FAYETTEVILLE - Alcorn State served Arkansas' needs just fine in a makeup game Wednesday.

Andrew Darr and Jeff Nutt hit home runs as Arkansas defeated the Braves 9-1 before 1, 117 fans at Baum Stadium. Darr finished with three hits, including a two-run single in the fifth to put the Razorbacks ahead 7-1.

Wednesday's meeting was the first ever between Arkansas (20-16 ) and Alcorn State (21-8 ), a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Braves served as a makeup game for the Razorbacks, who had three games postponed earlier this season because of inclement weather.

"We've played a lot of teams that aren't as good as [Alcorn State ], I'll tell you that," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "They've got some players with some big-time averages and a lot of RBI.

" We played good tonight, and I'm really glad we got a chance to play."

ADVERTISEMENT

Arkansas was eager to get back on the field after losing to Oral Roberts on Tuesday for the second time this season. The victory over the Braves enables the Razorbacks to regain at least some momentum heading into this weekend's SEC series against Tennessee at Baum Stadium.

Arkansas earned its first SEC series victory of the season last weekend by taking 2 of 3 at Florida.

"This win is huge," said Darr, who raised his average to. 458 Wednesday in limited playing time. "We've got some confidence back, and now we can turn our sights to Tennessee this weekend."

Sam Murphy (1-2 ) earned his first career victory by holding Alcorn State to 1 run and 4 hits in 6 innings. The redshirt freshman was close to being relieved in the sixth inning when Alcorn State put two runners on base, but he remained in the game and retired the next two batters after a visit to the mound from Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn.

"I was struggling a bit, but I told [Jorn ] I wanted to finish it," Murphy said. "Our defense played great, and it was easy to throw with a lead. It wasn't too hard being out there with the way we played tonight."

Murphy finished with three strikeouts and two walks before Shaun Seibert took over. Alcorn State loaded the bases against Seibert in the seventh before he retired Brandon Pearce on a forceout to end the inning. Seibert pitched two scoreless innings and James Mahler one to preserve the victory for Murphy.

"We haven't seen Mahler for about five weeks, and it was good to see him pitch like that," Van Horn said. "It tells me we might have another pitcher for the weekend."

Darr began the Razorbacks'comeback with his third home run of the season in the second inning and Nutt followed with his fourth home run in the third. Arkansas continued to pull away and scored in every inning but the fourth and eighth. Darr had a two-run single in the fifth to give the Razorbacks a 7-1 lead.

Jess Buchanan had three of the six hits for Alcorn State, which scored its only run in the second inning on an RBI single by Jeff Jones. Razorbacks glance UP NEXT Arkansas vs. Tennessee WHEN 6: 35 p.m. Central Friday WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville WHO'S HOT Scott Lyons had two hits Wednesday after getting three hits Tuesday at Oral Roberts. He began Wednesday night hitting. 176 through 19 games. WHO'S NOT Sean Jones went 0 for 4 after going 0 for 4 Tuesday at Oral Roberts. His average dropped to. 200 in 13 games since returning from a broken hand.

THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY off FRIDAY vs. Tennessee, 6: 35 p.m. SATURDAY vs. Tennessee, 2: 05 p.m. SUNDAY vs. Tennessee, 1: 05 p.m. MONDAY off TUESDAY vs. N. Colorado, 6: 35 p.m. WEDNESDAY vs. N Colorado, 1: 05 p.m.