The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks picked up a 7-5 victory Friday over the No. 14 Mississippi State Bulldogs to begin a crucial three-game series at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It was a back-and-forth night of action that saw three lead changes in the final five innings, including two in the eighth inning. Here’s a closer look at the action as the Diamond Hogs improved to 41-9 on the year, 18-7 in SEC play and a whopping 32-2 at home.
Scoring Recap
Bottom 4 – Arkansas 1, Mississippi State 0: Jared Sprague-Lott and Wehiwa Aloy reached with one-out singles for the Hogs, and after a fly ball to center advanced Sprague-Lott to third base with two outs, a wild pitch brought home the game’s first run.
Bottom 4 – Arkansas 3, Mississippi State 0: After falling behind 0-2, Hudson White worked back into the count and hammered a 2-2 fastball 402 feet to left-center field for his third home run of the season and second in the last week.
Top 5 – Arkansas 3, Mississippi State 3: After a leadoff single by Logan Kohler, Smith issued a pair of walks before Hunter Hines made him pay with two outs by ripping a bases-clearing double down the right-field line.
Bottom 6 – Arkansas 4, Mississippi State 3: Sprague-Lott jumped all over an elevated fastball and drove it 421 feet to left for his seventh home run of the year to put Arkansas back on top.
Top 8 – Arkansas 4, Mississippi State 4: A one-out error (ruled a throwing error by Sprague-Lott at third despite Ben McLaughlin missing what should have been a 5-3 putout) is followed by three walks from Gabe Gaeckle to tie the game at 4-4.
Top 8 – Mississippi State 5, Arkansas 4: A sacrifice fly to center field by Bryce Chance drove home Nate Chester from third and gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game.
Bottom 8 – Mississippi State 5, Arkansas 5: Peyton Holt ripped a leadoff single to left field, then Sprague-Lott and Aloy followed with singles for their third hits of the night, the last of which drove home Holt from second base with one out.
Bottom 8 – Arkansas 7, Mississippi State 5: After a walk to McLaughlin loaded the bases, White picked up his third and fourth RBI of the night with a two-run single ripped to left field.
Gorilla of the Game
Hudson White: 2-4, HR (3), 4 RBI, R
The Razorback catcher broke out in a big way last week against Kentucky, and he had no problem carrying that momentum into Game 1 of this weekend’s series. He now has 7 hits in his last 4 games, raising his batting average to .273 and a stellar .314 in SEC play.
White is starting to look a lot closer to the guy Arkansas fans thought they might see after he hit .296 at Texas Tech a year ago. He provided another strong performance Friday to earn this honor, and his recent emergence looms extremely large for an offense looking for more consistent pop.
Most Valuable Arm
Gage Wood: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
It takes a lot to be the most valuable pitcher in a game that featured Hagen Smith and Gabe Gaeckle, but Wood earned it by getting three outs in about as difficult of a situation as one can be brought into.
The Bulldogs simply wouldn’t go away. After falling behind 3-0 against the nation’s top pitcher, they tied it up an inning later. Gaeckle killed a lot of the Mississippi State momentum with two huge strikeouts in the seventh, but the Bulldogs got right back to work and took the lead an inning later. Will McEntire cleaned up a huge bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and Mississippi State loaded the bases right back up with no outs in the ninth.
It all culminated with Wood getting the ball with a two-run lead and nobody out with the bases juiced in the ninth inning. The Batesville native answered the call with three quick outs – popup, strikeout, popup – to make quite the statement and pick up his first save since the season opener.
Wood has put together a few strong outings in a row for the Hogs, showing tremendous value as both a high-leverage flamethrower and an innings-eater. He’ll continue to be relied upon for big-time work on the mound for Arkansas, no matter what that role ends up being.
Other Notes & Observations
- Arkansas pitchers issued nine walks while Mississippi State walked just one Razorback hitter. The knock on the Hogs has been their inability to sustain offense without the help of the free pass, but they finished with 10 hits on the evening, highlighted by a four-hit eighth inning to close the show.
- Smith allowed three runs for the first time since Opening Day, but he also punched out 11 MSU hitters to notch his 10th double-digit strikeout game of the season. He now sits 10 strikeouts shy of tying Nick Schmidt for the school’s career strikeout record at 355.
- McEntire ran into trouble in the ninth inning before Wood helped save his earned run average, but he came through with a big-time strikeout of Mississippi State’s best hitter Dakota Jordan with two outs in the ninth inning.
- Kendall Diggs did not start the game for Arkansas but came in for a pinch-hit spot in the eighth, sending a well-hit fly ball to the warning track in left-center for an F8. In his spot, Holt started in right field while Jayson Jones filled in at left field. Ryder Helfrick got the starting nod at DH and went 1-for-3 with a stolen base.
- Christian Foutch quietly turned in 1 1/3 scoreless innings of work for Arkansas, thanks in part to Gaeckle helping clean up a mess in the seventh inning. Foutch lowered his season ERA to 1.04 on the year in 17 1/3 innings of work.
Up Next
The No. 5 Razorbacks and the No. 14 Bulldogs return to Baum-Walker Stadium to continue the series Saturday at 6 p.m. The action will be streamed on SEC Network+.