Wood, bullpen carry Razorbacks to series-clinching win over Rebels

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At some point the word dominance is going to come into play with these Arkansas Razorbacks, but don’t draw Dave Van Horn there, yet. He got to see a different approach Friday night in an 8-3 win over the Ole Miss Rebels to clinch the series.

The Hogs are making it a habit on these series, but with starter Mason Molina being off a little bit, the bullpen and hitting carried the day in this one. The Razorbacks have won their first seven weekend series of the season and expanded their home winning streak to 20 games. That’s a program record.

“That game was all about a great job by our bullpen and some timely hitting,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “A couple of two-out rallies, some two-out hits. Just kind of added to a lead there. Just a super good job by the bullpen. What else can I say? Our starter gave us 4 1/3 and the bullpen did the rest.”

Ole Miss got an early lead, but the Hogs don’t let that bother them. It’s happened a few times this year, but this team doesn’t hit panic buttons, just other pitchers. After the Rebels got a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Arkansas responded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the first.

Kendall Diggs got it going with an RBI walk by Kendall Diggs and a two-run single from Jared Sprague-Lott to run the total to 3-1. Ryder Helfrick drove in Diggs from third on an RBI ground-out and his third RBI of the year. They also had a 4-1 lead and it really was enough.

A two-run home by Wehiwa Aloy with two outs in the bottom of the sixth ran the lead to 8-3. It was his team-leading eighth homer of the year and raised his RBI total to 32 going 1-of-3 at the plate with a homer, walk and three RBI. He’s also got an on-base streak of 19.

Mason Molina did not have his best stuff on the mound but managed to get through 4.1 innings in his eighth start of the season. He allowed three runs, three hits and three walks with five punch outs on 83 pitches (49 strikes) in a no decision.

The bullpen supplied 4.2 innings of relief work from Koty Frank, Christian Foutch and Gage Wood. The trio did not surrender a run while allowing three hits and two walks with six strikeouts.