Baseball

More dominant pitching lifts Razorbacks to series sweep

Peyton Stoval also has big day at the plate as Hogs finish off San Jose State on Wednesday to sweep midweek series.

Published

3 weeks ago

April 10, 2024

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas rode dominant pitching to a 8-2 series finale win over San Jose State Wednesday behind its stable of arms.

Colin Fisher got the start and did not allow a hit in his three innings of work. He scattered three walks and lowered his season ERA down to 1.96. The lefty has now turned in back-to-back scoreless starts in midweek games.

Koty Frank and Jake Faherty followed for three more scoreless frames. Frank faced one over the minimum in his two innings of work while Faherty turned in a 1-2-3 inning with two swinging strikeouts.

The only blemish on the pitching staff all day was a two-run homer by Matt Spear, his second in as many days. He hit one to almost the exact same spot as he did yesterday, a 398-foot shot to right center. It cut a Razorback lead in half to 4-2 and threw the outcome of the game into doubt.

Arkansas’ offense was powered by Peyton Stovall, who went 4-for-4 with three singles, a double, and two RBIs. He opened the scoring with a sac fly to right in the second. Ben McLaughlin followed with an RBI single to right.

“I’m going to be positive with it,” coach Dave Van Horn said. “We did a great job of getting on base. We drove in eight runs, but you take a step back and on a really good day we could have maybe scored 14 of 15 runs.”

The Razorbacks put up another two spot in the fourth, with a two-run double into the left-center field gap in front of a Wehiwa Aloy walk, who added to his 23-game on-base streak. However his hit streak ended at 14 games.

With their lead cut in half after Coil surrendered the two-run homer in the top of the seventh, the Hogs responded immediately with a four-spot in the bottom of the inning. Jack Wagner led off the frame with a 406-foot solo shot. Stovall had his second RBI hit of the day, an infield single. McLaughlin added an RBI double in the gap and Aloy capped off the inning with a deep sac fly to left.

Will Edmunson went 2-for-4 at the plate but made a pair of sterling defensive plays in center field, leaving his feet twice to rob base hits in the outfield.

“I think I’ve gotten a lot better at center field,” Edmunson said. “Ty Wilmsmeyer has helped me a lot out there, just talking to me and taking reps in BP. We work a lot out there so just trying to build that confidence.”

Cooper Dossett got the final three outs in the ninth helping the Razorbacks hold the Spartans to six hits across two games. Arkansas now goes on the road against No. 25 Alabama for a three-game series in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Game 1 of the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday and will be streamed on SEC Network+.