Root's high-wire act sets table for 12th straight Razorback SEC win

Lefty ace's fiery nature on display again for Arkansas as offense pulls away

Arkansas pitcher Zach Root (33) looks to throw during a NCAA baseball game against Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. | Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ATHENS, Ga. — Arkansas left-hander Zach Root's outing was at risk of getting out of hand.

While Arkansas eventually ran away with the game with a seven-run ninth for a 13-3 win, the Hogs were in grave danger of dropping the opening game a three-game set with No. 7 Georgia.

"Just a gritty win on a Friday night on the road," coach Dave Van Horn said.  

In a 3-3 game, Root allowed a single and a double in the bottom of the fifth and put the go-ahead run on third with just one out.

To make matters worse, the two most feared hitters in the SEC were up back-to-back.

Ryland Zaborowski and Robbie Burnett were due up. Not only are they the No. 2 and No.3 hitters in the lineup, they came into the game with a combined 30 homers and 102 RBIs, the most of any duo on any SEC team.

Arkansas' top two RBI-getters (Brent Iredale and Wehiwa Aloy) combine for just 86 in comparison.

Root battled back from down 3-1 in the count to pick up a full-count check swing strikeout on a breaking ball.

He repeated the trick with Burnett, striking him out with a breaking-ball on a 1-2 pitch.

The broadcast radar gun had Root up to 97 miles an hour on the fastball in the critical moments as he let out a massive roar after getting out of the jam.

LET OUT A ROAR, ROOT! 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/xVJ4aeuFTu

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 11, 2025

After allowing three runs in the second, he settled in to give the Hogs a chance by retiring seven in a row through the middle innings.

The entire pitching staff held a potent Georgia lineup when it needed.

The Bulldogs came into the game with 92 homers, but were held to just one two-run homer in the second and 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Root's night finished after 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball, all allowed in the second inning. He threw 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes and struck out seven. His season ERA now sits at 3.74.

Aiden Jimenez continues to reward Van Horn for putting him in high-leverage situations, stranding the bases loaded in the sixth. Jimenez now has a season ERA of 1.14, allowing just three earned runs in 23 2/3 innings of work.

The offense rewarded the pitching with 13 unanswered runs.

After Georgia starter Brian Curley retired the first 10 hitters, Arkansas reversed its fortune in the span of four pitches. Wehiwa Aloy was hit by a pitch. Logan Maxwell immediately drove him in with an RBI double on a 2-0 pitch and Iredale laced an RBI single on the very next pitch.

In perhaps the biggest sign of the team's competitive spirit, Gabe Fraser was thrown into the fire in the bottom of the fifth after starting second baseman Nolan Souza sustained an injury in the top of the inning on a collision at third base trying to advance on a ground ball.

"I've done the work throughout the week to prepare for it," Fraser said. "From there, it's kind of just be who I am."

The broadcast showed Souza in a sling in the subsequent inning.

When Fraser's spot came back around in the seventh, he laced an RBI triple, which turned out to be the game-winning hit.

"He’s gotten some time here and there," Van Horn said. "I told him, I don’t know, a few months ago, ‘you’re time's coming and you never know when it’s going to happen. You’re always one injury away’. He came in and did a nice job."

FRASER STRIPES A GO-AHEAD TRIPLE!!! pic.twitter.com/9QsGifEQmJ

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 12, 2025

Arkansas will go for its fifth straight SEC series win 3 p.m. Saturday in game two of the series against Georgia. The game will be streamed on SEC+.