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Hogs pull off midweek sweep of Texas Tech with 5-4 win

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+.

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Souza’s sac fly walks off win over Texas Tech, 9-8

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas got exactly what they needed after dropping an SEC series on the road last weekend Tuesday night against Texas Tech. Nolan Souza’s walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning capped a 9-8 comeback win over the Red Raiders at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Razorbacks extended their home winning streak to 24 games while picking up their second walk-off victory of the season.
Souza came in as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded and hi sacrifice fly to right field scored Jared Sprague-Lott from third base to walk it off.

“I’m glad Souza got enough of that ball to get it to the outfield,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “Honestly, if the wind wasn’t blowing in it might’ve went out of the park. That thing got up there so high and started coming back.”

Ben Bybee opened up the night with a three up, three down first inning but crumbled in the top of the second. “They jumped on Bybee,” Van Horn said later.

Texas Tech went up early, 2-0. Then the Red Raiders jumped on Bybee. Tech took advantage of four straight singles as Bybee finished the night throwing 1.1 innings while allowing six runs and six hits with two strikeouts on 36 pitches (29 strikes) in his third start of the year. His ERA jumped from 1.00 to 6.10 in a no decision.

Down 7-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, the Razorbacks mounted a six-run rally to tie the game. After Jayson Jones and Will Edmunson worked their way on base to begin the frame, Peyton Holt singled to left field to cut the lead to five. Arkansas scored two more runs to slice the Red Raiders’ lead to 7-4 and Ben McLaughlin launched a two-run home run to left to bring the Hogs within one. Hudson White tied the game against his former team with an RBI double down the third base line to plate Jack Wagner from second.

“Ben McLaughlin had a tremendous at-bat,” Van Horn said. “Went to a full count and caught him with a fastball and just hit it opposite field with that slicing wind. We knew it was gone when it left the bat. That was just a big swing. There were plenty of those. Just proud of our guys. They rallied and just kept going and found a way to win against a team that can really hit. We’ve got our hands full again tomorrow.”

The Red Raiders grabbed the lead back with a solo shot off of Will McEntire on the first pitch of the top of the seventh off the bat of Green for his fourth RBI of the game, 8-7. The Razorbacks tied that game back up in the bottom of the eighth with Peyton Stovall driving in pinch runner Ty Wilmsmeyer from third on a fielder’s choice with one out.

The Hogs and Red Raiders will wrap up the two-game series Wednesday afernoon before Arkansas goes on the road to South Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. on the SEC Network.

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