Late rally lifts Hogs past Ole Miss behind Wehiwa’s pair of homers

OXFORD, Miss. — Wehiwa Aloy swatted a pair of homers, including the game-winning three-run blast with two outs in the ninth, and finished with a team-high five RBI to power No. 3 Arkansas (18-2, 2-1 SEC) to a thrilling come-from-behind 12-9 series-clinching win against No. 13 Ole Miss (15-4, 1-2 SEC) Sunday afternoon at Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss.

The Razorbacks have now won eight consecutive SEC Opening Weekend series since the start of the 2017 campaign as well as five consecutive regular-season weekend series against the Rebels, including three straight weekend series in Oxford. Arkansas also picked up its first SEC-opening series win on the road since the 2007 campaign, when head coach Dave Van Horn and the Hogs won two-of-three games against Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

Trailing by a run and down to their last out in the top of the ninth, Charles Davalan’s RBI single tied the game at nine apiece before Aloy’s go-ahead three-run shot to right field, his second homer of the ballgame, put the Razorbacks up, 12-9. True freshman right-hander Carson Wiggins worked around a pair of two-out walks in the bottom of the ninth inning before striking out Ole Miss’ three-hole hitter Ryan Moerman to earn his first win and clinch the series.

Arkansas and Ole Miss exchanged blows all afternoon. When the Rebels jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage after tagging starter Landon Beidelschies for four runs on four hits and two walks in 2.1 innings of work, the Razorback offense responded with seven unanswered runs, highlighted by a four-run sixth inning, to open a 7-4 lead.

Aloy’s first of two homers punctuated the four-run sixth. After Davalan’s RBI groundout gave Arkansas its first lead of the day, the Razorback shortstop drilled the first pitch he saw over the wall in left center to put the Hogs up by three.

In relief of Beidelschies, veteran right-hander Will McEntire emerged from the bullpen and turned in a strong effort with 3.1 innings of one-run ball and five strikeouts to give Arkansas an opportunity to find its footing in Sunday’s slugfest.

Arkansas took an 8-5 lead into the bottom half of the seventh, but Ole Miss would not quit. The Rebels scored three runs in the frame to tie the game before taking a 9-8 lead on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning.

With their backs against the wall in the ninth, however, the Razorbacks did not relent. Davalan and Aloy’s two-out heroics in the helped Arkansas post a four-spot in the inning and open a three-run lead for Wiggins, who struck out a career-high three over two innings of one-run ball in relief, to protect and, ultimately, secure.

Up next, Arkansas returns inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium for a five-game week and six-game homestand. The action gets underway with a double midweek series against Oral Roberts on March 18-19.