FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Wehiwa Aloy continued to amaze with his play on both sides of the baseball, swatting his team-leading 14th home run of the season and displaying his dazzling defense at shortstop, but No. 2 Arkansas (33-6, 12-4 SEC) dropped the series opener against Texas A&M (22-15, 7-9 SEC), 7-4, Thursday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
In anticipation of inclement weather over the weekend, the Razorbacks and Aggies will conclude their series with two games Friday.
First pitch in tomorrow’s twin bill is set for 2 p.m. on SEC Network+, while Friday’s second game, which will also stream on SEC Network+, is slated to begin approximately an hour after the completion of the first game.
Aloy finished 2-for-4 with a homer, his third in as many games, and two RBI in Thursday night’s series-opening loss. His multi-hit performance was his team-leading 21st of the season and raised his slash line to .372/.458/.720 on the year.
The Razorback shortstop made a remarkable jump throw from deep in the hole to end the top of the second inning before stepping up to the plate in the bottom of the third and clobbering a 401-foot game-tying two-run home run.
Texas A&M tagged Arkansas starting pitcher Zach Root, who took the loss to fall to 5-2 on the year, for six runs (five earned) on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in four innings.
The Aggies scored four runs over the first and second inning before breaking a 4-4 tie with two runs in the top half of the fifth to pull away from the Razorbacks.
In relief of Root, Dylan Carter (4.0 IP, 4 SO) and Christian Foutch (1.0 IP, 1 R, 2 SO) combined for five innings of one-run ball.
Despite their efforts, the Razorbacks had no answer for Aggie reliever Weston Moss, who spun five shutout frames.
Moss took over for Texas A&M starter Ryan Prager, who allowed four runs on six hits and one free pass, and silenced the Arkansas offense over the game’s final six innings.
The Hogs put runners on first and second in both the seventh and ninth but failed to capitalize and, ultimately, suffered a 7-4 series-opening loss at the hands of the Aggies.
Offensively, Charles Davalan (2-for-4, 2B) and Justin Thomas Jr. (2-for-3) also collected multi-hit performances Thursday night.
Kuhio Aloy, meanwhile, tallied an RBI double in the first inning and raised his season slash line to .384/.471/.692.
