FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 5 Arkansas used a big day at the plate from third baseman Brent Iredale who blasted two home runs to defeat Washington State 5-2 on Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It was a damp, rainy day for baseball, but the teams were able to get the game in. In addition to Iredale's big day, shortstop Wehiwa Aloy provided some insurance with a two-run blast of his own in the bottom of the eighth to provide the final margin of victory. Dave Van Horn praised Aloy's big blast.
"Just a good win for our team today," Van Horn said. "You know, we didn’t play great. We made a few mistakes and left a lot of runners out, it seemed like, on base when we had a chance to score people. I think we had a leadoff double and we didn’t score, maybe a couple of them. Had a couple of big swings from Iredale and then it was good to see Wehiwa get into one oppo and hit a two-run homer there to kind of give us a cushion going into the ninth.
"It was really good to see our team score in the eighth. We always talk about scoring in the eighth and how important it is, whether you’re trying to increase your lead or catch somebody and put a little pressure on them. I think we had a leadoff double and then a home run. Then had some more runners on and didn’t get them over, which was disappointing because we should’ve scored at least one more that inning, maybe two."
The Razorbacks took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth when Iredale broke a 2-2 tie with a home run over the fence in left field. He had tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth with another solo shot.
"Yeah, I mean that was big time," Van Horn said. "You look at what happened last night, the guy was close to having four home runs. He hit a ball into the wind about as hard as you could hit it and then he hit one, I guess it hit the top of the fence.
"I never asked you guys, did it hit the top of the fence by the way, or did it hit the back? So you thought it was a home run? Yeah. It was a tough look. To have Brent come through like that, you know, he hit a changeup, he hit a fastball. He’s had some really good at bats. For a while there, he was about all the offense we had rolling and then some other guys kicked it in later there."
Arkansas got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second when right fielder Kendall Diggs singled to start the inning. He scored when catcher Zane Becker hit a two-out double.
Washington State took a brief 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, right fielder Logan Johnstone walked. Third baseman Ricco Longo tripled to plate Johnstone. First baseman Ryan Skjonsby hit a sacrifice fly to plate Longo.
Once again Arkansas got good pitching from the four that Van Horn sent to the mound. Dylan Carter worked 1.2 innings in relief of starter Gage Wood and got the win. Carter allowed two hits and struck out one. Carson Wiggins pitched the ninth and earned the save. Wood worked five innings. He allowed two hits, two runs (both earned), one walk and struck out seven. Parker Coil was the third pitcher and worked 1.1 innings allowing just one hit.
"Pitching was solid," Van Horn said. "I thought Gage had good stuff. Really didn’t have his breaking ball today and did it mostly with the fastball and the cutter, so that was impressive. If he could get that breaking ball going, it would’ve been a really good day for him. Carter came in and I think he got better as he was going a little bit. Coil came into a tough spot and did a nice job and got through the next inning and got us to Wiggins."
Van Horn then talked about Wood, the former Batesville standout, still adjusting to a new role as a starter.
"We’ve been working him to be a starter since fall practice," Van Horns said. "Obviously, he was a starter in high school, summer ball, he knows how to do it. He knows how to get ready and get on routine and how to work throughout the week. So I guess I’m not surprised at how it went. I’ve seen him get better all three years here, keep climbing the ladder. Throws a lot of strikes, works both sides of the plate, like I said, he did it with a fastball and a cutter. Breaking ball, he didn’t throw it that much. Some days his breaking ball is great, so when he gets all three going, he’ll be really tough to hit."
Washington State reliever Jake Tedasco took the loss. He pitched three innings. Tedasco allowed five hits, three runs, walked two and fanned five. Starter Luke Meyers pitched five innings. He allowed four hits, a pair of runs, walked one and struck out three.
Arkansas finished the game with nine hits and stranded six. The visitors had six hits and stranded five.
"Like I told the team afterwards, we’ve got a lot of things we’ve got to clean up," Van Horn said. "We had a ball in center field where the centerfielder should’ve caught it running through the ball to keep somebody from tagging up. Next thing you know, the left fielder is diving catching the ball and that can’t happen. The centerfielder, that’s his ball all the way. Take charge and go through it. Some frustrating things going on out there, but also at the same time, we’re finding ways to win and we’re getting to see a lot of pitching this weekend. We still have another day on Monday where we’ll get to see probably three or four more. Hopefully we can finish it off Monday."
The two teams will play the final game of the series on Monday with the first pitch at noon. Arkansas will send Landon Beidelschies to the mound as they try to complete the sweep of the four-game series.