Oliver Grigg
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Behind Will McEntire’s eight-strikeout effort, No. 7 Arkansas (32-11, 13-7 SEC) clinched its fifth SEC series win of the season in a 10-4 victory over Texas A&M (25-18, 9-11 SEC) on Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With the win, the Razorbacks improved to 27-3 at home on the year. The 27-3 home record is Arkansas' best since the Hogs won 29 of their first 32 games at Baum-Walker Stadium in 2018.
Friday night’s game was headlined by Brady Tygart’s return to the mound. The Razorback right-hander threw 20 pitches and worked around a two-out walk in his first outing since suffering a sprained UCL against Illinois State on March 1.
McEntire took over for Tygart to begin the second inning and spun 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball on 91 pitches. The veteran right-hander struck out a season-high eight and earned the win, improving to 6-2 on the year.
Offensively, the Razorbacks would score plenty of runs in support of their pitching staff. Jace Bohrofen’s RBI double in the bottom half of the third inning broke a 1-1 tie before Arkansas put up a three-spot in the fourth inning.
Parker Rowland drove in a run with his RBI bunt single, before Kendall Diggs, who extended his team-leading reached base streak to 34 games, collected an RBI single of his own. Peyton Stovall’s sac fly to left would give the Hogs a 4-1 lead.
Arkansas led 6-2 entering the seventh, but Texas A&M would cut its deficit to two with a two-run homer in the top half of the inning. Ben McLaughlin responded with his first homer as a Razorback, however, pushing the lead back to four.
The Golden, Colo., native clobbered a two-run home run to right with one out in the seventh to extend Arkansas’ advantage to 8-4. Diggs and Bohrofen would come through again with RBI singles in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Razorbacks a commanding six-run lead for closer Gage Wood.
The true freshman locked down his fourth save of the season with 2 1/3 strong innings in relief. Wood struck out a five to preserve the 10-4 win and secure Arkansas' SEC weekend series clinch.
Bohrofen, meanwhile, finished with a team-leading three hits, his team-best 18th multi-hit game of the season. The Razorback captain, who also drove in two runs, raised his season slash line to a team-leading .380/.497/.697.
Arkansas goes for the sweep in tomorrow’s finale against Texas A&M. First pitch between the Razorbacks and Aggies is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, April 29, on SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Chris Burke (analyst) on the call.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
