Arkansas Thrashes Memphis in Tuesday Night Blowout
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Dave Van Horn’s 1,300th career win as a head coach was a lopsided one.
Arkansas scored nine runs in the eighth inning and blasted Memphis, 14-1, on Tuesday night at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Razorbacks, who are ranked No. 1 in the country by Baseball America, improve to 15-3 on the year and are riding a three-game winning streak headed into tomorrow’s series finale against the Tigers.
The midweek clash belonged to the Hogs from the start. Cayden Wallace’s first of three hits on the night scored Christian Franklin and put Arkansas ahead, 1-0, in the bottom of the first inning.
The Razorbacks came back with three more runs in the bottom half of the second. A bases-loaded RBI walk by Franklin set the table for Charlie Welch’s two-run single to left, which put the Hogs up by four.
Caleb Bolden, meanwhile, was cruising on the mound. He tossed four scoreless innings before running into trouble with two outs in the fifth as Memphis scored a run on two walks and a single.
The right-hander finished his outing with three strikeouts, allowing only one run on one hit and three walks in 4.2 innings. Ryan Costeiu relieved Bolden and worked his way through the jam after allowing a run-scoring infield single, stranding two runners to protect the Hogs’ three-run lead.
Memphis would never get any closer than that. Costeiu and the Razorback bullpen, including Elijah Trest, Peyton Pallette and Zack Morris, allowed only one hit over the remaining four innings while combining to strike out seven.
The Razorback pitching staff ultimately combined for a three-hitter on Tuesday night, marking the first time since Isaiah Campbell and Matt Cronin did so against South Carolina on April 14, 2018.
Arkansas’ lead would grow by one in the seventh after Jacob Nesbit’s infield RBI single with the bases loaded. Ahead 5-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, the Razorbacks put the game away for good.
The Hogs launched three homers in the inning, including a grand slam from Nesbit. He is the first Razorback student-athlete to hit a grand slam since Jack Kenley did so against No. 15 LSU on May 9, 2019.
Nesbit finished the night with a team-leading five RBI. He is the first Arkansas student-athlete with five runs batted in during a ballgame since both Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin did so against No. 18 Tennessee on April 27, 2019.
Braydon Webb and Wallace also hit home runs in the Razorbacks’ nine-run, eighth-inning outburst, helping to put Arkansas up, 14-1. The Hogs last scored 14 runs against No. 14 Ole Miss in the NCAA Super Regional on June 10, 2019.
The midweek series against Memphis concludes at 3 p.m. tomorrow on SEC Network+. Righty Miller Pleimann will start for Arkansas, making his Razorback debut against projected Tiger starter Logan Walters.
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