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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 3-18-24
Hogs sweep Missouri, March Madness bracket is set
Nick Coffey joins to talk Eric Musselman in connection with the Louisville job.
Molina’s 10 strikeouts lifts Hogs past Missouri to sweep series
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Behind Mason Molina’s 10-strikeout performance, No. 1 Arkansas romped past Missouri on Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium to finish off its SEC opening weekend series sweep.
With Sunday’s win, the Razorbacks, who have won seven consecutive SEC Opening Weekend series, clinched their sixth conference-opening series sweep in their last seven tries since 2017. Arkansas also swept Mississippi State at home in 2017, Kentucky at home in 2018, Missouri at home in 2019, Kentucky at home in 2022, Auburn at home in 2023.
Missouri had no answers against Molina, who fired 5.1 scoreless innings and matched his season-high with 10 strikeouts for the third time this season. The left-hander, who earned the win to improve to 3-0, lowered his season ERA to 2.74.
The Razorback offense provided Molina with plenty of run support, tagging Tiger starter Carter Rustad for five runs. Arkansas scored twice in the bottom of the first, thanks to Kendall Diggs’ RBI double and Ben McLaughlin’s sac fly.
McLaughlin (1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB) hammered a solo home run in the bottom half of the third to extend the Hogs’ lead to three. Arkansas broke through for two more runs in the fifth on Peyton Stovall’s double and Wehiwa Aloy’s sac fly, opening a commanding five-run lead and knocking Rustad, who came into the day with a 2.33 ERA, out of the ballgame.
Stovall (2-for-5, 2B, RBI), Aloy (2-for-3, 3 RBI, BB) and Jared Sprague-Lott (2-for-5) each turned in multi-hit efforts to pace the Razorbacks, who blew the game open with a three-spot in the sixth. After Sprague-Lott scored on a fielding error, Aloy delivered a two-out, two-run single to left to expand Arkansas’ advantage to 8-0.
Hudson White (1-for-3, 2B, RBI) later added an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to cap the Razorbacks’ explosive day at the plate. Arkansas finished the three-game series with eight homers and 21 RBI, and outscored Missouri, 23-1.
In relief of Molina, Koty Frank (0.2 IP, 2 SO), Colin Fisher (1.0 IP, 1 R), Gage Wood (1.0 IP, 1 SO) and Gabe Gaeckle (1.0 IP) teamed up to close out the Razorbacks’ 9-1 series-sweeping victory and extend Arkansas’ winning streak to 13 games.
For the weekend, Arkansas held the Missouri offense to just one run on eight hits in 27.0 innings, good for a microscopic 0.33 team ERA. The Tigers posted a meager .096 batting average and struck out 37 times in the three-game series.
Up next, Arkansas will head off to the Plains to take on SEC Western Division foe Auburn. First pitch in the three-game series between the Razorbacks and Tigers is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday on SEC Network.
Razorbacks’ one-two punch too much for Mizzou to overcome in another shutout
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In case anybody in the SEC was wondering, Arkansas’ pitching is at least starting league play in a strong fashion. Saturday, Brady Tygart and Will McEntire shut out the Missouri Tigers, 6-0, for the second straight day and clinch the opening SEC series.
It was in typical fashion for the Razorbacks this year. But, first they had to figure out Missouri starter Javyn Pimental, who gave up just a single hit and four strikeouts until he ran out of gas. His relief help, Bryce Mayer, didn’t do as well.
Giving up three straight home runs in the sixth inning to Peyton Stovall, Wehiwa Aloy and Kendall Diggs was enough. The Hogs added three more and that was enough for the day. It was the second time in two years Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn has seen that from his team.
“That’s hard enough to do once,” he said later. “Now we’ve done it two years in a row. It’s really hard to do.”
Tygart struggled with his control in the top of the fourth and fifth innings. He walked the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth on full counts but got a line out to short to end the 31-pitch frame. After striking out the first two batters of the fifth, Tygart hit a batter and surrendered a full-count walk. McEntire came and went 4.2 innings while allowing a hit and four walks with seven strikeouts on 87 pitches (51 strikes). That was good enough to pick up the win.
