Arkansas
No. 1 Texas bludgeoned by No. 11 Arkansas in 9-0 loss
A career performance by right-hander Zach Root and nine runs scored between the second and fourth innings propelled the No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks to a dominant 9-0 win over the No. 1 Texas Longhorns on Thursday at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
In the first conference matchup between the old Southwest Conference rivals since 1991, the Razorbacks got the first quality start from its starting pitching since March as Root set his career highs with 11 strikeouts and eight innings pitched.
Root was electric from the start, using a wipeout changeup to strike out the side in the first inning and retire the first six Longhorns who came to the plate. Texas only managed two hits while being shut out for the first time all season in the most lopsided defeat the Longhorns have suffered under first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
With Texas right-hander Ruger Riojas making his second weekend-opening start in place of injured left-hander Jared Spencer, the UTSA transfer suffered the worst performance of his career as Arkansas took advantage of flat breaking balls and then timed up fastballs.
The Razorbacks consistently barreled up the baseball, blasting two home runs and two doubles while settling for multiple other outs at the warning track.
A two-run home run in the second inning and a three-run home run in the third inning opened up a 5-0 lead that felt insurmountable for the Longhorns with Root in rhythm on the mound.
Two RBI singles and a two-run double in the fourth by the Razorbacks finished the scoring as Riojas gave up nine runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings.
Right-hander Cody Howard and left-hander Bryce Navarre were able to finish the game without any further and preserve the bullpen for an attempt at taking the series by winning on Friday and Saturday.
First pitch on Friday is at 7 p.m. Central on SEC Network.
Rex Nelson
Rex Nelson has been senior editor and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2017, and he has a biweekly podcast called “Southern Fried.”
After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, he was a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat for a year before becoming editor of Arkadelphia’s Daily Siftings Herald. He was the youngest editor of a daily in Arkansas at age 23. Rex was then news and sports director at KVRC-KDEL from 1983-1985.
He returned to the Democrat as assistant sports editor in 1985. From 1986-1989, he was its Washington correspondent. He left to be Jackson T. Stephens’ consultant.
Rex became the Democrat-Gazette’s first political editor in 1992, but left in 1996 to join then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s office. He also served from 2005-09 in the administration of President George W. Bush.
From 2009-2018, he worked stints at the Communications Group, Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities, and Simmons First National Corp.
Dylan Sherman
Dylan Sherman is a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He is based in Northwest Arkansas and focuses on Tyson Foods Inc. and the transportation industry. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he has been with the newspaper since 2023.
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