Hogs rally seven-run gap to beat Red Raiders

No. 2 Arkansas (31-5) recovered from a seven-run hole to upset Texas Tech (26-12) 9-8 in Tuesday night’s midweek series opener, extending its Baum-Walker Stadium winning streak to a program-best 24 games.

Arkansas’ greatest comeback victory since rallying from a nine-run deficit in a 13-10 triumph at Louisiana Tech during the 2017 season occurred on Tuesday. The Hogs trailed 10-1 before scoring 12 consecutive runs to pull off the stunning victory.

Arkansas trailed 7-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning against Texas Tech, but scored once in the bottom half of the frame before putting up a six-run fifth to tie the game. Peyton Holt’s RBI single and Wehiwa Aloy’s RBI double laid the groundwork for Ben McLaughlin’s two-out, two-run homer, which reduced the Razorbacks’ deficit to one.

Hudson White, who moved to Arkansas from Texas Tech this offseason, tied the game at seven in the fifth inning with a two-out double that scored Jack Wagner from second. The Red Raiders responded with a solo home run off Razorback right-hander Will McEntire to lead off the seventh and go up 8-7, but Arkansas knotted the game again at 8-8 in the eighth when Peyton Stovall beat out a double play that allowed Ty Wilmsmeyer to score from third.

Gabe Gaeckle, who earned the win to improve to 2-2 on the season, threw a scoreless top half of the ninth, giving the Razorback offense a chance to win the game in the bottom half. Arkansas did just that, as Texas Tech made two errors and hit a batter in the ninth inning, allowing Jared Sprague-Lott to score the game-winning run from third on pinch hitter Nolan Souza’s sacrifice fly to right field.

McLaughlin (3-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Wagner (2-for-2, RBI), and Jayson Jones (2-for-4, 2 2B) all had multi-hit games in Tuesday night’s thrilling comeback victory. Seven Razorbacks had at least one run batted in, highlighted by McLaughlin’s two RBIs on his eighth home run of the season.

Ben Bybee, a sophomore right-hander, started and allowed six runs on six hits while striking out two in 1.1 innings. In relief, Christian Foutch (1.1 IP, 2 SO), Gage Wood (2.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 SO), Parker Coil (1.0 IP, 2 SO), McEntire (1.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 SO), and Gaeckle (1.2 IP, 1 SO) combined for 7.1 innings of two-run ball and 12 strikeouts.

The midweek series finale between Arkansas and Texas Tech kicks off at 4 p.m. On Wednesday, April 17, Karl Ravech (play-by-play) and Kyle Peterson (analyst) will be on the call for the SEC Network. The Razorbacks’ true freshman left-hander, Colin Fisher, will face Red Raider junior right-hander Hudson Parker.