Razorbacks Sweep Opening Day Doubleheader
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 5 Arkansas (2-0) recorded a walk-off win on Opening Day for the first time since 2009 and swept its Opening Day doubleheader against Washington State (0-2) on a frigid Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Brent Iredale’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning in game one of Friday’s doubleheader propelled the Hogs to a 3-2 win over the Cougars in the season opener. Kuhio Aloy’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh in the second game of the day’s twin bill initiated the run rule and sent Arkansas home with a commanding 14-2 win.
The Opening Weekend series continues tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. With a win, Arkansas can clinch its 30th consecutive non-conference home weekend series, a streak dating back to the 2015 season.
The Razorbacks have not lost or tied a non-conference regular season weekend series at Baum-Walker Stadium since 2014, when Arkansas lost two-of-three games to South Alabama in its final non-conference home weekend series.
Game 1: Arkansas 3, Washington State 2 (10 inn.)
Making his first collegiate start on the mound, Gabe Gaeckle fired a career-long five shutout innings with career-high seven strikeouts to help lead Arkansas to a game one win over Washington State. The Aptos, Calif., allowed only one hit and issued just one walk, throwing 51 of his 78 total pitches for strikes in the Opening Day start.
After Gaeckle departed the ballgame, the Cougars broke through for the first run of the day on a solo home run in the sixth inning to take a one-run lead. The Razorbacks, however, punched back in the bottom half of the frame on Logan Maxwell’s sacrifice fly, scoring Charles Davalan from third and evening the ballgame at one apiece.
Arkansas and Washington State continued to exchange zeroes until the game went to extra innings. In the top half of the 10th, the Cougars capitalized on a pair of Razorback errors and, ultimately, scored the go-ahead run to take a 2-1 lead.
Three consecutive walks to Arkansas hitters to begin the bottom half of the 10th set the table for the heart of the lineup to deliver the final blow. After Ryder Helfrick scored the game-tying run on a wild pitch, Iredale’s sacrifice fly to left brought Justin Thomas Jr. home from third and sealed the Razorbacks’ come-from-behind 3-2 win in extra innings.
Game 2: Arkansas 14, Washington State 2 (7 inn.)
Zach Root dominated in his Arkansas debut, spinning five innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts to guide the Hogs to a stress-free win in the second game of Friday’s Opening Day doubleheader. The ECU transfer allowed one run on two hits and one walk, throwing 52 of his 75 pitches for strikes en route to earning his first win of the season.
The Razorback offense, meanwhile, scored early and often with two runs in the first, six runs in the fourth and another six runs over the game’s final three frames. Iredale recorded a team-high three hits, including his first double of the season, and drove in a team-leading four runs, while Aloy and Davalan each collected a pair of hits to go with three RBI.
Rocco Peppi’s RBI double in the bottom of the first started the offensive onslaught as Arkansas jumped out to an early two-run lead. The Hogs’ six-run fourth was engineered by timely two-out hitting, beginning with Davalan’s RBI single.
Iredale followed with a two-RBI single of his own before Helfrick delivered the haymaker, as the Razorback catcher tripled down the line in right, clearing the bases and giving Arkansas a commanding 8-1 advantage. Aloy provided the knockout blow with his three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to punctuate Arkansas’ 14-2 run-rule win.
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