All Hogs

Razorbacks Ride Root's Stellar Start; Pushes Winning Streak to 10

Arkansas lefty turns in fourth straight solid start, pitches six scoreless innings in another run-rule win over Portland

Daniel Shi

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Zach Root on the mound against the Charlotte 49ers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Zach Root on the mound against the Charlotte 49ers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images
In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas used six shutout innings from left-hander Zach Root to cruise to a 10th straight win against Portland 10-0 Saturday in seven innings.

Root retired 17 of the first 19 hitters he faced and struck out 10 hitters for the second time this season. No other starter has more than seven in a start.

"Just development [and] experience," coach Dave Van Horn said. "He’s gotten bigger and stronger here. Give credit to our pitching coaches and Coach Hobbs. But really, Zach is just a good pitcher."

Portland only got a runner into scoring position during Root's final inning of work. He left with a season ERA of 2.11 after stranding two runners in the sixth.

"I'm still trying to continue developing," Root said. "[I want to] make all the pitches sharper, but I'm on the path that I thought I was going to be transferring here."

The home run barrage kept coming for Arkansas. The Razorbacks has 31 homers as a team through 15 games, the second-most for a team at this point in the season since 2014, behind only the 2023 team. Wehiwa Aloy's four RBI day all came with two outs.

He hit a two-run double in the third and a two-run homer in the fourth. His sixth homer of the season tied his brother Kuhio for the team lead.

The Razorbacks got production out of the bottom of the lineup, Justin Thomas hit a two-run homer out of the nine spot to stretch the lead to 5-0.

Kendall Diggs walked the game off with a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to right-center. It's the Hogs' fourth straight win in seven innings.

Colin Fisher came into the game and pitched a clean seventh after starting the midweek game.

Arkansas concludes its series and will go for its second straight weekend sweep against Portland noon Sunday. The game will be streamed on SEC+.

HOGS FEED:

• Calipari dragged Hogs to finish Line, time for Aidoo to carry load in March

• Razorbacks manage to pull things out at end against Mississippi State

• Trio of blazing hitters paying dividends for entire Razorback offense

Pittman: 'I want to win' why ego doesn't impact coordinator hires

• Arkansas Offense Unloads on Portland for Run-Rule Victory

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow HogsSI on X and Facebook

Published |Modified
Daniel Shi
DANIEL SHI

Home/Arkansas Razorbacks College Baseball