HawgBeat - Arkansas earns midweek sweep over UNLV
The Arkansas Razorbacks earned the midweek sweep over UNLV with a 5-2 win over the Hustlin' Rebels on Wednesday.
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks earned a two-game series sweep over the UNLV Hustlin' Rebels with a 5-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Freshman right-hander Ben Bybee worked five innings of scoreless ball in the start on the mound for the Razorbacks. The 6-foot-6, 235 pound hurler gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three in his second start of the season.
A two-run home run from Jared Wegner in the bottom of the fifth extended his team lead to eight homers on the year and gave the Razorbacks some run support early on. A pair of one-out RBI hits from Kendall Diggs and Harold Coll gave Arkansas a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to make Zack Morris' job on the mound slightly easier in the top of the ninth.
Arkansas had two less hits than the Hustlin' Rebels in the contest, and it was 1-of-8 when hitting with two outs and 1-of-9 with runners in scoring positions.
Here's a recap of the contest, which resulted in the Diamond Hogs' 15th win of the season.
A two-out double in the top of the first put Bybee in a tough situation with a pair of runners in scoring position, but he induced a line out to escape the jam.
Tavian Josenberger took Jordan Hanson's first pitch of the game to right field for a leadoff single. A Brady Slavens one-out double advance Josenberger to third, and Kendall Diggs' RBI fielder's choice scored Josenberger to put the Hogs ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first.
Bybee threw just 41 pitches over the next four frames, holding the Hustlin' Rebels to just two hits and no runs.
On the other side, the Razorbacks had just one hit from the second through fourth innings, but Jared Wegner's 396-foot two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth helped extend Arkansas' lead to 3-0.
After giving up a single and a double to leadoff the top of the fifth, Bybee was pulled for fellow freshman right-hander Gage Wood, who worked around the runners in scoring position with a line out to short and two strikeouts to keep UNLV scoreless after six.
With Zack Morris throwing in the top of the seventh for Arkansas, a sharp hit ball to right field by Edarian Williams hit off the glove of Kendall Diggs — who was making his first start in the field of the year — and a pair of runs crossed to cut the Razorbacks' lead to 3-2.
Morris worked a scoreless top of the eighth inning and Diggs gave the Razorbacks some insurance in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double down the line in left to push the lead to 4-2. The next at bat resulted in an RBI single for Harold Coll to make it a three-run advantage after eight.
The top of the ninth featured a 1-2-3 frame from Morris, who secured the three-inning save.
Up next, Arkansas will begin SEC play when the Auburn Tigers come to town for a three-game series this weekend. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Baum-Walker Stadium, and the game will be streamed on the SEC Network Plus.
Box Score
