FAYETTEVILLE — The dramatics were minimal for Friday’s series opener against Wright State for the Arkansas Razorbacks after Wednesday’s wild extra-inning win against Illinois State.
Brady Slavens hit his first home run of the season, a three-run, opposite-field shot, and the trio of Caleb Cali, Peyton Stovall and Jared Wegner homered for the second consecutive game to lead the No. 8 University of Arkansas to a 12-2 win before a crowd of 8,851 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Wegner ended the game in the eighth inning with a solo home run to right-center field, his fourth of the year, which triggered the run-rule outcome on a misty, cold day with the wind chill 36 degrees at first pitch.
Slavens and Stovall drove in four runs each for the Hogs (7-2), while Cali had a pair of RBI.
“Slavens had a couple of really big at-bats,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “Yeah, the home run was big, but that was also a big at-bat with two outs when he singled to right field after fouling off a lot of pitches. I guess he had four RBI. So the four and five holes drove in 8 runs. That’s a great deal there.”
Arkansas sophomore Hagen Smith worked 4 2/3 innings for the second consecutive start, this time throwing a career-high 105 pitches, largely due to matching his career high with five walks.
“I don’t think the weather had an effect on anything,” Smith said. “I think it was on me. I had my mechanics off a little bit. Kind of got in bad counts at times. Had to battle back. Threw a lot of pitches.”
Stovall, who went 3 for 4, is 6 for 10 in the last two games as he recovers from a jammed thumb.
“I think my thumb’s finally starting to not bother me anymore, per se,” Stovall said. “I think that helps out a lot. Just kind of getting out of rhythm and just missing that one game. … Me and Brady both, we were fortunate enough to have some big hits, to get some RBIs in.”
The Raiders (2-6) worked him for 31 pitches in the second inning, when Smith had to wriggle out of his toughest jam. Smith walked the bases loaded, issuing free passes to Sammy Sass, Parker Harrison and nine-hole hitter Avery Fisher with a strikeout in between each. Justin Riemer reached a full count before grounding out to shortstop Harold Coll to end the inning.
Arkansas took the lead on Cali’s 433-foot home run to left center against right-hander Jake Shirk (1-2) in the second inning.
The Hogs’ four-run third provided some cushion for Smith.
Coll led off with a single and Wegner drew a two-out walk. Slavens drove a low fastball to left and the shot carried over the wall into the Raiders’ bullpen for his 32nd career home run, his 31st with the Hogs.
Smith entered the fifth inning with 83 pitches before Riemer worked a full count then drove a ball over the left field wall for his second home run. Smith almost got out of fifth when Jay Luikart was ruled to have hit into a double play, which would have ended the half inning. However, a video review showed Stovall did not tag Gehrig Anglin going to second on the play, negating the twin killing.
Dylan Carter, one of the stars on Wednesday, came on to strike out Sass to escape the inning, and he went on to allow 1 run on 4 hits and a 1 walk on 43 pitches in 2 1/3 innings.
Arkansas poured it on with four runs in the seventh inning. Stovall provided a two-run single to plate Wegner and Slavens, who had both walked, and Cali drove in a run with a hot-shot double that eluded third baseman Luke Arnold. Parker Rowland’s RBI groundout ended the scoring.
Cali, who is hitting seventh, started the year 0 for 12 before his home run against Illinois State on Wednesday.
“Cali, he’s back, his confidence is back,” Van Horn said. “You know he’s doing what we’ve seen him do with the bat. It sure is nice having the lineup the way it’s going. I can leave him down there.
“If I need to bring him up and break up a couple of left-handed hitters, I can do that as well. It’s just nice to have a bat that can drive the ball.”