FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (4-0, 0-0 SEC) swept their Opening Weekend series Monday with a seven-inning 12-2 run-rule win over the Washington State Cougars (0-4, 0-0 MWC) at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Starting pitcher Landon Beidelschies gave the Razorbacks five innings of one-run baseball. The junior left-hander gave up one earned runs on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts across 71 total pitches.
The Razorbacks' biggest blows came in the middle innings, as the offense rattled off 11 total runs combined between the fourth and fifth frames. Hog designated hitter Kuhio Aloy hit his second homer of the season while catcher Ryder Helfrick and right fielder Carson Boles recorded doubles.
Arkansas totaled 10 hits as a team and the Hogs finished 9-for-22 (.409) at the plate with runners on base. Washington State logged six hits in the game, just two of which came with runners on base.
Two relievers — junior righty Ben Bybee and freshman lefty Cole Gibler — combined for two innings after Beidelschies, and that duo allowed one runs on two hits with one walks and one strikeout combined.
In true small-ball fashion, leadoff Max Hartman recorded the Cougars' first hit against Beidelschies with a first-pitch bunt attempt that was just safe after review. Washington State laid down another good bunt in the next at-bat, but an interference call on Hartman on his way to second base resulted in an out. Beidelschies cleaned things up with his first two strikeouts of the day.
Arkansas got things going quickly in its first time up to bat, as Charles Davalan worked a full-count walk and Wehiwa Aloy earned first base via a swinging bunt. That forced Washington State coach Nathan Choate into making a hasty pitching change to righty sidewinder Rylan Haider, who drew back-to-back lineouts from Rocco Peppi and Brent Iredale before walking Kuhio Aloy to load the bases. Haider escaped the jam by striking out Ryder Helfrick.
After Beidelschies picked up his third strikeout in a 1-2-3 top of the second, Haider faced the minimum himself after Carson Boles grounded out, Cam Kozeal struck out, Justin Thomas Jr. walked and subsequently got caught stealing.
Washington State recorded its second bunt-for-a-hit of the day in the top of the third following a groundout, but the runner was caught stealing on a rocket throw by Helfrick for the second out. Beidelschies set the Cougars down on only seven pitches after another groundball out.
A hit-by-pitch on Peppi in the bottom of the third broke up Haider's first potential true 1-2-3 inning, but a hard-hit lineout to right field by Iredale ended the Hogs' two-out rally before it really began.
Beidelschies grew his strikeout total to five in the top of the fourth with near picture-perfect control of his pitches, and the Cougars turned to righty reliever Bryce Chambers out of the bullpen to face Arkansas in the latter half of the inning.
Like clockwork, the scoreless game finally ended when Kuhio Aloy snuck a 340-foot leadoff solo shot over the left field wall to give Arkansas a 1-0 lead. A Helfrick full-count walk and Boles right-field single put pressure on Washington State's defense, which crumbled when a Kozeal bunt forced an errant throw that allowed Helfrick to score.
Nine-hole Thomas walked again to load the bases with zero outs for Davalan, who reeled in Boles from third base on an RBI groundout. Wehiwa Aloy opened the floodgates on an oppo single to right field, which drove in Kozeal and Thomas to increase Arkansas' advantage to 5-0. Chambers finally shut things down with a flyout by Peppi and fielder's choice groundout by Iredale.
The Razorbacks ran into trouble in the top of the fifth, as Cougar Ryan Skjonsby led off with a double against Beidelschies before the former Ohio State ace struck out Ollie Obenour. A first-pitch single by Will Cresswell gave Washington State runners on the corners with one out, and Skjonsby scored following an RBI groundout on a bunt.
Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs made a mound visit after Beidelschies walked Cole Watterson to give the Cougars two men on and it paid off, as Beidelschies racked up strikeout No. 7 on Hartman after an 11-pitch at-bat to end the inning.
Leading off for the second inning in a row was Kuhio Aloy, who followed his fourth-inning homer with a fifth-inning walk. As a result, Washington State turned to right-hander Ingmar Hutzezon in relief. On the second pitch of his at-bat, Helfrick smashed a double down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position for Boles, who drove in both with a double to center field.
Kozeal slapped a grounder right to Cougar third baseman Kyler Northrop, who made a throwing error which allowed Kozeal and Boles to advance into scoring position. A Thomas single punched in Boles, and another error by Northrop on the same play scored Kozeal. Davalan made it a 10-1 lead for Arkansas after hitting a seeing-eye-single to right field to score Thomas.
The fifth-inning circus didn't stop there, as Davalan stole second and made his way to third thanks to a wild pitch. A Wehiwa Aloy full-count walk brought up Peppi, who was pinch hit for by Reese Robinett. Before Robinett could bat, Washington State brought in sophomore righty Trevor Stowe from the pen. After a Robinett strikeout, Iredale recorded a screaming single to score Davalan.
Kuhio Aloy battled back from an 0-2 count, but a nice offspeed pitch got him swinging for the second out of the inning. Helfrick worked a full-count walk to load the bases again, but Boles struck out swinging to end the damage with Arkansas up 11-1.
Razorback right-hander Ben Bybee came on in the top of the sixth to relieve Beidelschies, and promptly gave up a leadoff single to center field. Robinett moved over to first base for Peppi and freshman Zane Becker came in for Helfrick at catcher. A groundball out moved the runner over to second, and the Cougars scored their second run of the day following a double. Arkansas held its 11-2 lead following another groundout and a flyout.
If you can believe it, the bottom of the sixth wasn't the smoothest for Cougar pitcher Stowe, who walked three batters around two fly outs to load the bases with two outs. With Iredale up in a massive RBI opportunity, Stowe hit him with a 2-2 pitch to drive in a run. Kuhio Aloy struck out on three pitches to limit the damage. Arkansas, now up 12-2, was back in run-rule territory entering the seventh.
Coach Dave Van Horn called upon freshman lefty Cole Gibler to shut the Cougars down in the top of the seventh, and he started his day with a strikeout looking on a pretty offspeed pitch. A four-pitch walk gave the Cougars a man on first, but Gibler drew a ground ball that ended the game after a double play.
Up next, the Razorbacks will travel to Arlington, Texas, for the College Baseball Series. First pitch for Game 1 against Kansas State on Friday is set for 7 p.m. CT and it will stream on FloSports.
