All Hogs

Live Blog: Arkansas vs. Washington State (Game 4)

Razorbacks look to secure sweep over Cougars in chilly finale
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn in the dugout against Washington State on Friday afternoon in the second game of a doubleheader.
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn in the dugout against Washington State on Friday afternoon in the second game of a doubleheader. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

In this story:

Arkansas RazorbacksWashington State Cougars

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks have already clinched the series against Washington State, so now they look to complete the sweep.

Word before the season started was the Hogs may have the best pitching staff of the Dave Van Horn era, which covers a lot of Arkansas baseball history. However, through three games, there hasn't been much drop-off when the Razorbacks have gone to the bullpen or to its later rotation starters.

Because of this, the Hogs have had the luxury of experimenting to try to figure out what type of hitting team Arkansas might be this year. There have been instances of tinkering with small ball and a heavy lean on home runs.

At times, both approaches have been successful and have failed. It almost cost them the opener as the Razorbacks couldn't find any rhythm at the plate.

So, after having taken a day off to account for weather, fans will get to see what Van Horn wanted his players to learn from the first three games and what he wants to potentially see going forward. After that, the Razorbacks will hit the indoor while the snow and 10° temps make preparations for the College Baseball Series in Arlington impossible on the turf at Baum.

Arkansas vs. Washington St. (Game 4)

STARTING LINE-UPS:

Arkansas Razorbacks:

Starting pitcher:

Washington State Cougars

Starting line-up:

Washington State's batting line-up.
Statbroadcast.com

Starting pitcher:

First Pitch Weather:

38° and cloudy with 5 mph winds out of the southeast. Windchill will make it feel like 33°. Temps will reach around 42° by the final innings with no break in the clouds.

Get to Know the Players

• Old Man McEntire Manages Mentoring, Marriage, Making MLB Dreams Come True

• Kozeal Makes Big Push in Final Weekend of Razorback Scrimmages

• Razorbacks' Peppi Looks to Impact Line-up with Elite Energy

• Through Lens of Parent: Razorbacks' Jimenez Ready to Write His Own Story

• COVID Set Off First Domino In Davalan's Long Journey to Arkansas

• Van Horn Heaps Praise on Potential X Factor on Razorbacks Pitching Staff

RECAP: First Three Games

Razorbacks Win in Extra-Innings, Walk-Off Opener to Washington State

Razorbacks Sweep Opening Day Thumping Washington State

Trio of Razorbacks with Draft Potential Help Avert Opening Day Woes

Iredale's Two Homers Lift Arkansas Over Washington State

Freshman Pitcher Wiggins Impresses in Debut for Razorbacks

1st Inning (Top)

Hartman bunts the first pitch to second base and it's a close play at first. It's going to be under review and it's going to be within a half-inch at most. The call is overturned as a tie. It literally came down to how far Peppi extended his arm toward the throw from second.

Now Roy bunts to second and it was going to be safe on both counts, but Hartman ran into Kozeal while running to second and interference has been called, so the Hogs have their first out. Then Beidelschies gets back-to-back hitters swinging and Arkansas gets out of the first inning without giving up a run.

1st Inning (Bottom)

Robinson comes in with a 1.88 ERA and a strong win percentage. He throws in the mid-80s on the fastball and tosses a lot of junk balls. Davalan gets a good look at the whole arsenal and it's going to be a guessing game. The ball is all over the place and it's hard to slow the swing down enough to avoid fouling the ball off.

Davalan works a full count and draws the walk for a lead-off runner. Aloy follows with an odd swing that works out to basically be a perfect bunt down the third baseline and he easily beats the throw to put runners at first and second. Oddly enough, Washington State is going to pull the pitcher after only two batters.

Arkansas goes from facing the lefty to a righty in Haider who throws the sidearm by stepping way out to his right hand side and shooting it in. Haider runs Peppi in on the short part of the bat and gets him to pop up to left field.

Now Iredale lifts one high to right field that is caught and the runners stay put. It seemed like they had more than enough room to run, but chose otherwise. However, K. Aloy walks on five pitches, so he will load the bases for Helfrick with two outs. However, he gets a fastball with a little movement up and in and Helfrick swings right through it, leaving three stranded to start the game for the Hogs.

