FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Landon Beidelschies turned in five innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in his Razorback debut, leading No. 5 Arkansas (4-0) to a 12-2 run-rule win against Washington State (0-4) Monday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With the win, the Hogs completed their Opening Weekend four-game series sweep of the Cougars.
Monday’s win also marked the Razorbacks’ 700th victory in the 30-year history of Baum-Walker Stadium, where Arkansas maintains an all-time record of 700-243 (.742).
Since the 2015 campaign, the Hogs have won 30 consecutive non-conference home weekend series inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium, with their last non-conference home weekend series loss coming at the hands of South Alabama during the 2014 season.
Beidelschies, the Ohio State transfer, was sharp in his first start on the mound, giving Arkansas five strong innings to earn his first win of the year.
After exchanging zeroes with the Cougars through the game’s first three frames, the Razorbacks posted a five-spot in the bottom of the fourth before tacking on six more runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Kuhio Aloy’s solo shot, his second home run of the season, opened the scoring in the fourth inning.
Arkansas capitalized on a Washington State defensive miscue to keep the pressure mounting, and Wehiwa Aloy (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB), brother of Kuhio (1-for-3, HR, RBI, 2 BB), took full advantage later in the inning with a two-run single to extend the lead to 5-0.
While the Cougars answered back with a run in the top half of the fifth, the Razorbacks did not let up. Carson Boles (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI), making his first start of the season, doubled in a pair of runs before Justin Thomas Jr. (1-for-1, 3 R, RBI, 3 BB), Charles Davalan (1-for-4, 2 RBI) and Brent Iredale (1-for-4, 2 RBI) each contributed RBI singles of their own.
In relief of Beidelschies, Ben Bybee (1.0 IP, 1 R) and true freshman Cole Gibler (1.0 IP, 1 SO) worked the game’s final two frames.
Washington State added a second run in the top of the sixth, but Arkansas pushed its lead back to 10 in the bottom half of the inning when Iredale was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to reinitiate the run rule.
Gibler locked down the top of the seventh, recording his first collegiate strikeout in his first collegiate appearance to seal Arkansas’ opening weekend series sweep against Washington State.
Since Dave Van Horn’s first season as head coach, the Razorbacks have swept 12 of their Opening Weekend series, doing so for the first time in Fayetteville since 2020.
Up next, Arkansas heads to the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series presented by Kubota on Feb. 21-23 in Arlington, Texas, at Globe Life Field.
The Hogs open tournament play against Kansas State at 7 p.m. Friday on FloCollege.
