Arkansas clinches series win, 8-3

Arkansas clinches series win, 8-3

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – Behind Wehiwa Aloy’s three-RBI game and Gage Wood’s five-strikeout relief appearance, No. 1 Arkansas (26-3, 10-1 SEC) clinched its fourth consecutive regular-season weekend series over Western Division foe Ole Miss (18-14, 3-8 SEC) with an 8-3 baseball victory Friday night in front of a season-high 11,234 fans at Baum-Walker Stadium.

With the win, Arkansas improved to 10-1 in SEC play, its best 11-game start in league play since joining the SEC in 1992. The Hogs also secured their program-record 20th consecutive win inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas scored four in the bottom half of the first and never looked back en route to its 26th win of the season. After Kendall Diggs’ bases-loaded walk with one out, Jared Sprague-Lott drove in a pair on his single back up the middle.

Ryder Helfrick’s RBI groundout after Sprague-Lott’s two-run base hit extended the Razorbacks’ lead to 4-1. Staked with an early three-run advantage, Arkansas starter Mason Molina turned in 4.1 innings of three-run ball with five strikeouts.

After the Rebels closed their deficit to one in the third, the Hogs tacked on four unanswered runs to take control of the ballgame. Aloy’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning gave Arkansas a 5-3 lead before he swatted a two-run homer to center, his second home run in as many games, in the bottom half of the sixth to push the advantage to four runs.

Will Edmunson’s two-out RBI single in the seventh opened the Razorbacks’ lead to 8-3. Aloy finished Friday night’s contest with a team-leading three RBI, while Sprague-Lott collected a team-high two hits to go along with two RBI.

For the season, Aloy is now slashing .287/.397/.528 with a team-leading eight home runs and a team-high 32 RBI.

Molina, meanwhile, turned the ball over to Koty Frank, who emerged from the bullpen and twirled 1.1 shutout innings with a strikeout to earn his second win of the season. Frank, Christian Foutch (1.1 IP) and Wood (2.0 IP, 5 SO) combined for 4.2 scoreless innings in relief to secure the Razorbacks’ series-clinching 8-3 win.

Arkansas goes for its first three-game series sweep of Ole Miss since 2002, and its first in Fayetteville since the 1997 season, in tomorrow’s finale at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, April 6, on SEC Network+.

Get more with our daily newsletter. Subscribe and never miss one of our stories.