Hogs' pitching shuts down Longhorns for second straight day

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 11 Arkansas clinched a series win against No. 1 Texas with a 6-1 win on Friday behind 14 free passes (9 walks, 5 hit batters) up and down the lineup.

"We didn’t say ‘Hey, we gotta win this series and we gotta do this,’" coach Dave Van Horn said. "No reason to throw that on them. These guys are smart. They know what’s up."

The pitching staff struck out 15 Longhorns after racking up 14 Thursday.

Lightning in the area delayed first pitch 45 minutes from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The late start did little to throw starter Gage Wood off his rhythm.

Making his third start since returning from injury, he needed just 11 pitches to retire the side in order.

The bats picked up right where they left off Thursday as well scoring four times in the first two innings.

Kuhio Aloy split the outfielders in the left-center field gap with the bases loaded on an 0-2 pitch with two outs to score all three runners.

The mana is DIFFERENT at Baum ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/jWin7XSHye
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 3, 2025

Wood was almost perfect in his four innings of work, striking out a career-high nine batters on just 57 pitches, only allowing a solo homer to Rylan Galvan to lead off the fourth.

"Tonight he had a really good breaking ball," Van Horn said. "His fastball is electric. Got a lot of carry, Tough to hit, and when he’s ahead in the count it’s tough to hit."

Arkansas used the piggyback of Wood and Gabe Gaeckle to great effect again as the former starter picked up right where Wood left off.

Gaeckle pitched out of trouble on a few occasions, stranding two runners in the fifth and getting a gift 2-3 double play on a pop-up in foul territory to the catcher Ryder Helfrick.

The Texas baserunner, Casey Borba, took off with the pitch with just one out in the inning. Both runners forgot how many outs there were and were promptly removed by Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle in the next half-inning. Helfrick promptly threw down to first to retire the side.

"There are some things that are forgivable and other things aren’t," Schlossnagle said.

JUST LIKE WE DREW IT UP pic.twitter.com/cCw0vEhsSQ
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 3, 2025

After his three scoreless innings, Gaeckle has allowed just one run in 12 innings with 15 strikeouts since moving to the bullpen.

He's shaved nearly a run and a half off his season ERA since being removed as a starter from 6.69 to 5.21.

Aiden Jimenez got the final six outs to cap the win.

Arkansas goes for the sweep of Texas in a three-game series for the first time in school history Saturday 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC+.

News and Notes:

Iredale's moonshot homer:
Brent Iredale hit his 12th homer of the season to right field to open the scoring on the first pitch in the second inning. His 350-foot shot to right left the bat with a launch angle of 45.8 degrees, the second highest on a Razorback homer this year. Logan Maxwell's homer on March 20 over the high left field on the road at Vanderbilt was the only one higher at 47.5 degrees.

Ball just kept going and going and going pic.twitter.com/U9Ak3AbDD7
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 3, 2025

Razorback Royalty Returns:
Jeff King, an infielder from 1984-1986 is back in Fayetteville for the first time since leaving school. He is the only player in Arkansas history among the major three sports to be selected first overall in the draft when the Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the 1986 MLB Draft. He was honored between innings with athletic director Hunter Yurachek on the field.

Strike percentage discrepancy:
Texas had struggle throwing the ball over the plate the entire night, issuing at least one free pass in five of the eight innings. Arkansas' strike percentage from the pitchers was 67.5% while Texas sat at 54.6%.

News and Notes:

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