Hogs complete sweep of No. 1 Texas 13-8

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 11 Arkansas surprised everyone by sweeping No. 1 Texas this weekend including 13-8 on Saturday before 11,031 fans at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas had lost three SEC series in a row while the Longhorns had only been defeated in two conference games all season. Dave Van Horn saw his team rally to win Saturday as they trailed for the first time all weekend, The Longhorns took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third, but it didn’t last long.

“I mean obviously it’s a great win for our team today,” Van Horn said. “It’s hard to beat anybody three times in a row, and especially a good team like Texas. You know, we didn’t get off to a good start. They started two-out rally and then hit a changeup out of the park, and all of a sudden we’re down 3-0. Then we got the Aloy brothers single and homer and we’re right back in it. Then, you know, gave them a run right back. We had a couple of pretty good innings there. I think we scored four. We scored three. They scored three. I mean it’s just back-and-forth. I kept telling our guys no lead’s safe today with the way the wind’s blowing, the air’s thin, the ball’s really traveling.”

The Razorbacks used four pitchers. Dylan Carter (5-0) was the third one to take the mound and was rewarded with the win. He pitched 2.2 innings. Carter allowed one hit, no runs, walked a hitter and struck out two.

“I thought Dylan Carter did a nice job of coming in and settling things down,” Van Horn said. “He was starting to get a little tired. Pitch count was getting up and obviously we ended up going to (Christian) Foutch. I mean, his misses were so close from the side, it looked like I had a frustrated catcher. We thought maybe some of those pitches were strikes. They were probably 50-50 balls he just didn’t get any of them, I don’t think, there in the eight. But came in and threw pretty good there. Had good velocity. Really didn’t have a secondary pitch, and he’s been doing well with that.

“Starting the game with Landon (Beidelschies), I thought he threw the ball okay. Just, pitch count got up, so we went and got him. Gave us four innings. Gave up four runs and four hits. Four of everything it looked like. We had a bullpen full of fresh arms and we just thought we’d mix it up a little bit. It worked out, you know.”

Beidelschies pitched four innings allowing four hits, four runs, two walks and struck out four. Ben Bybee was the second of four pitchers. First baseman Reese Robinett was outstanding. The big lefty hit two home runs and drove in six runs. The Razorbacks hit five home runs on the day. Justin Thomas Jr., Kuhio Aloy and Charles Davalan each had a home run to go with Robinett’s pair.

“Today, offensively, it was a lot of patience at the plate,” Van Horn said. “3-2 walks. Fouling balls off. A walk, a walk, home run. A walk, home run, and I think we scored all of our runs except that last run on home runs. That’s a good job by the offense getting pitch counts up, fouling off pitches and taking a walk and then we’d have a big swing.

“Obviously, Reese Robinett had his best game as a Razorback. I think he drove in six runs and hit a curveball or a changeup over the scoreboard that was huge for us, and that came right after we let a ball drop in right field. You know, right fielder’s ball. Wind’s blowing that way, he needed to take control of that play. Almost didn’t hurt us, but then they single up the middle with two outs, two strikes, and then the next guy hits a homer and they score three runs. They end up being earned runs because I guess nobody touched it, but really we gave them four outs that inning. They took advantage of it, but a great win on a game three on a Saturday.”

Robinett was asked where this kind of game came from?

“I don’t know,” Robinett said. “You know, just staying patient when I get opportunities. Just kind of take it. They were both splitters and middle-in. The first one, I hit it, and I was like, I really don’t know if it’s going to get out, so I just ran to play it safe. And then the second one, off the bat, I kind of knew, and reactions kind of took over. And then, the rest is just what it is.”

After two scoreless innings for both teams, Texas, as noted earlier, jumped on Beidelschies for three runs in the top of the third on a blast by shortstop Jalin Flores. He also hit another one in the top of the ninth. It was a solo shot.

In the bottom of the third with two outs Wehiwa Aloy singled. Kuhio Aloy followed with a home run over the fence in left center field.

Texas added a run in the top of the fourth when center fielder Will Gasparino doubled to start the inning. Beidelschies retired the next two hitters before Tommy Farmer IV delivered an RBI double for a 4-2 lead.

But the Hogs weren’t down long. In the bottom of the fourth, Brent Iredale walked to start the inning. After a fly out, Robinett came up with one down and blasted his first home run to tie the game. However, Ryder Helfrick then walked. Thomas followed that with a two-run home run giving the Hogs their first lead of the game at 6-4.

But Texas had thoughts of their own. In the top of the fifth Ethan Mendoza, the leadoff hitter, doubled to start the inning. Bybee retired the next two hitters before a single by Kimble Schuessler plated him. Gasparino was next up and he hit a home run over the fence in left field for a 7-6 lead.

But in the bottom half of the fifth Iredale walked as did Carson Boles. That brought Robinett to the plate where he hit another shot over the fence for a 9-7 lead. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh when Davalan hit a three-run blast to put the Hogs up 12-7. In the bottom of the eighth Iredale singled to start the inning. Boles hit a ground-rule double to move Iredale to third where he scored on an RBI ground out by Robinett.

Texas used four pitchers. Thomas Burns (0-2), second one to take the mound, took the loss, Max Grubbs started and went 3.1 innings. Dylan Volantis and Jason Flores were the other pair of Longhorn hurlers. They combined to strike out 11 Hogs, walked 10, hit one batter and gave up five home runs. Texas (38-8, 19-5) had lost two SEC games all season, but lost three this weekend.

The Arkansas pitchers struck out nine Longhorns. They walked five and surrendered three home runs. Van Horn talked about what winning the series meant to him and the team.

” We needed to win the series,” Van Horn said. “We’d lost three in a row. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, life in the SEC, it’s tough. About the time you think you’ve got it figured out somebody will get you three times on a weekend.  Players are good. All the teams have good players, good pitchers. You lose three in a row, that was tough. But we’re playing really good teams. It didn’t go our way. Nobody swept us. We just kept hanging in there, finding a way to win a game, almost win another one and we didn’t do it. Then today, we won the first two games. Today could have been a day where they’re scoring and we’re not pitching real good and they got their guys going, but our guys wouldn’t have any of it. They just kept fighting — fighting for another pitch and let the next guy do the job if I take ball four and three or four times today we did, with home runs.”

Arkansas (40-9, 17-7) will be at LSU next weekend. The first game will be Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s game will begin at 5:30 p.m. and then 3 p.m. on Sunday. The games on Saturday and Sunday will be on the SEC Network. Friday’s contest can be streamed at the SEC Network+. Arkansas will close the regular season at home hosting Tennessee Thursday, Friday and Saturday May 15-17.