Arkansas 0, Washington State 0

2nd Inning (Top)

Beidelschies gets Skjonsby to ground a full count pitch to second for an easy play. Then he gets Obenour out on a first pitch bunt back to the mound before striking out Cresswell on three straight pitches. In an inning that looked like it might stretch his pitch count, Beidelschies recovers to post a quick inning,

2nd Inning (Bottom)

Boles leads off with a hard groundout to second and it's starting to look like this could be a long day as Arkansas adjusts to the angle where the ball is coming from out of the hand. Kozeal gets caught chasing a high pitch for a strikeout and that is starting to develop a pattern for Arkansas. It's essentially a rise ball that's coming at them.

Thomas walks on four straight pitches. He then gets a big lead and takes off for second, but he gets gunned down and the small ball aspect of the Hogs' arsenal comes up short again.

Arkansas 0, Washington State 0

3rd Inning (Top)

Northrop grounds the second pitch he sees to third for an out. Then Watterson drops a perfect bunt short down the third baseline and Helfrick struggles to flip his body around to make the throw to first and he's safe. Helfrick makes up for it with a perfect throw down to second to gun down Watterson.

Then, Kozeal plays a ball that careens off Peppi at first perfectly to get the out at first to end the inning.

3rd Inning (Bottom)

What a play by Hartman. He runs full speed chasing a ball that is blowing away from him. He lays out perfectly flat and catches it mid-dive with his face flying at the wall as he hits the ground to get Davalan to start the inning.

Aloys lines out to second, but then Peppi almost takes one in the face as he heads down to first with two outs. That will bring up Iredale who has already shown good power with a pair of home runs this series. He actually hit a third, but the umpires blew a review call on one that just barely went out back on Friday.

Iredale with a hard liner to right field and Johnstone charges in and makes the diving catch to close the inning with things still scoreless.

Arkansas 0, Washington State 0

4th Inning (Top)

Beidelschies picks up where he left off by striking out Roy for his fourth "K" of the game. He then makes it back-to-back as he drops a nasty breaking pitch right down the middle to get Johnstone looking. He then battles Longo through a full count with several foul balls before getting him to ground out for a 1-2-3 inning.

With his mix of strong breaking pitches and a fastball that's buzzing in the mid-90s, that inning was as close as anyone could expect anyone to look like former ace Hagan Smith on the mound.

4th Inning (Bottom)

Arkansas struggled against Haider, so it's surprising to see the Cougars pull him to go with Chambers. And that immediately turns out to be a mistake. Kuhio Aloy parks this one in the bullpen in left field and the Razorbacks are on the board.

Helfrick follows with a walk and the momentum is swinging the Hogs' way. Boles then fights off a high pitch to shallow right field to put runners on first and second. Kozeal then drops a bunt down to third base and the throw skips into first base and away.

That brings Helfrick home from third and the Hogs are now up 2-0. Kozeal has a huge lead at first and isn't getting the slightest glance. Thomas then draws a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Davalan then hits a high chopper to second that brings home Boles to extend the lead to 3-0. He almost beat the throw to first. He showed a lot of speed. Thomas also barely avoided a tag or obstruction while running to second.

Aloy then turns inside out to plant a soft line drive into right-center to bring in two more runs. It's good to see him be willing to get the single to score the runs rather than over-swing trying to hit a home run like he often did last season.

The Cougars must be low on pitching because there is no interest in moving Chambers off the mound. He responds by getting Peppi to fly out to shallow right and then Iredale grounds out to end the inning.

Arkansas 5, Washington State 0

5th Inning (Top)

Skjonsby rips a double to right field for the Cougars' third hit of the game. However, Beidelschies responds with a strikeout, but Cresswell singles to left on a liner just out of the reach of Aloy at short.

The Cougars play a little small ball of their own as Northrop manufactures a run with a bunt down toward third base. Iredale makes the throw in time, but it allows Skjonsby to score to break up the shutout.

Beidelschies loses a 2-2 count to Watterson to put runners at first and second and that will bring Hobbs to the mound. It also gets Bybee up in the bullpen. Hobbs looks like he is stilling to the point the umpire comes out. It seems likely if Beidelschies doesn't get an immediate out that Bybee is coming in and Hobbs was just trying to get him a few extra warm-up throws in the cold with the delay.

