FAYETTEVILLE — A historic start to the Arkansas baseball season is now facing its first meaningful adversity.

The No. 2 Razorbacks (34-7, 13-5 SEC) dropped two of three games this weekend to Texas A&M as the Aggies (23-16, 8-10) handed Arkansas a second straight series loss. It’s also the first time since 2022 the Hogs have lost a weekend series at home.

Arkansas now sits three losses behind No. 1 Texas in the SEC standings, and there’s no respite in future weeks with upcoming series against the Longhorns, LSU and defending national champion Tennessee.

Here are three observations from the Hogs’ series loss to Texas A&M.

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Not enough production from bottom of Arkansas baseball’s lineup

Justin Thomas Jr. had a nice series from the 9-hole with two home runs and four hits, but he was the lone Hog near the end of the order to play well against the Aggies.

The 5-8 hitters in the Arkansas lineup combined to go 6-for-44 across the three games. Players like Cam Kozeal and Ryder Helfrick cooled off, and the Razorbacks got nothing from their right side of the infield. They miss Nolan Souza, who is likely out for the season with a shoulder injury.

“It’s just been a little bit of here-and-there. We just need to get a few more guys rolling and we can put up some bigger innings,” Van Horn said.

The two bright spots for the offense were Wehiwa Aloy and Charles Davalan. Aloy was a dominant force at the plate this weekend, going 7-for-14 with two homers, five runs and four RBIs. He hit a 448-foot bomb to left field in game two that had an exit velocity of 113 mph.

Aloy now has 16 home runs on the season, which lead the Razorbacks and are two more than he hit all of last year. Davalan was 6-for-14 with four runs, and he got unlucky with multiple hard-hit balls going right at Texas A&M defenders.

Bullpen hits first speed pump

Arkansas and Texas A&M were tied 1-1 entering the fifth inning of a decisive rubber match Saturday night. With starting pitcher Landon Beidelschies on five days rest and a pitch count, Van Horn pulled the lefty and went to his bullpen ace, Aiden Jimenez.

A supposed advantage for Arkansas ended up swinging the series toward the Aggies. Jimenez allowed a two-run homer to Jace LaViolette, his fourth of the series, and the Arkansas relievers yielded eight runs across the final five innings. Freshmen Cole Gibler and Carson Wiggins struggled after a brief weather delay.

On the other side, Texas A&M won the series because of the efforts of two relievers. Weston Moss and Luke Jackson didn’t give up a run in 8⅔ scoreless innings during games one and three.

“They pitched better than us,” Van Horn said. “That’s why they won two out of three.”

Is Gabe Gaeckle back?

Gabe Gaeckle lost his spot in the starting rotation this weekend to Gage Wood, but Wood only recorded one out and allowed three earned runs in his return from a shoulder injury during game two.

Gaeckle came out of the bullpen later in the game and seemingly rediscovered his electric form from last season when he was the Hogs’ closer. Gaeckle pitched the final 5⅔ innings of a series-evening 11-5 victory. He struck out eight batters and gave up one run in his arguably his best performance of the season.

Arkansas needed that type of outing after its first two starters — Wood and Zach Root — combined to allow nine runs. Root only lasted four innings Thursday night.

Up Next

Arkansas hosts Little Rock for a two-game series in midweek action beginning Monday before hitting the road next weekend to face Florida.

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@gannett.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.