FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas secured two wins on opening day of the Wooo Pig Classic after the frigid temperatures forced a delay in first pitch.
The Hogs returned to the diamond to shut out Omaha, 2-0, and ran out to an early lead against Northwestern State before sealing the deal on an 8-2 victory.
Sophomore Nicole Duncan scored both runs for the Hogs against Omaha, first off the bat of Haydi Bugarin, whose single to left field pushed Duncan over home plate for the go-ahead run.
Maggie Hicks followed with a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, that gave Duncan the chance to tag from third and score on the play.
The cold weather persisted through the night, but the Hogs were just warming up, and fired up the engines early in game two with a seven-run first inning.
Leadoff batter Hannah McEwen got things rolling with a successful bunt single on a 2-2 count, followed by back-to-back singles by Danielle Gibson and Katie Warrick. Ashley Diaz took the first pitch out to right field, good for a Razorback single and the Hogs’ first run of the game.
With no outs on the board, sophomore Kayla Green stepped up and sent one over the left-center wall, her third home run of the season, ninth of her career. But the bases-clearing grand slam? That was Green’s first in the cardinal and white.
Arkansas kept the energy high with a double to left field by Hicks that would score Bugarin and a couple extra bases due to an error by the Lady Demons.
Another RBI single by Diaz in the third gave the Hogs the eight-run lead they needed to end this one early, but NSU had other plans, as sophomore Cayla Jones took a 1-0 pitch from Autumn Storms over the wall, good for two runs on the board for NSU.
The sixth went scoreless for both teams, and the Razorbacks sealed the deal in the seventh and final inning, as Storms sat the Lady Demons down in order.
Storms’ seven-inning win is her sixth of the season, as she hurled in nine strikeouts, allowing only four hits and giving up only one base on balls.
Arkansas advances to 14-3 on the year, holding onto a 6-2 home record after last week’s 4-2 showing at the Razorback Invitational. The Razorbacks will return to Bogle Park for two more days of play, including consecutive games against Omaha once again and Nevada at 2:30 pm and 4:45 pm respectively.