Beidelschies just looks like he is thinking a little too much. After throwing six consecutive strikes to start the at-bat, he finally gets the swing and miss after battling for 11 pitches that saw six fouls against Hartman to get out of the inning.

5th Inning (Bottom)

For the second consecutive inning, Kuhio Aloy starts off the inning. He draws his second walk of the game and that will be it for Chambers who was working for the second time this weekend. That will bring in Hutzezon who finished 9-1 last season.

His first pitch tops 90 mph, which should help the Hogs. That's more their speed. They have struggled with the slower and unorthodox pitching they have seen today. And Helfrick rips an inside fastball down the line into left field to put runners at second and third with no outs.

Boles then lines a hard shot to left-center and that one is going to roll to the wall out near the SEC sign and die. That brings in Aloy and Helfrick as Boles scoots into second with a double and a comfortable lead.

Kozeal hits a screamer down to third and Northrop does a great job of snagging it. Unfortunately for the Cougars, in his rush to make a long throw to first, the ball sails wide and the Hogs have runners at second and third again with no outs.

Thomas with a line single to left field just over the head of the shortstop. The throw comes in to hold Arkansas to one run, but after Thomas is seen by Northrop making a large round at first, he tries to whip it to first and it gets away, giving the Razorbacks another run while Thomas advances to second.

Now Davalan wastes no time ripping a single to right. The Hogs will send Thomas around and he will score and Arkansas has back-to-back five-run innings.

Now the pitch takes off crazy wild and Davalan not only takes second, he glances back and sees he can go to third instead of sliding into second. Aloy manages a full count walk an that will be for Hutzezon. Wazzu will look for its fifth pitcher in as many innings.

Stowe comes in and gets Robinett to strike out while pinch hitting for Peppi. However, the moment is short-lived as Iredale drives the first pitch he sees up the middle for a base hit to drive home Davalan to make it 11-2 and we are now officially on a run rule watch.

Stowe now gets Kuhio Aloy on a slow curveball on the far outer edge that would have been a walk had it not been for the swing. Helfrick fights through a full count to load the bases, but for the first time today, Boles goes down swinging, ending the inning.

Arkansas 11, Washington State 1

6th Inning (Top)

Arkansas starting pitchers officially strike out 29 on the opening weekend. That is impressive considering the cold and the short pitch counts. Bybee will come in relief.

His second pitch gets lined to center by Roy. Robinett comes in for Peppi at first and bobbles a grounder, but is able to gather it and get the out at first. Longo doubles to left and that might extend the length of this game by a good hour as Roy comes around to score to make it 11-2.

Skjonsby gets one under the glove of Robinett while he drives to his right. However, Kozeal backs him up, scoops it and fires to Bybee for the out. Then Obenour flies out to right and the threat is over.

6th Inning (Bottom)

Stowe gets Kozeal and Davalan to fly out with a walk to Thomas sandwiched in between. He's showing a lot of composure on the mound. Aloy walks on four pitches and the Hogs have a runner in scoring position. Now it's a case of watching to see if they can get the lead back out to 10 to have a chance to get these fans out of the cold a little earlier.

Stowe throws four straight balls to Robinett to load the bases and the fans are keeping count on how many straight. That brings up Iredale who takes the fan chant to "Ball 10!" before patiently watching a strike go by. He's hit by a breaking pitch and the Hogs extend the lead back out to double digits.

The strikeout of Kuhio Aloy ends the inning, but Arkansas is able to do what it came to do.

Arkansas 12, Washington State 2

7th Inning (Top)

Gibler will come in for Arkansas and he paints the inside corner with a breaking pitch that freezes Creswell to start the inning for the freshman. He then walks Myers, but battles back with a ground ball double play to short to end the game. Arkansas will remain one of the nine undefeated teams in the SEC as they move to 4-0.

Box score from Game 4 of Arkansas vs. Washington State.
Box score from Game 4 of Arkansas vs. Washington State. | Statbroadcast.com
Published | Modified
Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

Home/Arkansas Razorbacks College Baseball