FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 2 Arkansas (32-5) finished its midweek sweep of Texas Tech (26-13) with a 5-4 win Wednesday afternoon, extending its Baum-Walker Stadium winning streak to a program-record 25 consecutive games.
With the win, Arkansas improved to 9-0 in midweek games this season. Three regular-season midweek contests remain for the Razorbacks, who are looking to go undefeated in midweek games for the first time since the 2005 season (9-0).
Peyton Stovall swatted a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Razorbacks and starter Colin Fisher an early advantage Wednesday. The true freshman fired four innings of three-run ball with three strikeouts on the mound before turning the ball over to the Arkansas bullpen, which combined for five one-run innings in the win.
After Texas Tech brought home a run in the top half of the second to even the game at one, Nolan Souza launched a leadoff shot in the bottom half of the inning to put Arkansas back in front. The true freshman connected on his seventh home run of the season, tying him with Ben McLaughlin (7) for second most on the Razorbacks this year.
The Red Raiders took their only lead of Wednesday’s ballgame in the top half of the third, scoring a pair of runs on a one-out ground rule double to open a slim 3-2 advantage. From there, Fisher and the Razorback bullpen went to work by stringing together five scoreless frames before allowing a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning.
Arkansas retook the lead and never looked back in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to Wehiwa Aloy’s game-tying RBI single to left and Jack Wagner’s sacrifice fly to center score the Razorbacks’ go-ahead run. The Hogs tacked on one more run in the eighth, extending their lead to 5-3 when Jayson Jones was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
The additional run proved to be beneficial as Texas Tech would cut its deficit to one with a two-out home run in the top of the ninth. Arkansas reliever Stone Hewlett was undeterred, however, and closed out the game to earn his third save.
Cooper Dossett was credited with the win and improved to 2-0 after twirling 2.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts in relief. Koty Frank (1.0 IP) and Jake Faherty (0.1 IP) also emerged from the bullpen and chipped in with scoreless outings.
Up next, second-ranked Arkansas heads off to Columbia, S.C., for a showdown against No. 20 South Carolina. First pitch in the SEC weekend series between the Razorbacks and Gamecocks is set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.
