Hogs explode for 21 runs cruising to easy Grambling

Jayson Jones (Gunnar Rathbun / Arkansas Communications)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 2 Arkansas (6-2) racked up 20 base hits, including nine extra-base hits with six doubles and three homers, to coast to a 21-1 run-rule win against Grambling (1-7) on Tuesday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Razorbacks’ 20 base knocks mark their most in a game since collecting 20 hits against Dayton on Feb. 28, 2018.

Jayson Jones led the offensive explosion, swatting a pair of dingers in the Razorbacks’ lopsided win. He finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a team-leading six runs batted in, swatting a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning before clubbing a grand slam – the Hogs’ second of the game – in the fifth inning.

Jones was one of six Arkansas batters to record multiple base knocks, with Will Edmunson (2-for-4), Kendall Diggs (2-for-3), Ross Lovich (3-for-3), Jared Sprague-Lott (2-for-3) and Peyton Holt (3-for-3) also tallying multi-hit games. Holt scored a team-high four runs in the Razorbacks’ win, while Edmunson, Diggs and Sprague-Lott each contributed doubles.

After starter Colin Fisher, who earned the win to improve to 2-1 on the year, fired a scoreless top of the first with a strikeout, the Hogs’ offense posted a seven-spot in the bottom half of the frame. The biggest blow of the inning came off the bat of Hudson Polk, who clobbered a grand slam – Arkansas’ first of the season – in his first at-bat of the year.

Ahead 7-0 after the first, the Razorbacks added five runs in the third, two runs in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth to take control of the ballgame. Arkansas silenced the Grambling offense until the seventh inning, when the Tigers put together a two-out rally and brought home a run to break up the shutout.

On the mound, all six Razorback pitchers struck out at least one batter and combined to total 11 punchouts in the seven-inning win. Parker Coil tossed two scoreless innings in relief, while Cooper Dossett struck out the side in his season debut, and Gage Wood logged a pair of strikeouts in his scoreless inning of work.

Arkansas’ 12-game homestand continues this weekend when Murray State (6-2) comes to town. First pitch in the series opener between the Razorbacks and Racers in scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, March 1, on SEC Network+.