FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 3 Arkansas once again run ruled an opponent this time downing Portland 20-3 in seven innings on Friday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Portland jumped on starter Gabe Gaeckle for two runs in the top of the first, but that was the highlight of the day for the visitors. Arkansas scored four runs in the bottom of the first, seven more in the second and then two in the third. They also plated five runs in the fifth and two in the sixth. Portland added a meaningless run in the top of the sixth. With once again wind blowing out of the stadium Dave Van Horn was obviously pleased with the offense that hit five home runs.
"Well, I mean, really the story of the day was the offense," Van Horn said. "I know the wind was blowing out, but we hit a lot of those balls really hard. Think they would have gone out anyway, to be honest with you. And you know, it's really good for us to come in, first inning after they scored two in the top, and and hit for a while. (Charles) Davalan had a really good first at-bat. Ended up grounding out to second, but I think he might have saw eight or nine pitches, hit the ball fairly hard, and then (Wehiwa) Aloy pounded it over third baseman's head, and then it was kind of on from there. There was a couple plays that you'd think they might get an out, they didn't make the play, and we took advantage of and scored four runs.
"Kind of the same thing happened in the second inning. I think we may extend some long balls, though. But really, the top half of the order was unbelievable. I mean, through the middle, the RBI, I think (Brent) Iredale had eight and Kuhio (Aloy) had three and Wehiwa had four. It was just a really good day on the offensive end. And their pitcher, obviously, he's not overpowering, but he's a spot guy, tries to keep you off-balance and throws the ball in the upper 80s, 88-89 when he wants to, but it's more about changeups and sliders and just getting you to get yourself out a little bit. Had a good ERA coming in here, but I felt like we just had a really good plan, and everybody just stayed back, tried to hit the ball through the middle of field and some good things really happened there. And that was an unbelievable play by the shortstop in the seventh inning. I mean, that was amazing. Other than that, we got two more to go."
Gaeckle (1-0) struggled in his last start against Charlotte. The start to Friday's game probably had some nervous, but he settled in after that first inning for an outstanding performance. He pitched 5.1 innings allowing two hits, two runs, three walks and struck out seven. Van Horn praised him.
"Yeah, I thought he got I thought he got better as the game went on a little bit," Van Horn said. "He started commanding his breaking ball and his fastball. He threw a couple changeups to some lefties, but for the most part, he was pretty good. The zone was tight both ways, and it was just the way it was. They weren't giving them much, and they had to go earn it. And that's what I told him, you had to earn it today. And I thought Portland's hitters did a nice job. They came out and they swung the bats, took some borderline pitches, but they got a pitch to hit, they took some good swings. And then he settled in a little bit. Really just congratulations, good job, and get ready for your next one."
Gaeckle admitted it was a relief to pitch well with the SEC opener coming up next Friday.
"It definitely felt good," Gaeckle said. "You know, the first inning didn’t go great today and I kind of just had to flush it and just go out there and compete. To get those zeroes after the first felt really good."
The Hogs only used one relief pitcher on the day. Steele Eaves pitched 1.2 innings allowing four hits, one run and fanned one. Van Horn was asked if that was a downside with the run rule and not getting more pitchers work?
"Throw ‘em on Monday, on our day off," Van Horn said laughing. "Let them throw to the other hitters that didn’t get to play much is what we do. Yeah, it’s just kind of the way it is. You’re not going to tell your team to stop swinging or trying to score. You can shut down bunting and stealing, but you just have to go up there and hit and gain confidence. We’ve played a lot of tight games, as well, so every now and then it’s nice to score a bunch of runs."
Iredale had three hits and knocked in eight runs. That is the most since Rodney Nye did that as well. Iredale hit a pair of home runs in the game.
"I just sort of like, simplified my approach," Iredale said. "Just tried working the middle, not trying to pull off or anything like that. I feel like last week, that was sort of my approach, just pull off everything because the wind was blowing out and everything. But today was more work up the middle and I’ll naturally pull it."
Wehiwa Aloy hit two home runs and plated four runs on three hits. Kuhio Aloy had two hits and knocked in three runs. Nolan Souza hit the other home run for the Hogs. Kendall Diggs had a triple and knocked in a pair of runs.
Starter Carter Gaston (0-4) took the loss for Portland. He worked 4.0 innings, allowed nine hits, 13 runs, walked two and struck out five. JT Landwehr worked the other two innings for Portland.
Arkansas (13-1) and Portland (5-9) will play the second game of the series on Saturday with the first pitch slated for 2 p.m. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network+.
