FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 1 Arkansas baseball team concluded a dominant first weekend of SEC play with another pitching gem against Missouri on Sunday.
The Razorbacks defeated the Tigers 9-1 at Baum-Walker Stadium to complete a three-game sweep by a combined score of 23-1.
Arkansas (17-2, 3-0 SEC) won its 13th consecutive game and finished a 12-game homestand undefeated. The Razorbacks are scheduled to open a three-game series at Auburn on Thursday.
“It was just a really good weekend for us,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We pitched extremely well, obviously. They scored one run all weekend. We pitched out of a couple of jams. We also fielded the ball. We didn’t make an error all weekend.
“We just kind of pitched and played defense and had some timely hits. It was a good way to start off conference play.”
Missouri (9-11, 0-3) avoided a third consecutive shutout when Thomas Curry led off the seventh inning with a solo home run against Arkansas freshman reliever Colin Fisher. That snapped a 25 1/3-inning scoreless streak by Razorback pitching that dated to a 4-2 win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday.
Arkansas out-hit Missouri to 10-3 on Sunday and held the Tigers to eight hits for the weekend.
“I think they played the game the way it was supposed to be played,” Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said of Arkansas. “Pitchers competed and they played good defense and they had quality at-bats. When you look at it from that standpoint, I think they did what they were supposed to do.
“If we would have played clean baseball — if we’d have had quality at-bats, if we’d have thrown strikes consistently, if we’d have played good defense — I don’t think the result is the same. That doesn’t mean we would have necessarily won, but I don’t think the result is what it was on the scoreboard. We just have to play better baseball and that’s what we’re challenging these guys to do.”
Left-hander Mason Molina pitched 5 1/3 innings to pace the Razorbacks in Game 3. Molina struck out 10 for the third time this season and allowed 1 hit and 3 walks. Molina also hit a batter and threw 50 of 98 pitches for strikes.
He did not allow a hit until Jeric Curtis singled to lead off the sixth inning. Curtis was Molina's teammate at Texas Tech last season.
“He’s hard to hit,” Van Horn said of Molina. “He throws that [high] carry fastball and he’s got a good changeup. He’s just kind of effectively wild a little bit, kind of keeps them off balance.
“It was good to see him get at least five innings in. Obviously if he was a little bit more efficient with pitches he probably could have gone seven, but they fouled off a lot of pitches on him because that fastball is hard to get on top of.”
Koty Frank replaced Molina after a walk and hit batsman in the sixth inning and struck out the Tigers’ two- and three-hole hitters, Trevor Austin and Jackson Lovich, to preserve a 5-0 lead.
Arkansas had added to its lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Peyton Stovall’s double down the right-field line registered a 111 mph exit velocity and scored Ty Wilmsmeyer (infield single), and Stovall came home on Wehiwa Aloy’s sac fly to put the Razorbacks ahead 5-0.
Arkansas scored three more runs in the sixth on an error by Justin Colon at third base that allowed Jared Sprague-Lott (infield single) to score. Aloy had a two-run single with two outs to stretch the lead to 8-0.
Curry’s homer cut the lead to 8-1, but Arkansas got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Ross Lovich led off with a walk and scored on Hudson White’s two-out RBI double.
“I like big innings, but I also like putting some pressure on every inning — two here, one there, three there,” Van Horn said. “That’s how you kind of put it away.”
Gage Wood pitched the eighth inning. Drew Culbertson led with a walk against Wood, but Thomas Moore hit into a shortstop-to-second base-to-first base double play, and Wood struck out Austin to end the inning.
Arkansas pitching recorded 13 strikeouts Sunday and 37 during the series.
Freshman closer Gabe Gaeckle pitched a perfect ninth in his only appearance of the weekend.
The Razorbacks started hot against Missouri right-hander Carter Rustad in the first inning. Stovall singled on Rustad’s first pitch and scored from first base on Kendall Diggs’ RBI double in the next at-bat. Diggs scored on a sacrifice fly by Ben McLaughlin later in the inning to put Arkansas ahead 2-0.
McLaughlin added a 351-foot home run to right field with two outs in the third inning to give the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead.
Rustad, who statistically has been Missouri’s best pitcher, allowed 5 runs, 5 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings. Rustad also threw 2 wild pitches, hit 1 batter and struck out 1 during a 75-pitch start that included 47 strikes.
“Rustad, that’s probably his worst start of the year,” Jackson said. “The command was just loose. He competed but when he made a mistake, they didn’t miss.”
Arkansas outscored its opponents 110-23 during the homestand.
Why Arkansas won
The Razorbacks' pitching was awesome for the third consecutive game and Arkansas put together three multi-run innings.
Player of the Game: Arkansas 2B Peyton Stovall
Stovall was 2 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. He had two hard-hit balls — a 100 mph single on the first pitch of the first inning and a 111 mph double in the fifth.
Defensively, Stovall contributed to a double play in the seventh inning.
Up next
Arkansas will play the first of a three-game series at Auburn beginning at 6 p.m.