Big Z is set to enter the portal, Is Kevin Willard the biggest Fool this April? Arkansas athletics GM, and more!
Guests: Bruce Stanton and Tom Murphy!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 4-1-25
Ruscin & Zach March 31
We celebrate DQ’s last day with us. Plus torpedo bats, baseball, the portal is portaling and Ruscin doesn’t care until the roster is done.
Pig Trail Nation’s Mike Irwin on who could be Calipari’s main piece to replace
With players starting to enter the transfer portal, looking at who Razorbacks might have coming and going this cycle.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 3-31-25
Tommy is tanned and back from Hawaii just in time to rehash a historic sweep of Vanderbilt in Nashville by Razorback baseball, and give his thoughts on the Final Four.
Guests: Clay Henry!
WATCH: The Morning Rush is LIVE!
Hogs Sweep Vandy, Final Four is CHALK, Tommy back in studio! CALL or TEXT the Lewis Automotive Group Hotline: 877-377-6963!
Hogs complete sweep in Nashville, first since 1995, with 7-3 win Sunday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the first time in more than 30 years, the Razorbacks have swept the Commodores in Nashville.
Second-ranked Arkansas (26-3, 8-1 SEC) scored five runs, including solo blasts from Charles Davalan and Logan Maxwell, in the eighth to pull away from No. 14 Vanderbilt (20-8, 4-5 SEC) and leave town with a 7-3 win Sunday afternoon.
It was the Hogs’ first sweep of the Commodores since 2005 as well as its first sweep in Nashville since 1994.
With Sunday’s series-sweeping win, Arkansas, now 8-1 in league action, will start 8-4 or better in SEC play for the eighth consecutive season (2017-25, excluding the 2020 campaign). The Hogs’ streak marks the best stretch of starting 8-4 or better in SEC play by a team in the league since LSU accomplished the feat in eight consecutive seasons from 1991-98.
Davalan’s two-homer, three-RBI performance powered the Razorback offense, while Landon Beidelschies (5.0 IP, 3 R, 4 SO) and Ben Bybee (4.0 IP, 0 R, 7 SO) combined for 11 strikeouts over nine innings of three-run ball on the mound to carry Arkansas to its series-sweeping win Sunday afternoon.
Brent Iredale (2-for-4) and Nolan Souza (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) also turned in big days at the plate, helping set the stage for the Hogs’ five-run rally in the eighth to win the game.
Arkansas took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on Davalan’s first of two home runs.
The Razorback outfielder’s two-run shot to left field was the only damage Vanderbilt starter Connor Fennell would allow, limiting the Hogs’ explosive offense to just two runs on three hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 10 in five innings of work on the mound.
The Commodores took their first and only lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth on a three-run homer to go ahead, 3-2.
Beidelschies worked five strong innings before turning the ball over to Bybee in the bottom of the sixth.
Arkansas and Vanderbilt exchanged zeroes until the eighth, when the Razorbacks broke through against Commodore reliever Alex Kranzler.
Davalan’s leadoff solo shot, his second of the day and ninth of the season, evened the game at three before Logan Maxwell stepped up and swatted the go-ahead homer, his eighth of the year, down the line in left.
The Hogs did not stop there, however, tacking on three more thanks to a run-scoring wild pitch and Souza’s two-out two-RBI double to cap their five-run rally in the eighth and open their 7-3 advantage. The four-run lead was more than enough for Bybee, who finished his outing with a career-high seven strikeouts and earned the win to improve to 3-0.
Up next, Arkansas heads to CHI St. Vincent Field at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Ark., on Tuesday, April 1 for a midweek matchup against Grambling.
First pitch between the Hogs and Tigers is set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Razorbacks need 10 innings, but clinch series against Vandy with 6-4 win
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the first time in 15 years, Arkansas has won an SEC road weekend series in Nashville.
The second-ranked Razorbacks (25-3, 7-1 SEC) held off No. 14 Vanderbilt (20-7, 4-4 SEC), 6-4, in 10 innings Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field to win its seventh consecutive conference game and clinch its first road weekend series win against the Commodores since 2010.
With Saturday’s win, the Hogs have started SEC play with three consecutive series wins for the seventh time (2007, 2009, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2024 & 2025) since joining the conference ahead of the 1992 season.
The Razorbacks will go for their first series sweep against the Commodores since 2005 as well as their first series sweep in Nashville since 1994 in tomorrow’s series finale at Hawkins Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on SEC Network.
Starter Gabe Gaeckle’s strong outing on the mound set the tone in Arkansas’ series-clinching win Saturday.
