The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (32-5, 12-3 SEC) capped off a midweek sweep over the Texas Tech Red Raiders (26-13, 9-9 BIG 12), winning 5-4 Wednesday evening inside Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorback pitching staff held the Texas Tech offense to just six hits and four runs as the Arkansas offense used their four team hits and 10 free passes to outscore the Tech offense by one.
Here’s a closer look at the action as the Razorbacks win their 32nd game of the 2024 season before heading to South Carolina this weekend.
Scoring Recap
Bottom 1 – Arkansas 1, Texas Tech 0: Peyton Stovall gets the game started with a lead-off 408 ft home run that landed on top of the Player Development Center in right.
Top 2 – Arkansas 1, Texas Tech 1: Austin Green scored from third via a Peyton Stovall error on a dropped infield pop-up.
Bottom 2 – Arkansas 2, Texas Tech 1: For the second straight inning the Razorback leadoff man homers, this time it was Nolan Souza who hit his seventh home run of the season.
Top 3 – Arkansas 2, Texas Tech 3: Two Tech runners score on a one-out ground-rule double from Kevin Bazzell.
Bottom 6 – Arkansas 4, Texas Tech 3: With Peyton Holt on third and Ben McLaughlin on first, Wehiwa Aloy shoots a pull-side single to score Holt. After a Souza sac-bunt to move the runners over, Jack Wagner sends a sac fly to left center, scoring McLaughlin and putting the Hogs in front.
Bottom 8 – Arkansas 5, Texas Tech 3: With the bases loaded, Jayson Jones re-entered the ballgame after being hit in the head with a fastball the inning before, only to earn another HBP, scoring Aloy and putting the Hogs up two.
Top 9 – Arkansas 5, Texas Tech 4: Cade McGee hits his second home run of the two-game set with a towering shot to left to cut the Arkansas lead to one.
Winning and losing pitchers
W: (ARK) RHP Cooper Dossett (2-0): 2.2 IP, 2K, 0R
L: (TTU) Derek Bridges (0-1): 0.1 IP, 2H, 0K, 1ER
Save: Stone Hewlett (3): 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 1K
How The Storylines Played Out
The outfield merry-go-round continues…
Wednesday afternoon’s game saw yet another outfield shakeup as Ross Lovich got the starting nod in right in replacement of Will Edmunson from a night ago.
Lovich has seen his action slowly start to dwindle lately with the emergence of Peyton Holt, Will Edmunson, and even Jayson Jones.
This is certainly no earth-shattering news as it is just a midweek game, and Lovich did go 0-3 with two strikeouts. If there is anything to take away from this, it’s that Lovich may have just dug himself a hole that he cannot climb out of.
This is good news for the likes of Jayson Jones and Peyton Holt, as well as Edmunson and Wilmsmeyer, who are all vying for time in the outfield.
The bullpen comes through once again
Just like in Tuesday’s game, the Texas Tech bats were able to get to the Arkansas Starter, this time their victim was Colin Fisher, who gave up three runs (two earned) through the first three before settling in during the fourth inning.
The bullpen was ready for action though, as Koty Frank, Cooper Dossett, Jake Faherty, and Stone Hewlett combined for five shutout innings.
The Razorback bullpen continues to be the bright spot of the No. 2 nationally ranked team.
Gorilla of The Game
Peyton Stovall: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 R
There weren’t many options to choose from for today’s award, with only four Razorbacks getting in the hit column.
Stovall led off the contest with a blast to right and drew a walk to go along with it. That was really it for the Razorback second-baseman, at least from an offensive standpoint. Stovall also made an incredible diving play in the field to go with his impressively-turned double play to shut down the Red Raider offense in the top of the ninth.
The junior Louisiana native is now batting .327 on the season with five home runs.
Most Valuable Arm
Cooper Dossett: 2.2 IP, 2K, 0R, 1 BB
Although all four Razorback bullpen pitchers were impressive in their own right, Dossett had the most innings out of the four, and only allowed one baserunner, holding down the powerful Texas Tech offense for long enough to get the win.
This was Dossett’s ninth appearance of the year and his second win of his sophomore campaign. The righty now holds a 3.60 ERA.
Wednesday’s impressive outing could earn Cooper Dossett some action this weekend in Columbia.
Other Game Notes and Factoids
- Wehiwa Aloy’s stolen base in the bottom of the eighth was his team-leading seventh of the year.
- Ryder Helfrick got a pinch-hit opportunity in the bottom of the eighth and earned a walk.
- This was Arkansas’ ninth straight midweek win, their last loss on a weekday came against Lipscomb in Little Rock last year.
- This was also Arkansas’ 25th straight home win, which brings them within two of the record 27 which was set back when the Hogs played at George Cole Field.
Up Next:
The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks will head to Columbia, South Carolina to face the 20th-ranked Gamecocks for a three-game SEC series beginning Friday night at 6 p.m. CT.