ATHENS, Ga. — Unanimous No. 1 Arkansas (32-3, 12-1 SEC) scored 13 unanswered runs, including seven in the top of the ninth, to pull away from No. 7 Georgia (30-6, 8-5 SEC) and earn a 13-3 series-opening win Friday night at Foley Field.
With the win, the Razorbacks improved to 32-3 overall, marking their most wins through 35 games in program history, and moved to 12-1 in league play, matching their best 13-game SEC start in program history.
Arkansas, which also started 12-1 in SEC play during the 2024 campaign, extended its program-record SEC winning streak to 12 games and can achieve its best 15-game SEC start of either 13-2 or 14-1 with a series win or sweep against Georgia this weekend.
The series-opening win was also Dave Van Horn’s 1,500th career victory in 37 seasons as a college baseball coach.
Van Horn won 214 games at Texarkana CC (1989-93), 51 games at Central Missouri State (1994), 106 games at Northwestern State (1995-97), 214 games at Nebraska (1998-2002) and earned his 915th win at Arkansas (2003-pres.) Friday night.
Georgia landed the game’s first punch, taking an early lead with a three-spot in the bottom of the second.
The Bulldogs tagged Razorback starter Zach Root for three runs on a walk and two hits, including a two-out two-run homer.
It was the only damage Root would allow, however, as the left-hander finished Friday’s outing with seven strikeouts over 5.2 innings of three-run ball.
Arkansas erased its three-run deficit in the top half of the fourth, scratching out three runs on three hits, including Logan Maxwell’s RBI double, Brent Iredale’s RBI single and Kuhio Aloy’s game-tying RBI single.
The Razorbacks and Bulldogs exchanged zeroes over the next two innings, but the game took a turn in the final three frames.
Arkansas grabbed its first lead of the night in the top of the seventh on a one-out RBI triple by Gabe Fraser, who entered as a defensive sub in the bottom of the fifth inning for an injured Nolan Souza.
Fraser’s go-ahead base knock in the seventh put the Hogs ahead 4-3 and jumpstarted a 10-run rally over the game’s final three innings.
Arkansas tacked on two more in the eighth on Wehiwa Aloy’s leadoff solo shot and Kuhio Aloy’s two-out RBI single before breaking the game wide open with seven runs in the top half of the ninth.
Georgia entered the ninth trailing by three but soon faced a 10-run deficit as Arkansas brought 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on four hits, three walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch, a passed ball and an error.
Wehiwa Aloy’s ground-rule double was the biggest blow before consecutive RBI singles from Cam Kozeal, Kuhio Aloy and Ryder Helfrick.
In relief of Root, Aiden Jimenez (2.1 IP, 2 SO), who earned the win to improve to 4-0 on the year, and Dylan Carter (1.0 IP, 2 SO) combined for 3.1 shutout innings with four strikeouts to secure Arkansas’ series-opening 13-3 victory.
Arkansas will go for its fifth SEC weekend series win of the season tomorrow afternoon and look to secure its first series win in Athens since 2015.
First pitch in game two between the Razorbacks and Bulldogs is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday on SEC Network+, with right-hander Gabe Gaeckle (2-0, 5.77 ERA) set to toe the rubber.
