FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas baseball team scored four runs in the seventh inning to break a tie and the No. 1 Razorbacks swept Ole Miss with a 7-4 victory Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Freshman designated hitter Nolan Souza hit a 416-foot home run off the video scoreboard in right-center field to score three runs and give Arkansas a 6-3 lead. It was Souza’s second home run of the day and he finished 3 for 5 with 5 RBI.
"Souza hit the home run against a 30 mph wind and it's very rare you're going to see that, where you know when it leaves the bat it's out of the park when the wind is blowing that hard," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "It was just a great swing and a good inning there to grab that little bit of cushion."
The Razorbacks (27-3, 11-1 SEC) won their 21st consecutive home game to tie the longest in-season home win streak in program history. Arkansas also won 21 consecutive home games twice at George Cole Field, most recently in 1989.
Arkansas has won eight games in a row overall and six consecutive conference games.
"We talked to the guys a lot yesterday after the game about the opportunity to sweep and that could give you an opportunity if things don't go well for you down the road one weekend," Van Horn said. "Anytime you can finish somebody off, especially at your own ballpark, it [is] a great win for us."
It was the Razorbacks’ first sweep of Ole Miss since 2002 in Norm DeBriyn’s final season as the team’s head coach. That was the second season at Ole Miss for 24th-year Rebels coach Mike Bianco.
"Obviously, we've been struggling, but that's a really good Arkansas team over there and we just didn't play well enough to win the ball games," Bianco said. "You've got to credit Dave. He's once again done a terrific job and they can really pitch it. But offensively, they do what good offenses do and they get the timely hit. They put a lot of pressure on you."
Souza’s go-ahead home run in the seventh came with no outs and scored Ross Lovich and Jared Sprague-Lott who led off the inning with back-to-back walks. Hudson White (walk) scored on Peyton Stovall’s one-out RBI single to put Arkansas ahead 7-3.
Right-hander Gabe Gaeckle pitched 2 2/3 innings of solid relief to earn his first win. Gaeckle entered in the sixth inning and exited in the ninth after he allowed a one-out single and a walk.
Gaeckle allowed 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 2. He threw 21 of 35 pitches for strikes.
"We didn't think we'd see him that early in the game," Bianco said, "but he was rested when he came in and obviously made it difficult on us."
Will McEntire recorded the final two outs to earn his fourth save. Ethan Groff’s one-out single against McEntire in the ninth scored Luke Hill (single) to pull the Rebels within 7-4.
Ethan Lege, whose .351 batting average is the Rebels' best, flied out against McEntire, and Jackson Ross struck out with the tying run at the plate.
Arkansas pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts. The Razorbacks out-hit the Rebels 11-9.
Ole Miss (18-15, 3-9) tied the game 3-3 just before Gaeckle entered with two outs in the sixth inning. Brayden Randle’s two-out RBI single against lefty Parker Coil scored Judd Utermark (double) from second base.
Souza hit a 404-foot home run in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie. The Honolulu native added a shift-beating single to left in the bottom of the fifth to give the Razorbacks a 3-2 lead after Wehiwa Aloy scored to tie the game.
Souza has homered three times this week. He hit a grand slam during a 13-0 victory over Arkansas State on Tuesday.
Saturday was his second multi-home run game. He homered twice against Missouri on March 15, which he said was the first two-homer game at any level.
"I've always had decent power, but ever since junior year of high school I've started lifting more and getting a lot stronger," Souza said, "so I think that the power has come into play more recently."
Arkansas’ two-run fifth answered two runs by Ole Miss in the top of the inning. Trenton Lyons (single) scored when the heavy southeast winds aided a single by Andrew Fischer to tie the game, and Hill (walk) scored on Groff’s RBI single in the next at-bat.
Both runs were charged to Arkansas right-hander Brady Tygart, a Mississippi native who allowed 2 runs, 4 hits and 3 walks and struck out 7 in a 4 1/3-inning start. Tygart threw 47 of 82 pitches for strikes.
Van Horn said Tygart was sent home sick Friday and pitched well under the circumstances.
"We were a little nervous about him staying out there too long because he was under the weather," Van Horn said, "but I thought he...did a great job."
Right-hander Jake Faherty relieved Tygart and stranded two base runners in the fifth.
Ole Miss right-hander Mason Nichols allowed 1 run, 3 hits and 3 walks and had 4 strikeouts in a 3 2/3-inning start.
Right-hander Josh Mallitz allowed 2 runs while recording 1 out in the fifth, and right-hander Connor Spencer took the loss when he allowed the first 3 runs in the seventh.
Why Arkansas won
Like they have done throughout their great 30-game start, the Razorbacks coupled a strong pitching effort with timely hitting. Arkansas answered each Ole Miss run by the end of the following inning.
Player of the Game: Arkansas DH Nolan Souza
Souza homered twice and had an RBI single in his first start of the series. The left-handed hitter was put in the lineup to give the Razorbacks a left-on-right matchup against the Ole Miss starter.
With 9 RBI in limited playing time, Souza figures to be a strong candidate to earn an SEC freshman of the week honor Monday.
Up next
Arkansas is scheduled to host San Jose State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the first game of a two-game series.