FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas baseball team notched its fifth shutout of the season in the No. 1 Razorbacks’ 23rd game of the year with a 11-0 win over Arkansas-Little Rock on a cold Tuesday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks dropped their nation’s best ERA from 2.59 to 2.50 with the seven-inning shutout heading into their SEC series against No. 7 LSU starting Thursday.
Arkansas also blanked James Madison in the season-opening series 4-0 on Feb. 19, held Missouri off the board 8-0 and 6-0 in back-to-back games to open SEC play on March 15-16 and shut out Auburn 1-0 last Thursday behind Hagen Smith, Will McEntire and Gabe Gaeckle.
The Razorbacks also entered the day leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (13.4) but with only six against the Trojans in seven innings, that number will drop slightly.
Arkansas notched its sixth run-rule win of the season by having a lead of 10-plus runs through seven innings.
The Razorbacks also run-ruled James Madison 15-5, Grambling State 21-1, Murray State 11-1 and McNeese State 11-1 and 18-5.
Bybee’s day
Arkansas sophomore Ben Bybee made his season debut a promising one.
Bybee worked 3 innings, allowing no runs on 1 hit and no walks with 5 strikeouts in 49 pitches. The 6-6 right-hander’s fastball topped out a 94 miles per hour on the right-field video board.
“Velocity was good, location for the most part was pretty good,” Coach Dave Van Horn said. “I felt like the ball was coming out of his hand good.
“Today he threw around 50 pitches and that’s really all we wanted him to throw. I mean he could have gone back for more, but again we’re still trying to figure out how to get this roster squared away and it’ll probably fluctuate from weekend to weekend.”
Bybee, who had been held out with mononucleosis, said it was great to go out and do his thing.
“I feel like I threw the ball well and proved that I can get some hitters out, and hopefully make my [SEC] debut on the weekend,” Bybee said.
Getting to 20
Arkansas reached its 20th win of the season in game No. 23, tying for the fourth-fastest in Coach Dave Van Horn’s 22 seasons.
The Razorbacks won 20 out of their first 22 games in 2005, 2012, and 2023. They also needed 23 games to reach 20 wins in 2021.
Arkansas has raced to 20 wins in 29 games or less in all but three years under Van Horn. The 2004 team, Van Horn’s first College World Series club at Arkansas, took 30 games to reach 20 wins. The 2008 team and the 2015 team, which also qualified for Omaha, needed 36 games to get to to the mark.
Aloy-Ha!
Wehiwa Aloy’s grand slam in the sixth inning was the Hogs’ fourth four-run shot of the season and his second.
“It was a slider on a 1-1 pitch,” Aloy said. “I was just looking for spin right away, letting go of all the fastballs.”
Hudson Polk hit the Hogs’ first grand slam in a 21-1 run-rule rout of Grambling State on Feb. 27 and Jayson Jones duplicated the feat in the same game.
Aloy’s first grand slam came in the third inning of a 9-7 win over Central Arkansas on March 5.
The native Hawaiian and transfer from Sacramento State pushed his team RBI lead to 24, six ahead of Kendall Diggs and Ben McLaughlin in second place.
“He always hits the ball very, very hard,” UALR Coach Chris Curry said. “The scouting report is to try to spin him down if you can, but if you miss and you hang it out over the plate, he’s going to do damage. That’s why he’s sitting there in the 3-hole.
“His batting average [.278] is not great for a classic 3-hole hitter, but I would like to see his batting average on balls put in play. … If he makes contact, he’s doing damage. That’s why he’s sitting there in the middle of their order.”
Stubber’ed toe
UALR starter Austin Stubber, a top bullpen arm on the weekends, did not survive a full inning.
The right-handed senior from Hope gave up 2 earned runs on 1 hit, 2 walks and 2 hit batters on 41 pitches. Stubber posted two outs.
He allowed one run on Jack Wagner’s sacrifice-fly to racing shortstop Alex Seguine in short left-center and another on Peyton Holt’s hit by pitch with the bases loaded.
Stubber had one walk in 17 2/3 innings entering the game.
“That wasn’t him,” UALR Coach Chris Curry said. “I think he was trying to be too fine and miss some barrels and try to trick them a little bit instead of attacking. That’s the way it goes against a good club sometimes. But you just can’t afford to give them anything.”
Weatherley cold
UALR senior Jacob Weatherley has not fared well in games against the home-state Hogs. The Jonesboro native worked 1 inning Tuesday and allowed 4 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits, which were home runs by Wehiwa Aloy, Jack Wagner and Will Edmunson.
Weatherley also faced Arkansas each of the last three seasons, allowing 1 run in 1 1/3 innings in 2021, 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings in 2022 and, in his best outing, 1 run on 5 walks and 2 hits in 4 2/3 innings last year.
Weatherley, who entered the game with a 2-2 record and 2.55 ERA, has allowed 11 earned run on 11 walks and 13 hits in 11 1/3 innings against the Razorbacks, with 11 strikeouts and 4 home runs allowed.
Wind, chill
The game, moved up to 3 p.m. from its original 6 p.m. start, opened with the temperature at 41 degrees with strong winds to the east.
The windchill factor hovered around 36 degrees in the early innings with the wind gusting up to 13 mph.
Strong shift
The Razorbacks positioned their shift perfectly in the first inning for right-handed hitting Nico Baumbach. The senior third baseman scorched a Ben Bybee offering just to the left of the second base bag, normally a prime spot for a hit.
However, second baseman Peyton Stovall was positioned exactly on the track of the hard grounder and made the 4-3 putout from the other side of second base.
The Razorbacks were also positioned just right for ground ball outs in the sixth inning from Noah Brewer and Baumbach and for Ty Rhoades’ hard-hit line drive into left-center, which was caught by center fielder Will Edmunson.
Stovall stats
Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall hit his third home run in his 11th game back from injury in the second inning.
The two-run, opposite-field shot off side-winding right-hander Josh Beezley traveled an estimated 382 feet over the left-field wall into the Hog Pen and left the bat at 98 miles per hour.
Stovall has reached base in all 11 games he’s played. The Haughton, La., product has 14 home runs in 101 career games.
New crew
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn used his 21st unique batting lineup against the Trojans.
The different order was largely due to Jack Wagner at designated hitter in the fifth spot for just the second time in his fourth start of the year. Wagner also started the season opener against James Madison at designated hitter.
Backfire review
The Trojans got a surprising result after calling for a review on a tag play on a pickoff at second base, with the Hogs’ Wehiwa Aloy called safe in the first inning. The review call backfired when Aloy was awarded third base because UALR shortstop Alex Seguine was called for obstruction.
The replay showed Seguine’s cleat impeded Aloy from having a clear path to second base with his hand.