FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas had no trouble with the Little Rock Trojans this time. While Ben Bybee got his first outing starting on the mound in an 11-0 win. It really was that easy because even the bats were dominating and the pitchers combined to give up just two hits.
The win raised the No. 1 Razorbacks to 20-3 on the season (5-1) in the SEC. Nobody will talk long about this game, though. A much more important series with LSU starts at Baum-Walker Stadium on Thursday evening.
“We’ll talk about that one tomorrow,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said later. He was focused on this game after dropping a game to the Trojans a few years ago.
Bybee threw three shutout innings against the Trojans. Last year he started seven times in midweek games last season while carrying an ERA of 7.24 and a 2-1 record.
This one was already out of hand when Wehiwa Aloy hit a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning with nobody out to put the Hogs on top, 8-0. He went 3-for-3 at the plate with four RBI and has a 13-game on-base streak while driving in 19 runs in the last 13 games. Aloy leads the team with 24 runs driven in this season and is tied with the most home runs at five (Kendall Diggs).
Jack Wagner followed with his first career homer in his first game since Feb. 27 against the Grambling State Tigers. Will Edmunson hit a two-run dinger with two outs for his first jack of the year to put Arkansas in position to obtain the run-rule win.
Dylan Carter made his third appearance of the year out of the bullpen and backed up Bybee by firing two perfect innings on 20 pitches (13 strikes) while lowering his ERA to 2.70 on the year. Christian Foutch tossed a solid sixth inning of his own and Stone Hewlett closed the game out with an eight-pitch seventh to lower his WHIP to 0.56.
The scoring opened up immediately in the bottom of the first with Wagner driving Ben McLaughlin on a sacrifice fly. Arkansas loaded the bases later in the frame with two outs and Peyton Holt was hit by a pitch to drive in a run. Peyton Stovall hit a two-run bomb to left field in the bottom of the second after Ryder Helfrick led off by getting plunked to expand the lead, 4-0.
The Razorbacks will stay in Baum-Walker Stadium later this week, hosting the No. 8-ranked LSU Tigers on Thursday to open up a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CDT), and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
You can also hear the games on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
