No. 3 Arkansas (16-1) picked up its 12th straight win of the season after downing the Central Arkansas Bears (5-9), 9-2, Tuesday night in Baum-Walker Stadium. The win finishes off a 10-game homestand for the Razorbacks before starting Southeastern Conference play this weekend.
The Hogs started out the bottom of the second inning with DH Kuhio Aloy drawing a full-count walk. 3B Brent Iredale smoked a two-run blast down the left field line off of RHP Perry Titlow for his seventh home run of the year to give Arkansas an early 2-0 lead.
The Bears inserted RHP Jake Jones on the mound to begin the bottom of the third. CF Charles Davalan reached on a throwing error at second and would advance to third base with two outs. Aloy stepped up to the plate and walloped his seventh dinger of the season to extend the lead to four.
LHP Colin Fisher got the start on the mound for the Hogs and threw three scoreless innings in his sixth appearance (second start) of the season. He allowed just one hit and struck out three batters on 39 pitches (25 strikes) before being relieved by RHP Ben Bybee to begin the top of the fourth.
UCA jumped on Bybee with SS Nathan Negre reaching on a single and advancing to second base on a balk. 3B Bryce Cermenelli legged out an infield single to place runners on the corners. After C Casey Shipley struck out, RF Blaine French drove Negre with an RBI single to right field to put the Bears on the board, 4-1. CF Sam Reynolds grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Razorbacks loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fourth with a walk by Davalan while LF Logan Maxwell and Aloy were both hit by a pitch with two outs. Bears RHP Gavin Alveti relieved RHP Tate Collins to try and put out the flames. Iredale laced a two-run single to center field to put the Hogs ahead by five, 6-1, to raise his RBI total to four on the day. 1B Camden Kozeal followed up by smashing a three-run bomb to left field to cap off a five-run rally.
The Bears scratched across a run in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to seven on an RBI single by Cermenelli that drove in LF Zeb Allen in from second with two outs off of LHP Cole Gibler. Gibler shook off his mistake and forced Shipley to fly out to right field to end the frame.
Gibler threw a scoreless eighth inning and ended his night with two innings pitched and four strikeouts on 34 pitches (20 strikes). RHP Will McEntire closed it out with a scoreless ninth, where he carved up two batters on 17 pitches (12 strikes).
The Razorbacks open up SEC play against the Ole Miss Rebels on Friday in Oxford, MS., at Swayze Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.