Aloy's Five RBI Day Sparks Razorbacks' Offense to Run-Rule Romping of UAPB
Career high-five RBIs powers Arkansas bats to late life against in-state rivals
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Wehiwa Aloy led the Arkansas bats with a 4-for-4 day with a career-high five RBIs to power the Razorbacks to an 11-1 run-rule win in seven innings over the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions at Dickey-Stephens Park.
"It’s been good for our team to travel and play and win," coach Dave Van Horn said. "It’s nice playing in this environment. It’s amazing. A lot of fans that can’t get to Northwest Arkansas, at least very much. Kind of made it easy for them to get out here and they showed up. They don’t care really how it went and they were loud at the end. It was fun."
The defense was the story in the early innings after the two teams traded key defensive plays. Ryder Helfrick looked to have flared a hit down the right field line in the second, but Jalyn Williams made a diving catch, doubling Ross Lovich off first. Arkansas responded with a more conventional 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the fifth.
Arkansas' offense jumped out quickly for an early run with the first three batters all reaching base. Aloy opened the scoring with a RBI single to left but the Hogs stranded two.
The Golden Lions got that run right back in the second with a leadoff single and a RBI double to left off the bat of Jakobi Jones to tie the game at 1. Despite coming back to strike out the next three hitters, Razorbacks' starter Ben Bybee's night ended after two innings.
Both teams struggled to get the ball out of the ballpark with plenty of balls to the warning track to straightaway center. Aloy broke the tie with a line-drive double in the right-center field gap in the fifth, driving in two more.
"We’re progressively getting better as a team," Aloy said. "We had a lot of hits just at the wrong time. We just got to keep on going and keep hitting balls hard."
The Razorbacks put the game away in the sixth scoring seven runs. The inning was set up by the Golden Lions' wildness. Three walks and a throwing error forced in a run without the benefit of a hit. Helfrick received credit for the RBI with a base on balls and the bases loaded. Stovall added a second run with a sac fly to make it 5-1 before Aloy blooped a two-RBI single to right with his 41st and 42nd RBI on the year.
Nolan Souza capped the inning with a two-run double of his own turning a 3-1 lead into a 10-1 blowout.
Cooper Dossett, Christian Foutch and Parker Coil combined for five shutout innings to hold UAPB to just one run before Peyton Stovall walked it off with a sac fly in the bottom of the seventh.
The Razorbacks will now return to Baum-Walker to take on Florida 7 p.m. Friday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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