The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (37-6, 13-4 SEC) evened up the series against the Texas A&M Aggies (22-16, 7-10 SEC) with an 11-5 win in Game 2 on Friday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas scored eight unanswered runs across the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a commanding lead that it didn’t relinquish in what was the first half of a doubleheader Friday. The brother duo of Wehiwa Aloy and Kuhio Aloy was on fire, as the former finished 3-for-5 at the plate with a home run and three runs scored, while the latter added three hits of his own.
Nine-hole hitter Justin Thomas Jr. added two home runs in the game, while Brent Iredale busted out of his slump with a clutch double and three runs batted in, as well. The Razorbacks tallied 12 total hits in the game compared to the Aggies nine, and the Hogs had seven hits with runners on base.
Back for his first start since Feb. 23, right-handed pitcher Gage Wood was met with a dangerous Texas A&M lineup that didn’t take it easy on him. Wood only managed to retire one Aggie on a strikeout, and allowed three earned runs on three hits with a walk and a wild pitch on 20 pitches before exiting the game.
Luckily for Wood, the relief duo of Ben Bybee and Gabe Gaeckle combined for 8.2 innings of two-run ball with 12 combined strikeouts. Gaeckle, who was replaced by Wood in the starting rotation, went 5.2 innings with eight punchouts to his name to close the game down and earn the win.
In his first start since early in the season, Wood wasn’t exactly excellent. He started things off with a walk before getting tagged with a two-run blast to make it 2-0, Aggies. After a strikeout, he allowed a double and a single, which forced Arkansas to make a pitching change to righty Ben Bybee. Bybee got the Hogs out of the jam, but they were down 3-0.
Arkansas quickly responded in the latter-half of the frame, as Charles Davalan doubled and Wehiwa Aloy singled to lead things off. The Hogs earned their first run via a Carson Boles sacrifice fly out, then Kuhio Aloy singled and Rocco Peppi got plunked with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Brent Iredale drove another run across with a sac-fly but Ryder Helfrick ended the inning with a strikeout and Arkansas down 3-2.
Bybee worked his way through two Aggies quickly to begin the second, but surrendered a solo homer to make it 4-2, Texas A&M.
After a 1-2-3 top of the third for the Hogs’ bats that included two strikeouts, Bybee fended off the Aggies with two punchouts of his own in a hitless frame.
The red-hot Wehiwa Aloy sent a ball 448 feet to left field to open the bottom of the third, which made it 4-3 Aggies at the time. Kuhio Aloy also reached base with a single, but the Hogs couldn’t muster any other runs against the Aggies.
The top of the fourth was the last inning for Bybee, who drew a flyout before letting an Aggie reach with a single. Arkansas changed to righty Gabe Gaeckle out of the bullpen, and he got hit with a single to begin his day. He bounced back with a groundout, then picked the runner off at third base, who was almost half-way up the line for some reason.
Arkansas needed its offense to pick up the pace in a big way in the bottom of the fourth, but back-to-back groundouts didn’t give hope for that reality. Fortunately for the Hogs, Justin Thomas Jr. smacked a homer over the left field wall to tie the game up, 4-4.
Gaeckle returned to the mound in the top of the fifth, and drew a groundout for out No. 1. He then worked the count full before walking a batter, then got tagged with an 0-2 single to give the Aggies life. Gaeckle avoided danger with a strikeout and groundout.
Like he’s been all series, Wehiwa Aloy was clutch again with a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth. Boles followed that with a single before Kuhio Aloy drove in the lead-taking run with a single of his own.
The fun didn’t stop there, as after a pitching change to righty Brad Rudis, Maxwell got plunked with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. The struggling Iredale came to the plate and doubled to left field to increase Arkansas’ lead to 7-4. The Hogs were down to the final out of the frame after a Cam Kozeal RBI groundout, but Thomas sent his second bomb of the day to left center to hand Arkansas a 10-4 advantage.
Gaeckle was excellent in the top of the sixth, with two strikeouts and a popup. The Razorbacks went down in order in the bottom half thanks to a Kuhio Aloy double play, which wiped Boles (walk) off the base paths.
After a scoreless seventh inning from both teams, the Aggies cut the Hogs’ lead to 10-5 on a leadoff solo homer from Blake Binderup in the top of the eighth. Gaeckle retired the next three in a row, including the last two on six straight strike, to limit the damage. The Hogs plated an insurance run via an RBI groundout from Wehiwa Aloy in the bottom of the eighth.
The Aggies went away quiet in the top of the ninth despite Gaeckle allowing a one out single, as he finished out his 5.2-inning relief appearance by closing down the game.
Up next, Arkansas and Texas A&M will play the second half of the doubleheader Friday evening at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. It will stream on SEC Network+.
