, 2.77 ERA) followed his 17-strikeout performance against Oregon State with 12 more against Murray State in the series-opener. He needed just 81 pitches to get through six innings, with a leadoff home run serving as the Racers' only hit.

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Tygart, somehow, has been equally as impressive to start the year. The junior righty struck out 10 batters and gave up just one run over five innings, which actually raised his ERA to 1.12.

And on Sunday, Mason Molina (2-0, 1.98) kept things rolling by giving up just one run and striking out 10 over five innings. In total, the Arkansas starting pitchers struck out 32 batters in 16 innings. As a team, the Razorbacks lead the nation with 163 punch outs.

Nolan Souza stakes his claim

The freshman from Hawaii was the Razorbacks' most productive offensive player of the weekend, going 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs. Souza had a pair of two-run singles and hit his first career home run to open the Hogs' scoring in the series finale.

Souza has plenty of competition in the infield, and he replaced senior Peyton Holt at second base for each of his starts against Murray State. Arkansas is also waiting on the return of Peyton Stovall, but Souza is certainly deserving of more at-bats in the immediate future.

Freshman becoming the closer?

Van Horn said before the season he was open to a closer-by committee approach. That may still be the case, but he made an interesting decision in the opening game of this series.

With Arkansas leading 3-1 and Murray State having runners on first and second, Van Horn went to true freshman Gabe Gaeckle out of the bullpen.

Gaeckle got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts and earned the first save of his career with another scoreless ninth. Out of every arm in the Arkansas bullpen, Gaeckle might have the best stuff. His upper 90s fastball compliments a devastating slider, and he's earned Van Horn's trust after an electric showing against Oklahoma State in Arlington.

"The game is close, 3-1 at the time, you got to win the first one. If you have a shot, you’ve got to go for it," Van Horn said.

"Gabe, he pitched really well last weekend, and game was on the line. We thought this is the guy we want in there right now."

Will McEntire picked up the save Sunday, recording the final 11 outs to shut the door and compete the series sweep.

Still some work to do at the plate

Arkansas still needs more from the top of the lineup. Kendall Diggs only has one home run, while Wehiwa Aloy is hitting just .200. After starting the season with a terrific performance against James Madison, Hudson White is also slumping.

The Razorbacks have only scored more than six runs in three of their 11 games this season. The pitching staff is carrying the load, and while that's left Van Horn frustrated, the Arkansas baseball coach expressed confidence Sunday that his hitters would figure things out over the next two weeks.

Up Next

Arkansas will host Central Arkansas Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Razorbacks will then welcome McNeese State for next weekend's series.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas baseball sweeps Murray State behind dominant starting pitching