Arkansas 7, Vanderbilt 0 — Top 9th Inning

Charles Davalan led off with a single and scored from first base on Kuhio Aloy’s 1-out RBI double. That was Aloy’s first hit tonight. 

Arkansas 6, Vanderbilt 0 — End 8th Inning

Zach Root’s night is over after 7 2/3 innings. He left the bases loaded for Aiden Jimenez with 2 outs in the eighth. 

Root had some words for plate umpire Jason Bradley as he walked to the dugout. He was clearly upset about a couple of pitches during his final at-bat that he thought were strikes but were called balls. 

Jimenez got ahead of 2-out hitter RJ Austin before he hit a line drive right at left fielder Charles Davalan to keep the bases loaded. 

Arkansas 6, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 8th Inning

Nolan Souza drew a 2-out walk with the bases loaded to score Logan Maxwell after a 1-out double. 

Brent Iredale also drew a 1-out walk and Ryder Helfrick drew a 2-out walk to load the bases against reliever Hudson Barton. 

Luke Guth replaced Barton after the walk by Souza and Justin Thomas grounded out to strand the bases loaded. 

Arkansas 5, Vanderbilt 0 — End 7th Inning

Zach Root is through 7 scoreless innings — his second consecutive 7-inning start. 

He worked around a 1-out single in the seventh. It was only the second hit against him tonight. He has only thrown 81 pitches, so he might go back out for the eighth. 

Arkansas 5, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 7th Inning

Nolan Souza drew a leadoff walk and Charles Davalan drew a 2-out walk. The inning ended when Wehiwa Aloy hit into a double play. He is 0 for 4. 

Arkansas 5, Vanderbilt 0 — End 6th Inning

Zach Root struck out Jonathan Vastine and Mike Mancini to begin the sixth inning, and got leadoff man Jacob Humphrey to fly out to left field as part of another 1-2-3 inning. 

Root has allowed 1 hit and 1 walk, and has 6 strikeouts through 6 innings. He has thrown 48 of 68 pitches for strikes. 

Arkansas 5, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 6th Inning

Cam Kozeal has homered for the second time on his former home field. This time it was to right field on a 1-2, 2-out pitch from JD Thompson. 

Thompson’s night might be finished after he threw his 101st pitch to get out of the inning. 

Arkansas 4, Vanderbilt 0 — End 5th Inning

Mac Rose broke up Zach Root’s no-hit bid with a 1-out single up the middle, but Braden Holcomb grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. 

Root has only thrown 59 pitches. 

Arkansas 4, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 5th Inning

JD Thompson rebounded from a couple of rough innings to retire the Razorbacks 1-2-3 hitters in order in the fifth. 

Wehiwa Aloy put a charge into a pitch and into left field, but it was caught at the warning track. Kuhio Aloy struck out. 

The Aloys are a combined 0 for 6 tonight. They have combined for 4 of Arkansas’ 6 strikeouts against Thompson. 

Arkansas 4, Vanderbilt 0 — End 4th Inning

Zach Root has not allowed a hit through the fourth. And he continues to be efficient with a pitch count at 48. 

The Commodores went down in order in the third, all on contact. 

Arkansas 4, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 4th Inning

Logan Maxwell turned on a 2-2 pitch for a leadoff home run to left-center field to lead off the fourth. 

Following a 6-pitch walk to Brent Iredale, Cam Kozeal homered to center field at his former ballpark. 

The Razorbacks had leadoff extra-base hits in the third and fourth. 

After a couple of quick innings, Vanderbilt lefty JD Thompson has had to labor. His pitch count is up to 72.

Arkansas 1, Vanderbilt 0 — End 3rd Inning

Zach Root ran his fastball up to 96 mph during an 8-pitch inning. He is dialed in tonight and through 3 innings in 33 pitches. 

The only Vanderbilt base runner against him was a walk. 

Arkansas 1, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 3rd Inning

Ryder Helfrick has Arkansas’ first hit and run after a leadoff triple off the wall in right field. 

Helfrick scored on Nolan Souza’s RBI groundout up the middle. Shortstop Jonathan Vastine made a great play up the middle to rob Souza of a base hit. 

It looked like the Razorbacks might put together a big inning when Justin Thomas singled and Charles Davalan walked in consecutive 1-out at-bats, but Wehiwa Aloy struck out and Kuhio Aloy grounded out to first to strand 2 base runners. 

JD Thompson looked shaky in that inning and Arkansas drove up his pitch count some. He is up to 47 pitches. 

Arkansas 0, Vanderbilt 0 — End 2nd Inning

Zach Root worked around a 2-out walk by Mac Rose in the second inning. Braden Holcomb flied out to right field to strand the game’s first base runner. 

Root looks sharp with his breaking pitches tonight. He struck out Riley Nelson in 3 pitches and got ahead of Colin Barczi 0-2. Root has thrown 18 of 25 pitches for strikes. 

Arkansas 0, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 2nd Inning

JD Thompson is through the second inning in 28 total pitches. 

The lefty struck out Logan Maxwell in 3 pitches and Brent Iredale in 4, going to the breaking pitch for the wipeout both times. 

Cam Kozeal, playing his first game back at Vanderbilt where he played as a freshman, fell behind 0-2 before taking a couple of high fastballs. He grounded out to first base to end the half inning. 

Arkansas 0, Vanderbilt 0 — End 1st Inning

Zach Root answered JD Thompson’s efficient first inning with an even more efficient frame. 

Root retired the Commodores in 9 pitches, ending with a strikeout of Brodie Johnston looking at a 1-2 slider. Brent Iredale made a couple of nice plays on hoppers to third for the first 2 outs of the inning. 

Arkansas 0, Vanderbilt 0 — Middle 1st Inning

JD Thompson won an 8-pitch battle with Charles Davalan, who flied out to left field to start the game. 

Hawkins followed that with back-to-back strikeouts of Wehiwa and Kuhio Aloy. He got a couple of favorable calls from plate umpire Jason Bradley on fastballs away against Kuhio, then got him to swing at a 0-2 slider to end the top of the first. 

Pregame

Arkansas and Vanderbilt are set to get underway at Hawkins Field in the series opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Razorbacks are ranked No. 2 and the Commodores are No. 13 in this week’s coaches poll. Both teams had series sweeps at home a week ago when Arkansas defeated South Carolina and Vanderbilt defeated Texas A&M. 

Tonight’s game will feature a couple of left-handed juniors with similar stat lines on the mound. Arkansas’ Zach Root has a 4.06 ERA and 1.18 WHIP and Vanderbilt’s JD Thompson has a 4.02 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. 

This series will pit one of college baseball’s hottest lineups (Arkansas) against one of the nation’s top pitching staffs (Vanderbilt). Both teams are terrific defensively, with Arkansas’ .986 average ranked second nationally and Vanderbilt’s .984 ranked sixth.

The Commodores are undefeated through 16 games at home. The Razorbacks are 2-1 on the road. 

Here is Arkansas’ starting lineup: 

LF Charles Davalan

SS Wehiwa Aloy

DH Kuhio Aloy

RF Logan Maxwell

3B Brent Iredale

1B Cam Kozeal

C Ryder Helfrick

2B Nolan Souza

CF Justin Thomas