No. 2 Arkansas rallies past Texas Tech for midweek sweep
One day after a thrilling 9-8 come-from-behind victory that featured a combined 23 hits, No. 2 Arkansas mixed timely hitting with clutch pitching and defense to earn a 5-4 victory over Texas Tech Wednesday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks (32-5 overall) tallied only four hits in Wednesday’s game but made the most of them.
Arkansas got on the board right away when Peyton Stovall led off the bottom of the first with a 406-foot home run to right off Hudson Parker.
Nolan Souza led off the second inning with a solo shot, a 376-foot blast over the left field bullpen that allowed the Razorbacks to reclaim the lead at 2-1 after Texas Tech had tied it.
The Red Raiders (26-12) grabbed their first lead of the day on a two-run ground-rule double to right field from Kevin Bazzell in the third inning.
Things stayed quiet until the sixth inning when Arkansas reclaimed the lead. Ben McLaughlin singled down the right field line to put runners at the corners with one away for Wehiwa Aloy, who smacked an RBI single to left to tie the game.
Two batters later, Jack Wagner gave the Hogs the lead with an RBI sac fly to deep center, scoring McLaughlin for a 4-3 lead.
In the eighth, Arkansas loaded the bases without a hit off Texas Tech reliever Max Huffling. With two outs, Jayson Jones was hit by a pitch to force in a run to extend the Razorbacks’ lead to 5-3.
Stone Hewlett allowed a long two-out solo home run to Cade McGee that trimmed the lead to 5-4 in the ninth. Hewlett then rallied to strike out pitch-hitter Garet Boehm on three pitches to nail down his third save and finish off the two-game series sweep.
Cooper Dossett earned the win in relief for Arkansas with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Dossett (2-0) struck out two and retired eight of the nine batters he faced. Razorbacks pitchers combined for five innings of one-run ball in relief. They surrendered just one hit, McGee’s ninth-inning home run.
Derek Bridges (0-1) suffered the loss in relief for Texas Tech.
Colin Fisher received a no-decision after making his seventh start of the season and his third straight in a midweek game. The freshman left-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in four innings.
NEXT UP
Arkansas travels to South Carolina for a weekend series in SEC play. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 20 in the latest D1Baseball poll. Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT and game be seen on SEC Network+.