It’s a combination the rest of the league is going to have to adjust to seeing. After seeing Hagen Smith, who had another dominant start Friday night, they are becoming a one-two punch that could be deadly.
After the trio of homers in the sixth, left-fielder Ross Lovich added a two-out, two-run triple to center and later scored on a wild pitch to cap off the six-run rally.
Lovich went 2-of-4 at the plate with two runs batted in and a triple. He was coming off hitting a three-run home run Friday night against Missouri in the bottom of the third in the 8-0 win.
The Hogs will try and finish a series sweep on Sunday, facing the Tigers again at 2 p.m. Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and you can listen on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home. The pregame show with Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter starts at 1:30 p.m.
Hogs get fast start to SEC, blasting Missouri
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Hagen Smith’s continued dominance on the mound, and Nolan Souza’s two-homer game powered No. 1 Arkansas (15-2, 1-0 SEC) to an 8-0 shutout win over Missouri (9-9, 0-1 SEC) Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With their SEC opening night win, the Razorbacks extended their season-long winning streak to 11 games. Arkansas recorded a shutout in an SEC opener for the first time since its 2-0 win over Missouri in the 2019 conference opener.
Smith was dominant on the mound, logging his team-leading third quality start of the season in the win to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the year. The junior left-hander struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.
“Even his misses were close tonight,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said later. “It’s fun to watch. It’s fun to watch from the side. Maybe people don’t realize what they’re watching because — and I’ve watched a lot of baseball games — watched a lot of pitchers, had a lot of pitchers but Hagen is really good.”
For the season, Smith now owns a 1.57 ERA and 50 strikeouts over 23.0 innings. The Bullard, Texas, native has allowed just four runs on eight hits and eight walks while holding opposing hitters to a meager .108 batting average against.
With Smith cruising along, the Razorback offense hit four home runs to blow past the Tigers. Nolan Souza (3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Kendall Diggs (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) each belted two-run homers, while Missouri transfer Ross Lovich (1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI) added a three-run blast against his former team to help Arkansas open a 7-0 lead by the end of the fourth.
“It’s just hard to come out and be good every outing,” Van Horn said. “He’s become such a pitcher now. He didn’t get all uptight when we didn’t make a couple of plays or he didn’t get a call. He just goes back on the mound and he goes to work. It’s fun to watch.”
Souza, the true freshman from Honolulu, Hawai’i, added a solo shot in the eighth inning to give the Razorbacks their eighth and final run of the ballgame. All eight of Arkansas’ runs came via the home run Friday night.
With his three-hit, two-homer performance, Souza raised his season slash line to a team-leading .423/.559/.846 across the first 10 games of his collegiate career. The Razorback infielder has totaled three home runs and nine RBI on the year.
Diggs, meanwhile, connected on his team-best fourth homer of the season in Friday night’s win. The junior outfielder finished with two hits – his sixth multi-hit game of the year – to raise his season slash line to .355/.468/.645.
In relief of Smith, right-handers Christian Foutch (2.0 IP) and Cooper Dossett (1.0 IP, 2 SO) combined for three scoreless innings of work. Dossett struck out a pair of batters in his seven-pitch ninth to lock down the Razorbacks’ 8-0 win.
Arkansas will look to clinch its seventh consecutive SEC Opening Weekend series win in tomorrow’s game against Missouri. First pitch between the Hogs and Tigers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 16, on SEC Network+.
Ruscin & Zach wrap up basketball and visit with Brett Goode
We talk about the end of the Razorback basketball season, respond to a critical phone caller on Halftime and talk NFL free agency and a possible cabinet post in the Kennedy-Rodgers administration with Super Bowl champion Brett Goode.
Eastside Liquor Halftime Podcast: 3-15-24
Basketball season over for the Hogs, Baseball opens up SEC play with Mizzou
Guests: James Teague and Neal Atkinson
TABOR: Role emergence of Colin Fisher could play down road with Hogs
Former pitcher Scott Tabor sees recent good outings by reliever could be a bigger role as season progresses.
WATCH: Halftime is LIVE. Basketball is done, Baseball starts SEC play tonight
Call or text in
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 3-15-24
Tye, Tommy and Chuck talk recap the basketball season and more! Scott Tabor joins to talk Arkansas Baseball.
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