Hogs get fast start to SEC, blasting Missouri

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Hagen Smith’s continued dominance on the mound, and Nolan Souza’s two-homer game powered No. 1 Arkansas (15-2, 1-0 SEC) to an 8-0 shutout win over Missouri (9-9, 0-1 SEC) Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.

With their SEC opening night win, the Razorbacks extended their season-long winning streak to 11 games. Arkansas recorded a shutout in an SEC opener for the first time since its 2-0 win over Missouri in the 2019 conference opener.

Smith was dominant on the mound, logging his team-leading third quality start of the season in the win to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the year. The junior left-hander struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.

“Even his misses were close tonight,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said later. “It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to watch from the side. Maybe people don’t realize what they’re watching because — and I’ve watched a lot of baseball games — watched a lot of pitchers, had a lot of pitchers but Hagen is really good.”

For the season, Smith now owns a 1.57 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 23.0 innings. The Bullard, Texas, native has allowed just four runs on eight hits and eight walks while holding opposing hitters to a meager .108 batting average against.

With Smith cruising along, the Razorback offense hit four home runs to blow past the Tigers. Nolan Souza (3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Kendall Diggs (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) each belted two-run homers, while Missouri transfer Ross Lovich (1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI) added a three-run blast against his former team to help Arkansas open a 7-0 lead by the end of the fourth.

“It’s just hard to come out and be good every outing,” Van Horn said. “He’s become such a pitcher now. He didn’t get all uptight when we didn’t make a couple of plays or he didn’t get a call. He just goes back on the mound and he goes to work. It’s fun to watch.”

Souza, the true freshman from Honolulu, Hawai’i, added a solo shot in the eighth inning to give the Razorbacks their eighth and final run of the ballgame. All eight of Arkansas’ runs came via the home run Friday night.

With his three-hit, two-homer performance, Souza raised his season slash line to a team-leading .423/.559/.846 across the first 10 games of his collegiate career. The Razorback infielder has totaled three home runs and nine RBI on the year.

Diggs, meanwhile, connected on his team-best fourth homer of the season in Friday night’s win. The junior outfielder finished with two hits – his sixth multi-hit game of the year – to raise his season slash line to .355/.468/.645.

In relief of Smith, right-handers Christian Foutch (2.0 IP) and Cooper Dossett (1.0 IP, 2 SO) combined for three scoreless innings of work. Dossett struck out a pair of batters in his seven-pitch ninth to lock down the Razorbacks’ 8-0 win.

Arkansas will look to clinch its seventh consecutive SEC Opening Weekend series win in tomorrow’s game against Missouri. First pitch between the Hogs and Tigers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 16, on SEC Network+.