For Arkansas, Darr rhymed with star Wednesday night while Murphy's Law was judged on what went right instead of what went wrong.

Designated hitter Andrew Darr knocked home a career-high 4 RBIs with a 2-run homer and 2-run single on his 3-for-4 night, and freshman starter pitcher Sam Murphy pitched a career-high six innings for his first Razorback victory as Arkansas played errorless defense and defeated Alcorn State, 9-1 before 1, 117 at Baum Stadium.

The recently scheduled game, helping to make up for some Razorback games canceled by rain, enables Arkansas (20-16 ) at least slightly to cleanse the rancid taste of losing 12-2 at Oral Roberts last Tuesday night going into this weekend's SEC series with Tennessee.

The Vols visit Baum Stadium for 6: 30 p. m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. (rescheduled from noon ) games Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Despite Wednesday's score, Alcorn State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference played like its fine 21-8 record. The Braves committed only one error, poked three doubles among their six hits and had Razorback reliever Shaun Seibert pitching from the stretch but stranding runners in the seventh and eighth after Murphy scattered four hits on one run through six complete.

" Murphy did a good job, " Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. " Because they've got a good offense, very disciplined at the plate with some big-time averages. We played a lot of teams not as good as them. "

Murphy knew he beat a good team even if Alcorn State isn't a big name.

" I finally got through the sixth and got a lot of support, " Murphy said. " They are pretty good, hit well with two strikes, but our defense was awesome. We need to get on a roll and this will help. "

Arkansas freshman James Mahler pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, his first appearance since he was injured while pitching March 16 against Georgia.

" It was good to see Mahler come in and pitch like that, " Van Horn said. " That was really encouraging for me to see we might have another pitcher for the weekend. "

Arkansas opened ripe for a big inning but settled instead for a 1-run first.

Ben Tschepikow's RBI double immediately followed Chase Leavitt's leadoff walk. Three straight flyouts stranded Tschepikow.

Alcorn State tied it 1-1 in its second. Jesse Buchanan, 3 for 4 with two doubles, ripped a 1-out double. He scored on Jeff Jones' single to center with Jones taking second on a belated throw home. Murphy stranded Jones at third.

Darr's 2-run home run put Arkansas irrevocably ahead in the second. Darr's prodigious blast into the grass beyond the left field fence followed Tim Smalling getting plunked with a 1-out pitch.

" It's 1-1, " Van Horn said, " and he delivers a home run when [with the wind blowing in ] we didn't think anything was leaving tonight. He crushed it. Tennessee has a couple of left-handed pitchers so we will consider putting him in the lineup. "

Darr said it was " huge " for Arkansas to play well Wednesday coming off Tuesday's tumble in Tulsa and the Vols coming to town.

" Now we've got that win under our belts and a little confidence, " Darr said. " Now we can turn our sights on Tennessee. "

The home run shocked him given Wednesday night's conditions.

" The ball wasn't flying real well in batting practice, " Darr said. " Coaches were talking about line drives. That's what I was trying to hit but I guess this just worked out for me. "

Again in the second, Arkansas had potential for a bigger inning, but losing Alcorn starter Darryl Jordan stranded Razorbacks at first and third.

Jeff Nutt, the hot hitter when Arkansas won two of three SEC games at Florida last weekend, homered leading off the third.

Arkansas tallied three in the fifth off reliever Tony Gonzalez who first pitched in the fourth.

Jacob House's RBI double and Darr's 2-run single knocked them home.

" It was just a 2-2 breaking ball that I fought off and put in play, " Darr said.

Nutt's RBI infield out scored Leavitt in the sixth.

Reaching on a two-out single, Darr scored an unearned run in the seventh when second baseman Buchanan booted Tschepikow's basesloaded grounder.