Hogs hammer lollipops; homer way to midweek win over UAPB

Razorbacks cruise to in-state win with early offense behind Aloy brothers again

Shortstop Wehiwa Aloy rounds the bases after hitting his team-leading 13th home run against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas hit pitches of 80, 75, 75 and 66 miles an hour for two-run homers en route to a 13-3 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Tuesday in eight innings.

Both Kuhio and Wehiwa Aloy homered in the same game for the third time this season. Wehiwa's 360-foot shot to right field in the second inning gave the Hogs and 5-1 lead and also gave the elder Aloy the team-lead in homers (13), breaking a tie with outfielder Charles Davalan.

Team-leading 13th dinger for Wehiwa 🤙 pic.twitter.com/t64daZRqHo

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 15, 2025

Backup catcher Zane Becker got the start behind the plate and hit his first career homer out of the nine-spot in the order.

Starting at his natural position of second base for just the fourth time this year, Cam Kozeal added a two-run homer late to pad the lead in the eighth.

Save that ball for @zanebecker17! pic.twitter.com/aPiLMD9ID9

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 16, 2025

"It's just kind of like playing wiffleball I'd say," Kozeal said. "It's like sometimes you have your older brother who's throwing super hard. Then you have your little brother who's throwing not as hard. It's baseball. The ball is coming at you no matter what."

For the first time this season, Kuhio Aloy did more than just destroy baseballs. His first 33 starts of the season all came at designated hitter. Van Horn opted to put Aloy in right field for the first time in his college career.

Before Tuesday, Aloy had only made four appearances as a defensive player in college, all at first base last year with the BYU Cougars. He has been doing outfield work since January with the Hogs.

The primary right fielder, Logan Maxwell, started at designated hitter because of maintenance on a hamstring injury that has nagged him off and on even before his time at Arkansas.

Reese Robinett also made his first start of the year, sliding Cam Kozeal back to his natural position of second base. Robinett finished the day 3-for-5 with a trio of doubles.

"Just felt like you've been a really good teammate," Van Horn said about Robinett. "You
haven't complained. Time to get him in there and let him play a little bit."

He also had the walk-off hit to send the crowd home early

Big Country says G'NIGHT! pic.twitter.com/In04yiB4vd

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 16, 2025

“I was like man, I haven't played a lot,” Robinett said. “Am I ever gonna get this first hit out of the way? And then I finally got it tonight and I was like all right, now I can relax a little bit and just play.”

Tate McGuire made his third straight midweek start and looked sharp in the first inning, retiring the side on 14 pitches and picking up a pair of strikeouts.

His fastball velocity also hit 94 miles an hour, but lost some of his sharpness as the outing wore on. He lasted just three innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts.

"He's a good Tuesday pitcher," Van Horn said. "You don't want to just be a Tuesday pitcher. You want to pitch on the weekend, so you got to pitch good on Tuesday so we can pitch you on the weekend."

Arkansas will have its first Thursday-Saturday SEC series against Texas A&M. The Aggies come to Fayetteville winners of seven straight, including a series win over No. 4 Tennessee. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday and will be broadcast on SEC Network.

News and Notes:

Both of Kozeal's errors have been at second base this season. He had gone 18 straight games without making an error.

Brent Iredale is now 0 for his last 14 and saw his season average dip below .300 for the first time since opening day.

"He's just struggled," Van Horn said. "He's late on the fastball."

Kendall Diggs' pinch-hit base-hit in the ninth broke out of 0-for-19 and was his first hit since March 8 against Portland.

This is the first midweek run-rule since March 19 against Oral Roberts. The Hogs have had to play all nine innings in the previous three midweeks after they were able to run-rule their opponents in four of the first six.