No. 3 Arkansas (19-2, 2-1 SEC) picked up its 17th straight midweek victory in a low-scoring affair against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (12-7, 1-2 Summit), 4-1, on Tuesday night at Baum-Walker Stadium. Despite leaving 12 runners on base, the Razorback pitching staff helped carry the team to victory by getting out of multiple jams.
Arkansas drew first blood in the bottom of the second inning with LF Carson Boles drawing a walk and 2B Nolan Souza reaching on a fielder’s choice for the first out. After C Zane Becker legged out an infield single to put runners on first and second, CF Charles Davalan poked a single through the left side to drive in Souza and give the Hogs a 1-0 lead.
Former Razorback Will Edmunson made a great sliding catch in right field in the bottom of the fourth to end the inning. Becker skied a ball into foul territory, and Edmunson lunged to his knees to make the out.
RHP Ben Bybee hurled four scoreless frames while allowing just one hit with five strikeouts on 55 pitches (36 strikes). After allowing a single in the top of the first to LF Cooper Combs with two outs, he retired the last 10 batters he faced.
LHP Cole Gibler was placed on the mound in the top of the fifth and allowed a leadoff single to 2B Jack Schark. After throwing a wild pitch, Gibler gave up another single to 3B Keaton Campbell. 1B Ethan Fender tied the game with an RBI single to left field. The freshman retired the next three batters to get out of the inning, including getting Edmunson to fly out to right field with runners in scoring position and two outs.
Arkansas started out the bottom of the fifth with a single by Davalan and a walk by SS Wehiwa Aloy off new Golden Eagles RHP Connor Johnson. DH Kuhio Aloy sliced a single to left field to give Arkansas the lead back, 2-1, and RF Logan Maxwell reached on a catcher’s interference to load the bases. 3B Brent Iredale drove in Wehiwa Aloy from third on a sacrifice fly to center to extend the lead to two.
Gibler came back and tossed a scoreless sixth inning, and LHP Parker Coil came out of the bullpen in the seventh and provided two clean innings of his own while allowing two hits and a walk with a strikeout on 31 pitches (19 strikes).
The Hogs put one more run on the board in the bottom of the eighth after Becker walked while Davalan and Wehiwa Aloy both reached on singles. Kuhio Aloy grounded into a double play that allowed pinch runner Gabe Fraser to score from third and extend the lead to three.
RHP Christian Foutch picked up his third save of the year while hurling a solid ninth inning to close the game out. He carved up a batter and allowed a walk on 14 pitches (six strikes) while lowering his ERA to 2.70.
The Razorbacks and the Golden Eagles will meet back up at Baum-Walker Stadium on Wednesday to finish up the two-game midweek series. The first pitch is slated for 3 p.m., and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.