FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks brought hammers and a broom to Saturday’s series finale against No. 1 Texas.
The No. 5 University of Arkansas baseball team hit five home runs, two by seldom-used first baseman Reese Robinett, and rallied from behind twice to hammer the Longhorns into submission 13-8 and complete a three-game sweep before an announced crowd of 11,031 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (40-9, 17-7 SEC) pulled within two games of the Longhorns (38-8, 19-5) for the conference lead with six games remaining. Texas suffered its first sweep in a three-game set since Oklahoma did it April 21-22, 2023, in Austin, Texas.
“It’s hard to beat anybody three times in a row, and especially a good team like Texas,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.
Robinett, a redshirt sophomore making his third start of the season, had a six-RBI performance and doubled his career home run count. His first of the year, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, pulled the Hogs into a 4-4 tie, then his three-run home run, a 448-foot blast over the scoreboard in right-center field, gave Arkansas the lead for good at 9-7 in the fifth.
Robinett said both home run pitches came on splitters that were left middle-in. Robinett first made his mark with a go-ahead home run in a 9-3, 10-inning win over LSU on March 24, 2023, but he redshirted all last season and had to stay patient just to get at-bats this year.
“The first one, I hit it, and I was like, ‘I really don’t know if it’s going to get out,’ so I just ran to play it safe,” Robinett said. “And then the second one, off the bat, I kind of knew, and reactions kind of took over. And then, the rest is just what it is.”
Van Horn said Robinett’s batting practice has been much livelier of late, with line drives streaming off his bat.
“It’s all about the offense,” Van Horn said of Robinett. “Defense has always been good. He’s a first baseman that can play third, so that tells you something.”
The Hogs’ five home runs — including two-run shots by Kuhio Aloy and Justin Thomas Jr. — pushed their total to 102 on the season, seven shy of the school record of 109 hit in 2021. The offensive display came in front of a raucous crowd that included 20-plus members of Coach Norm DeBriyn’s 1985 College World Series team, who were honored before the game.
Arkansas pitchers struck out 9 and walked 5, while Texas pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts and 10 walks.
“Max (Grubbs) left a couple of balls up and they made him pay,” Texas Coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “They just got a couple of more swings than we did and made better pitches. They walked five, we walked 10 guys. Jesus. Wow. Just more of the same from yesterday.”
The Razorbacks not only outscored their former Southwest Conference rivals 28-9 in the series, they damaged the perception of the near-invincibility of a pitching staff many see as the best in the country.
The Razorbacks tagged the Longhorns’ top two relievers — freshman Dylan Volantis and the junior right-hander Grubbs — for 7 earned runs on 7 hits and 5 walks in 5 2/3 innings. They scored four runs on Grubbs (6-1), who was making his first start in his 16th appearance, and three on Volantis, who entered with a 0.98 ERA. That was one more than the 6-6 lefty Volantis had given up in his last 16 appearances covering 34 2/3 innings.
“Those two guys have been incredible,” Van Horn said. “One throws right, one throws left. The lefty hadn’t been hit really all year. I think we wore him down a little bit. We laid off some pitches after the first time around.”
Volantis struck out Charles Davalan as his first hitter in the fifth, but Davalan clobbered a three-run homer off him in the seventh when the left-hander had squared to bunt before bringing his bat back on the first pitch of the sequence.
“I had my mind set on butting,” Davalan said. “But I guess I didn’t get that right. And then coach gave me a sign, and then I just had to hit from there.”
Davlan’s home run gave the Razorbacks plenty of cushion at 12-7 after right-hander Dylan Carter (5-0) came in and steadied things on the mound with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief.
“I just went in there and went at them with my best stuff,” Carter said. “Just attacked, filled up the zone and made them hit it.”
Christian Foutch walked a pair to load the bases in the eighth before escaping without damage and allowed a solo home run to Jalin Flores, his second of the game, while finishing up in the ninth.
Texas jumped out on top for the first time in the series on Flores’ three-run home run in the third inning, which came after Ethan Mendoza drew a two-out walk and Rylan Galvan singled off Landon Beidelschies.
Arkansas got immediately back within reach in the bottom half of the inning when Wehiwa Aloy singled and Kuhio Aloy launched a 397-foot home run, his 12th, to left center field to make it 3-2.
Will Gasparino’s flare near the foul line in right field fell in for a double to lead off the fourth and the Longhorns extended their lead to 4-2 when Tommy Farmer IV’s two-out double brought him home.
The lead didn’t last long.
Grubbs walked Brent Iredale to open the fourth. Two batters later, Robinett hit a two-run home run 406 feet to right-center field to tie the game.
The Longhorns called on right-handed reliever Thomas Burns (0-2) and the Hogs gave him a rude welcome. Ryder Helfrick drew a walk as Burns’ first hitter. Thomas followed with a deep fly ball that just eluded the glove of the leaping center fielder Gasparino in left center for a 404-foot homer, his eighth and the 100th of the season for Arkansas, to make it 6-4.
The Longhorns didn’t mess around in reclaiming the lead off reliever Ben Bybee, though it came with a little luck. Mendoza’s high pop-up eluded the shortstop Wehiwa Aloy in right-center field for a well-placed leadoff double that would have been a better play for right fielder Carson Boles. Bybee induced two more pop-ups, which were caught, before Kimble Schuessler’s hit through the middle brought Mendoza home. Gasparino then socked a two-run homer just over the leap of the left fielder Davalan’s glove to give Texas a 7-6 lead.