The right-hander fired a career-long 5.2 innings, striking out seven while allowing two runs on six hits with zero walks.
Cam Kozeal, the Vanderbilt transfer, landed the ballgame’s first punch with his two-run home run in the top of the second inning to open the scoring.
The Razorback first baseman’s third home run and seventh RBI of the weekend series gave Gaeckle and Arkansas an early 2-0 advantage, which would hold up until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Vanderbilt cut its deficit to one in the fifth before tying the game at two on a two-out RBI single sixth, which ended Gaeckle’s day.
True freshman Carson Wiggins emerged from the bullpen and recorded the final out of the inning, extinguishing the Commodores’ go-ahead threat on two pitches to keep the score level at two entering the seventh.
Justin Thomas Jr. swatted a leadoff home run to put Arkansas back up, 3-2, but Vanderbilt came right back with a run of its own in the bottom of the seventh, evening the game at three on a run-scoring wild pitch with two outs.
Aiden Jimenez took over on the mound for Wiggins in the seventh and closed out the game with 3.1 innings of one-run ball and four strikeouts, earning his third win of the season.
The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced, striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth, and prevented the Commodores from winning the game in regulation.
In the top of the 10th, the Razorback offense used small ball, including two bunts, to scratch out three runs and build a 6-3 lead.
After Wehiwa Aloy and Logan Maxwell reached base to begin the inning, Brent Iredale’s RBI single broke the deadlock before Kozeal and Ryder Helfrick each executed perfect run-scoring squeeze bunts to put the Hogs up three.
Vanderbilt gave Arkansas a scare in the bottom of the 10th, putting the first two batters on base and scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to center.
Jimenez did not blink, however, and induced a game-ending groundout to first to seal the win.
Razorbacks roll to series-opening win over Vanderbilt
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Second-ranked Arkansas (24-3, 6-1 SEC) handed No. 14 Vanderbilt (20-6, 4-3 SEC) its first home loss of the season, securing a 9-0 shutout victory in Friday night’s series opener at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn., to win its sixth consecutive SEC game and shut out the Commodores in a home conference game for the first time since 2022.
The win marked Arkansas’ first shutout win against Vanderbilt since 2005, and the Hogs’ first shutout win against the Commodores in Nashville since 1994. Arkansas will go for the series win tomorrow when the two teams are scheduled to play at 2 p.m. Saturday on SEC Network+ with Kevin Ingram (play-by-play) and Andrew Harris (analyst) on the call.
With a series win this weekend, Arkansas would start SEC play with three straight series wins for the seventh time since joining the league in 1992. The Razorbacks also accomplished the feat in 2007, 2009, 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
Cam Kozeal, a former Commodore, and Zach Root stole the show Friday night to help lead Arkansas to its 9-0 series-opening win. Kozeal went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI in his return to Vanderbilt, where he played his true freshman season last year, while Root spun a career-long 7.2 shutout innings with seven strikeouts on the mound.
Arkansas opened the scoring in the top of the third on Nolan Souza’s RBI. Ryder Helfrick led off the inning with a triple, his team-leading second of the season, before coming home on Souza’s groundout to short to put the Hogs ahead, 1-0. Logan Maxwell, who finished Friday’s game with a pair of hits and a team-high three runs scored, cracked a leadoff home run, his career-high seventh of the season, in the fourth inning to extend the Razorbacks’ advantage to two runs.
After Brent Iredale, the next batter, drew a walk, Kozeal swatted his first of two homers to put Arkansas up, 4-0, before recording an out in the fourth. The Razorback first baseman’s third homer of the year traveled 398 feet to right center.
In Kozeal’s next at-bat in the sixth inning, he blasted a 368-foot solo shot, his fourth of 2025, to right to push the Hogs’ lead to five. The Omaha, Neb., native did not stop there, adding a two-run single in the ninth to collect his fourth and fifth RBI of the night and put the game out of reach as Arkansas’ advantage grew to a commanding nine-run lead.
Led by Root’s strong outing, the Razorback pitching staff combined for its first three-hit shutout since accomplishing the feat in the series opener at Auburn last season. Root, who became the first Arkansas pitcher to record back-to-back starts of at least seven innings since Connor Noland accomplished the feat in 2022, carried a no-hitter into the fifth.
The left-hander allowed three hits and issued three walks while racking up seven strikeouts during his 100-pitch start before turning the ball over to the Razorback bullpen. In relief of Root, right-handers Aiden Jimenez (0.1 IP) and Dylan Carter (1.0 IP) combined for 1.1 no-hit innings with a strikeout to lock down Arkansas’ series-opening 9-0 win.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
