FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (3-0, 0-0 SEC) clinched their Opening Weekend series Saturday with a 5-2 win over the Washington State Cougars (0-3, 0-0 MWC) at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Starting pitcher Gage Wood gave the Razorbacks five innings of two-run baseball. The junior right-hander gave up two earned runs on two hits with one walk and a career-high seven strikeouts across 77 total pitches.
Third baseman Brent Iredale, a junior college transfer, smashed his first two home runs as a Razorback in the game and both traveled at least 390 feet to left field. Junior shortstop Wehiwa Aloy drive a two-run homer of his own in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Arkansas much-needed insurance.
Arkansas totaled 9 hits as a team and the Hogs were just 2-for-13 at the plate with runners on base. Washington State logged six hits in the game, just one of which came with runners on base.
Three relievers combined for the four innings after Wood, and that trio allowed no runs on four hits with no walks and three strikeouts combined.
Wood came out of the gates amped up in the top of the first. The Batesville (Ark.) native started the 1-2-3 frame with back-to-back strikeouts on his fastball, which was running up to 97 miles per hour.
After Wood picked up two more punchouts in a scoreless top of the second, veteran slugger Kendall Diggs got the Hogs going with a leadoff double in the bottom half. Freshman catcher Zane Becker drove Diggs in with an RBI double in his first career at bat to make it a 1-0 lead for the Razorbacks after two innings.
The Cougars picked up a one-out walk in the top of the third and capitalized on it right away via a triple from third baseman Ricco Longo, who benefitted from Arkansas centerfielder Charles Davalan taking a bad route on the ball. Wazzu first baseman Ryan Skjonsby gave the road team a 2-1 lead right after with an RBI sacrifice fly out.
Washington State's lead didn't last long, as Iredale hit a no-doubt 391-foot leadoff homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie it back up.
Wood worked his third 1-2-3 frame of the contest in the top of the fifth inning and picked up his seventh strikeout in the process to bring an end to his outing. Wazzu starter Luke Meyes kept pace with Wood in the runs department in the bottom half, as he faced one more than the minimum in a scoreless frame to keep the score 2-2.
Sixth-year senior right-hander Dylan Carter relieved Wood in the top of the sixth and he managed to work around a leadoff bunt single despite the runner reaching third base. Washington State went to the bullpen in the bottom half with lefty Jake Tedesco, who Iredale took 401 feet to left field for a one-out solo home run that made it 3-2 after six innings.
Carter was relieved by lefty Parker Coil with two outs and a runner on third in the top of the seventh, and Coil quickly stranded the runner with a groundout. After the Hogs couldn't capitalize on a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh, Coil returned to face more more than the minimum in a scoreless top of the eighth inning.
Arkansas got to Tedesco right away in the bottom of the eighth, as Charles Davalan hit a leadoff double and then was driven in via a 414-foot two-run home run from Wehiwa Aloy to right-center field that made it a 5-2 lead for the Hogs.
Freshman right-hander Carson Wiggins, younger brother of former Hog Jaxon Wiggins, came on in the top of the ninth inning and faced one more than the minimum to close it down. Wiggins touched 100 miles per hour on each of his first four pitchers, per Trackman analytics.
Up next, the Razorbacks and Cougars will meet Monday at noon CT for the series finale at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
