The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks improved to 13-2 on the year after finishing off a sweep against the McNeese Cowboys inside Baum-Walker Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Razorbacks jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before allowing five unanswered runs. The Hogs jumped back in front with six runs in the fifth inning and never looked back before earning a run-rule victory for the second day in a row.
The Hogs have now won nine consecutive games as they prepare to enter SEC play next weekend. Here’s a rundown of the action and a look at some of the most notable developments from the afternoon.
SCORING RECAP
- Bottom 3 – Arkansas 1, McNeese 0: After the first seven Hogs were retired to start the game, Hudson White worked a five-pitch walk, and Ty Wilmsmeyer singled to left field for the first Arkansas hit. Then with two outs, Peyton Stovall came through with an RBI single up the middle to get the scoring going.
- Bottom 3 – Arkansas 2, McNeese 0: Wehiwa Aloy followed the Stovall single by ripping a 2-2 pitch back up the middle for a run-scoring knock of his own.
- Bottom 3 – Arkansas 4, McNeese 0: The two-out damage continued for the Hogs as Kendall Diggs worked a walk to load the bases before Ben McLaughlin broke it open with a two-run single through the right side.
- Top 4 – Arkansas 4, McNeese 1: Designated hitter Parker Stroh gets the Cowboys on the board with a one-out solo home run off the screen in right field. That also marks the first McNeese hit of the afternoon.
- Top 5 – Arkansas 4, McNeese 2: After a strong start to his outing, Mason Molina ran into some trouble in the fifth, allowing a pair of hits and issuing a walk before turning it over to Gage Wood with zero outs. The first hitter Wood faced grounded out to first, which moved everyone up 90 feet and brought a run home.
- Top 5 – Arkansas 4, McNeese 4: Cooper Hext comes through with the big hit the Cowboys had been looking for, ripping a two-run triple down the first-base line and all the way to the fence to tie the game.
- Top 5 – McNeese 5, Arkansas 4: Wood gets ahead 1-2 but can’t put Chase Keeton away, and a single into shallow right field gives McNeese its first lead of the day.
- Bottom 5 – McNeese 5, Arkansas 5: After a couple hard-hit singles from Kendall Diggs and Ben McLaughlin with one out, Jared Sprague-Lott grounds one to third. It gets by the glove of Gage Trahan for an E5, and that brings Diggs around from third.
- Bottom 5 – Arkansas 7, McNeese 5: With two outs and the bases loaded, Ty Wilmsmeyer picks up his second hit of the day. His single through the left side on a 3-2 count plates two and puts Arkansas back on top.
- Bottom 5 – Arkansas 10, McNeese 5: Another Missouri transfer comes through with a huge swing as Ross Lovich hits his first home run of the year, a 360-foot shot to right to break this game open and cap a six-run frame.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 11, McNeese 5: Diggs walk + McLaughlin single + Sprague-Lott walk loaded the bases before a strong at-bat and a walk from Nolan Souza after falling behind 1-2 plated another run.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 12, McNeese 5: Hudson White is hit by a pitch to bring home another.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 13, McNeese 5: The Cowboy implosion continued as a wild pitch brought home Sprague-Lott for another run.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 14, McNeese 5: We finally got a ball in play as Lovich grounds into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to plate another Hog.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 15, McNeese 5: Peyton Stovall picks up his second hit of the day on an RBI single to center field to make it a 10-run game.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 17, McNeese 5: Kendall Diggs follows with his second hit of the afternoon, a sharply-hit single to right field to bring home two more.
- Bottom 6 – Arkansas 18, McNeese 5: A little more salt gets tossed in the wound as McLaughlin records his fourth (!) hit of the day by sending a double to the gap in left-center.
MVB (Most Valuable Bat)
Ty Wilmsmeyer: It was a big day for Missouri transfers, and while Wilmsmeyer didn’t leave the yard like his buddy Lovich, he did provide the Hogs with a couple of huge plays to help spark a huge showing for the Razorback offense.
Wilmsmeyer became the first Hog to record a hit in the ball game with his third-inning single, which began a four-run frame. With the bases loaded and two away in the fifth, he also delivered another single that put the Razorbacks back in the lead before Lovich’s three-run shot broke it open.
There were plenty of Hogs who provided big swings in this game (particularly once the game got out of hand), but Wilmsmeyer’s plate appearances helped set the stage for a lot of the production, and it has to make Dave Van Horn feel a little bit better about keeping Wilmsmeyer and his stellar defense in the lineup.
MVA (Most Valuable Arm)
Dylan Carter: Carter threw to just two hitters (retired both), and it came with the Hogs in no danger of actually losing the game, but the fact that he is even available to do so at this point in time is a testament to the work he put in after suffering a torn UCL midway through the 2023 season.
Many, including the Razorback coaching staff, wondered if Carter would be able to pitch at all during the 2024 season, let alone fill a valuable role in the bullpen, but he accomplished the first feat and looks well on his way to doing the latter. Carter’s velocity, which mostly sat around the 91-92 MPH range last season, was up to 94 miles per hour in his first outing of the year and has reached 95 in his bullpens.
DON’T OVERLOOK
- Ben McLaughlin does nothing but hit. He’s now hit safely in 12 of 15 games this year and recorded multiple hits in six of those. His four hits today raised his batting average to .364 on the year.
- Kendall Diggs entered the weekend leading the team with a whopping 12 walks in 12 games. After not working any free passes in the first two games yesterday, he got back to his patient ways and turned his sixth multi-walk game of the year. He has also hit safely in all but two games this year and holds a batting average of .352 after adding two hits this afternoon.
- Gage Wood’s outing started rough as he allowed all three inherited baserunners to score, but he settled in and finished with three strikeouts across 2.1 innings of work. He picked up one strikeout on his fastball, one on his curveball and one on his slider. The key for him is putting hitters away when he gets ahead in the count, but it’s clear he has the stuff to do it.
- The Razorbacks hit .550 (11-20) with runners on base and .571 (8-14) with RISP. They somehow only left six runners on base, and that situational hitting is a promising sign for an offense that seems to be shaking off the cobwebs a bit.
- Every single Razorback in the starting lineup scored exactly two runs.
UP NEXT
The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks will return to Baum-Walker Stadium on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. (CT) to take on Oral Roberts in a midweek matchup. After that, they’ll open up SEC play by hosting the Missouri Tigers for a three-game series, beginning on Friday.