Quick Hits: Top-ranked Hogs remain unbeatable, sweep Ole Miss

The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks picked up their 11th conference win and 21st straight home win on Saturday, capping off a series sweep over the Ole Miss Rebels with a 7-4 victory inside Baum-Walker Stadium.

Razorback bats combined for 11 hits while the pitching staff looked exceptional once again, striking out Rebel hitters 15 times as the Hogs picked up their fourth SEC series win.

Here’s a closer look at the action from game three of the series as Arkansas improves to 27-3 and 11-1 in SEC play.

Scoring Recap

Bottom 4 – Arkansas 1, Ole Miss 0: Nolan Souza hits a ball 404ft through the wind out to right field for his fifth home run on the season.

Top 5 – Arkansas 1, Ole Miss 2: Arkansas can’t handle an Andrew Fisher pop-up, as Trenton Lyons scores from third on the dropped ball. Ethan Groff then singled up the middle to bring in Hill from second and put the Rebs on top.

Bottom 5 – Arkansas 3, Ole Miss 2: With the bases loaded and nobody out, Jared Sprague-Lott grounds into a double play, but scores Aloy from third. Then, with Kendall Diggs standing at third, Nolan Souza beats the shift and picks up an RBI single.

Top 6 – Arkansas 3, Ole Miss 3: Randle singles into left, scoring Judd Utermark from second base and tying the game.

Bottom 7 – Arkansas 7, Ole Miss 3: Souza blasts a three-run home run, scoring Sprague-Lott and Ross Lovich and doubling the Rebs run total to put the Hogs up 6-3. Hudson White then came in to score on a Stovall groundout to push the lead to four.

Top 9 – Arkansas 7, Ole Miss 4: Luke Hill scores on an Ethan Groff single to center, knocking Gabe Gaeckle out of the game.

Gorilla of the Game

Nolan Souza: 3-5, 2 HR (6), 5 RBI, 2 Runs

Souza, who hit a towering grand slam in the midweek game and had already notched three base hits in this series, improved upon his impressive weekly statistics by going three for five on Saturday.

Souza got the scoring started with a 100 mph+ laser over the right-field fence for the sixth homer of his incredible freshman campaign. He then picked up his second RBI in the bottom of the fifth with a scorching single into left, scoring Diggs. The big blow came in the bottom of the seventh when Souza crushed his second long ball of the day, this time a three-run shot that cemented his title as Gorilla of the Day.

The Hawaii native’s six home runs now rank second on the team, tied with the aforementioned Kendall Diggs and two behind fellow Hawaiian, Wehiwa Aloy. Souza is also the first true freshman Hog to have six or more homers since Peyton Stovall’s freshman campaign in 2022.

Most Valuable Arm

Gabe Gaeckle: 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Ks, 1 BB, Win

True freshman Gabe Gaeckle was thrown into another high-leverage situation in the top of the sixth but remained poised as usual, striking out four batters through two and two-thirds innings and running his fastball into the upper 90s.

Gaeckle was also able to maintain his velocity well into his outing, notching 96 mph on his fastball 30+ pitches into the game. Today was his second-longest outing of the year. DVH seems to be comfortable with letting the freshman go longer into his outings. The freshman also picked up his first career win, which will go nicely with his SEC-leading five saves.

Other Notes and Observations

• Will McEntire came in to get the last two outs after Gaeckle put two on in the ninth and closed the game with a strikeout.

• Wehiwa Aloy continues his hitting tear, pushing his hit streak to 13 games with another two coming in this game.

• Kendall Diggs picked up three hits in game three, boosting his average back up to .286. If Diggs can get it going here in the meat of SEC play, the Arkansas offense could go from serviceable to dangerous quickly.

• Tygart continues to struggle in SEC play. He did not make it out of the fifth while walking three and giving up two earned runs. However, the stuff seemed a little bit sharper from the Mississippi native against Ole Miss, the Rebs just seemed a little too comfortable in their at-bats.

• Lovich gets the start in left, as that position battle seems to be open still, we may just see DVH switch back and forth the entire year.

Up Next:

The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks will host the San Jose State Spartans on Tuesday night for the first of a two-game midweek series. First pitch will be at 6 p.m. (CT) and the game will be streaming on SECN+.