FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 2 Arkansas received outstanding pitching and took a 4-0 win over James Madison Monday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas (3-1) took the series over James Madison with the win. Arkansas won on Friday and Saturday, lost Sunday and then took Monday's game behind solid pitching from Colin Fisher, Koty Franks, Will McEntire and Stone Hewlett. Fisher, a true freshman, went five innings, allowed three hits, struck out four and hit one batter while throwing 63 pitches in his first college game. He earned the win with his performance. Dave Van Horn was pleased with how his true freshman responded on Monday.

"What a great time to have our pitching staff really step it up and give us a great outing," Van Horn said. "Four guys came in and did a tremendous job. Obviously Colin Fisher, starter, first time out, five innings, no walks. Made them swing the bat, which we loved. Not a lot of super-hard contact and played pretty solid defense behind him. Really nice play by … I think my shortstop ran and caught a ball and our left fielder made a couple of diving catches. Just pretty solid there until the ninth when we don’t make a throw. Didn’t walk a hitter until the last inning. So just a great job by our staff."

The four pitchers combined to only allow only four hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out nine. Frank worked an inning, McEntire a pair and then Hewlett pitched the ninth.

Arkansas took control of the game in the bottom of the first with two runs. Kendall Diggs, moved to the leadoff spot, singled to left field. Hudson White reached on error by second baseman Mike Mancini. With runners on second and third, no outs, Ben McLaughlin delivered a two-run single to center field.

"And then offensively, just enough," Van Horn said. "Had some good at-bats. Swung the bat pretty good early in a couple of innings but didn’t drive in some runs. That’s kind of a thing. We’ve got to start picking up some runs when we have an opportunity, and a lot of times it’s with two outs. That’s how you build up a lead or catch up. But yeah, just good win. It’s a big difference between winning three out of four and winning 2-2 in an opening series like this." 

In the bottom of the third, White led off the inning with a double to left field. With two outs, Jayson Jones delivered a single to center field that plated White. The Hogs added the final run in the bottom of the seventh when Ty Wilmsmeyer reached on a walk to lead off the inning. He advanced to third on an error on third baseman Wyatt Peifer. He scored with one out when Wehiwa Aloy singled to center field.

Both teams committed a pair of errors. One day after stranding nine runners, Arkansas left eight on the bases Monday. Aloy led the Arkansas offense with two hits. Jones and McLaughlin each had one hit with Jones plating a runner and McLaughlin two.

Casey Smith (0-1) took the loss for James Madison. The only real threat for James Madison came in the top of the ninth when Ryan Dooley walked with one out. Brendan O'Donnell then reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott. With one out, runners on second and third, Hewlett struck out Coleman Calabrese and got Jacob Steinberg to ground out to end the game. Van Horn wasn't pleased with the pair of errors.

"We didn’t make an error the first two games, made three in the last two," Van Horn said. "Yesterday wasn’t a great game for us in the field. Today we had a pitcher pickoff (error) and then that throw there in the ninth. The ball had a weird spin on it, it actually jumped back to the fielder’s left. Once he fielded the ball (and) was under control, make the throw. If it would have been a really tough, off-balance play, you can understand that a little bit more. But we’ll… I was really pleased with the defense. It just could have even been better."

Van Horn reflected back on the four games at home to open the season before the team hits the road this week.

"Well the first two I’ve kind of forgotten about because I was so cold," Van Horn said. "I think we’ve learned a lot about our team. You kind of find out about the individual and maybe their mindset in a game compared to maybe a scrimmage and it’s loose. Now you have people in the stands. I really don’t want to make too many comments publicly, but there’s some guys that they need to relax a little bit and just play the game. Take practice to the game, workout to the game. It’s just a game. Change your mindset a little bit. I think when that happens, we’ll see some guys elevate.

"We’ve got to do a better job running the bases. We’ve got to do a better job of… and it comes and goes throughout the season, but we’ve got to drive in some runs."

Arkansas will next face No. 7 Oregon State on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Kubota College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The Hogs will face Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on Saturday and then Michigan Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Arlington.