In the capper of a road trip of ranked opponents, the Arkansas State Red Wolves baseball team traveled to Fayetteville to take on the number one ranked Arkansas Razorbacks.

A-State came to Fayetteville after losing a weekend series to Coastal Carolina. The Red Wolves dropped their first two games of the series to the twenty-first ranked Chanticleers before finally closing the series with a victory.

The Razorbacks spent the previous weekend in a very different fashion. Arkansas swept the maligned Missouri Tigers and scored 51 runs in three games in the process. As the Tennessee Volunteers lost their series to the unranked Texas A&M Aggies, Arkansas was ranked first in the country this week by D1Baseball.com, the NCAA’s main ranking outlet for baseball.

Pitcher Kole Turner got the start for the Red Wolves. Turner pitched for 4.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 earned runs and striking out 6 Hogs.

Both teams were scoreless in the first inning. In the second inning, A-State struck first as left fielder Jake Henry Williams smacked an RBI double with two men on base. The hit allowed second baseman Cason Campbell to come home and score the first run of the game.

The Razorbacks scored to match A-State when Hogs right fielder Carson Boles scored on an RBI single hit by Arkansas second baseman Nolan Souza. This RBI tied the game 1-1.

The Red Wolves responded in the top of the third inning. Cason Tollett hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Boles committed a throwing error from right field and allowed the runners to advance, including first baseman Wil French making it across home. The score went back in favor of A-State 2-1.

The score remained here until the bottom of the fifth inning. The Red Wolves sat Turner in favor of reliever Carson Keithley for the last out of the fifth. Keithley proceeded to allow Razorbacks left fielder Charles Davalan to bash a three-run home run to left field to make the game a 4-3 lead for Razorbacks.

In the top of the sixth inning, Campbell hit an RBI single to allow right fielder Cross Jumper to score and tie the game. However, in the bottom of the sixth, pitcher Cooper Garrison allowed Razorbacks designated hitter Kuhio Aloy to get a two run blast to center field, which blew open the game to give the Hogs a three-run lead. 

Garrison was relieved by Colin Maloney, who was in turn relieved by Jack Nelson after giving up nothing but walks and loading the bases. Nelson proceeded to walk another batter and allow a run in the process, making the lead 7-3. Nelson ended the inning by striking out Hogs shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, but the damage was done. The Red Wolves would not recover from this innings damage.

Turner was credited with the loss, moving his record to 1-4 on the season. Razorbacks pitcher Dylan Carter got the win in his relief efforts, moving his record to 4-0. The Red Wolves drop to 14-18 on the season with the loss. A-State will return to Jonesboro to take on the South Alabama Jaguars in a weekend series, starting on April 11.

Categories: Sports