Hogs top Texas 6-1, take series, go for sweep on Saturday

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 11 Arkansas defeated No. 1 Texas 6-1 on Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium in front of 11,074 fans.

Arkansas used strong pitching and took advantage of wildness by the Texas pitchers. Texas walked nine Hogs and hit five more. Gage Wood once again turned in a great performance on the mound. Wood (1-0) worked four innings allowing just two hits, one run and struck out nine which is a career high. Wood didn’t issue any free passes. He threw 57 pitches on the night. Dave Van Horn heaped praise on Wood.

“Probably a little better than I thought,” Van Horn said of Wood. “I mean, honestly, it’s like he’s picked up right how he was throwing the ball in Arlington, which was really good when he took himself out of the game. Just peppering both sides of the plate. You know, this was his third time out. First time, he didn’t really have the breaking ball. Last week at Florida he had a really good breaking ball. Tonight he had a really good breaking ball. His fastball is electric. Got a lot of carry, Tough to hit, and when he’s ahead in the count it’s tough to hit. Yeah, probably pretty excited about what I’m seeing.”

The bullpen for Arkansas was equally good. Gabe Gaeckle worked three innings allowing two hits, walked one and struck out five. Aiden Jimenez worked the final two innings. He allowed one hit, struck out a hitter and walked another.

“I mean, the difference in the ballgame was really pitching,” Van Horn said. “I think we walked them twice and struck them out 15 times. I think they walked us nine times, struck us out five. I think they hit us five times. We scratched a couple runs across in the fifth and sixth. Those were big, but really, the big swing was Kuhio’s 0-2, after seeing 0-2 count, saw a couple offspeed pitches. Tried to slip a fastball by him and he smoked it in the gap for three quick RBIs. All of a sudden, we have a four-run lead. Gave us a chance to relax a little bit.

“Gage Wood was really good for four innings. Threw right at the max for what we wanted him to throw. We wanted him to stay just under 60 if possible. I thought he was really good. Struck out nine. I don’t think any walks. Gave up a line-drive home run and you know, (Rylan) Galvin’s a good hitter and got him a fastball, and he didn’t miss it. Yeah, that was a good win for us. We did just enough to find a way to win.”

The Hogs took control of the game in the bottom of the second when Brent Iredale sent one over the fence in right field. Then Texas starter Luke Harrison hit Ryder Helfrick and Justin Thomas Jr. while also walking Wehiwa Aloy to load the bases with two outs. Kuhio Aloy cleaned the bases with a double to put Arkansas up 4-0.

Texas got its lone run in the series so far in the top of the fourth when catcher Rylan Galvan hit a solo shot over the fence in left field off Wood.

The Hogs scored one run in each of the fifth and sixth without the benefit of a hit. Arkansas’ last hit in a game was a single by Thomas in the bottom of the fourth. Two hit batters and a pair of walks led to an Arkansas run in the fifth. Three walks and hit batter produced an Arkansas run in the sixth. In the game, Arkansas stranded 14 runners.

Harrison (4-1) took the loss for Texas. He pitched four innings allowing all six Arkansas hits, four runs, walked two, struck out a pair and hit a couple of hitters. The Texas bullpen didn’t allow a hit among four pitchers. But they did allow two runs while walking seven and hitting three Hogs.

For the second night in a row no Razorback had more than one hit. Charles Davalan, Ryder Helfrick, the Aloy brothers, Iredale and Thomas each had a hit. Kuhio Aloy had three runs batted in. Davalan, Iredale and Reese Robinett each had one RBI.

Arkansas (39-9, 16-7) and Texas (38-7, 19-4) will play the final game of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. It can be streamed on the SEC Network+. Van Horn still isn’t ready to name a starter.

“No, not yet,” Van Horn said. “Not 100%. We were just talking about it in the dugout a little bit, but I’ll tell you this: It’ll either be a right-hander or a left-hander.”