FAYETTEVILLE — The second-ranked Arkansas baseball team rallied to defeat Texas Tech again Wednesday, but this time the Razorbacks did not have to come from so far behind.
Wehiwa Aloy’s RBI single and Jack Wagner’s sacrifice fly scored Peyton Holt and Ben McLaughlin in the sixth inning to give Arkansas the lead and the Razorbacks won 5-4 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (32-5) won its 25th consecutive home game.
The Razorbacks swept the two-game midweek series against the Red Raiders (26-13). Arkansas won 9-8 on Tuesday after they trailed 7-0.
"Obviously that was a really good win for us," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "An emotional win last night, quick turnaround, guys go to class, we eat at noon and here we go. We played a few different guys today and gave them another opportunity, or the first opportunity this week.
"Just big wins for us in the midweek."
Jayson Jones was hit by a pitch with two outs in the eighth inning to add an insurance run. That was key in the ninth when Cade McGee hit a two-out solo home run for Texas Tech.
Arkansas left-hander Stone Hewlett struck out right-handed pinch hitter Garet Boehm to end the game. Hewlett recorded the final three outs to earn his third save.
Pitching for Kansas last season, Hewlett allowed a walk-off home run to Texas Tech during the 10th inning of a game on the Red Raiders' home field.
"It feels good," Hewlett said of pitching well in his next outing against Texas Tech. "It always feels good to win, so I'm excited about that."
With the Razorbacks trailing 3-2, Holt walked before back-to-back singles by McLaughlin and Aloy in the sixth inning. Aloy’s RBI hit tied the game 3-3.
Arkansas played small ball to take the lead in the sixth. Nolan Souza’s sacrifice bunt moved McLaughlin to third base and Aloy to second, and McLaughlin scored on Wagner’s sac fly to deep center field to put the Razorbacks ahead 4-3.
"If you're going to score a couple runs, usually something has happened — they walked you, hit you, they've given you a free pass," Van Horn said. "We took advantage of it that inning and scored two instead of one. That was big."
Arkansas scored without a base hit in the eighth inning. Jones’ hit by pitch followed walks by Aloy, Wagner and Ryder Helfrick.
Drew Woodcox drew a leadoff walk in the ninth against Arkansas reliever Jake Faherty, but following a pitching change to Hewlett, Landon Stripling lined into a double play to second base. McGee hit a 402-foot home run to left field on the next pitch to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Five Arkansas relievers combined to throw five solid innings after the Red Raiders took a 3-2 lead against left-handed starter Colin Fisher. The only run allowed by the bullpen was the solo home run against Hewlett in the ninth.
"Our bullpen came in and did a great job for us to be able to fight back," Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall said. “It was huge."
Koty Frank pitched a scoreless fifth inning, Cooper Dossett added 2 2/3 innings and Jake Faherty recorded the final out of the eighth.
Dossett earned his second win in his longest outing of the season. He threw 21 of 39 pitches for strikes.
"I thought he came in and executed pitches, looked like to me," Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock said of Dossett. "He threw the ball good. They obviously have got a lot of arms over there and I thought he did a good job."
Arkansas hit leadoff home runs in the first and second innings to take one-run leads. Stovall’s 406-foot home run appeared to land on top of the Hunt Center in right field in the bottom of the first inning for the game’s first run, and Souza hit a 376-foot homer to opposite-field left in the second to give the Razorbacks a 2-1 lead.
Texas Tech tied the game 1-1 in the top of the second inning when Austin Green (double) scored on an error by Stovall at second base. McGee’s high fly ball appeared to get lost in the sun by the shortstop Aloy and the ball hit Stovall’s glove as he rushed to cover.
The Red Raiders took a 3-2 lead in the third. Kevin Bazzell hit a ground-rule double to score Will Burns and Gavin Kash, who each singled to begin the inning.
Fisher allowed 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits and 1 walk with 3 strikeouts during his 4-inning, 61-pitch start.
Both Arkansas home runs were hit against Texas Tech right-handed starter Hudson Parker. Those were the only hits allowed by Parker, who also walked 2 and struck out 2 in 3 innings.
"He's not really a starter," Tadlock said. "We ran him out there, got three out of him. That was fine."
Why Arkansas won
The Razorbacks made the Red Raiders' potent offense look pedestrian. Texas Tech's 4 runs and 6 hits were well below their season averages of 9.8 runs and 11.6 hits per game.
Player of the Game: Arkansas 2B Peyton Stovall
The junior led off the bottom of the first with a home run and played great defensively despite committing his first error — a tough-luck miscue in the second when he was attempting to help locate a sun ball.
Stovall laid out for a catch to rob Bazzell of a hit with a runner at first base in the eighth inning, and he turned Stripling's line drive into a double play in the ninth to empty the bases. Without the double play, Texas Tech would have tied the game with a home run on the next pitch.
Play of the Game
Jones, the Arkansas left fielder, had an assist to first base in the fifth inning.
The sophomore caught a fly ball from Bazzell for the second out and rocketed a one-hop beauty to McLaughlin at first base. TJ Pompey, who drew a one-out walk, was out on the play as he tried to retreat from near second base.
Passing Skip
With his 871st victory in 22 seasons at Arkansas, Van Horn passed long-time former LSU coach Skip Bertman for fourth place on the all-time wins list by an SEC coach.
Bertman, a five-time national champion, won 870 games at LSU from 1984-2001.
Van Horn trails retired Mississippi State and Georgia coach Ron Polk (1,218) and active coaches Tim Corbin of Vanderbilt (910) and Mike Bianco of Ole Miss (899) on the SEC wins list.
Up next
The Razorbacks are scheduled to open a three-game series at No. 21 South Carolina (26-11, 8-7 SEC) on Friday at 6 p.m. Central.