Razorbacks Ride Dominant Mound Effort to Third-Straight Win Over Baseball

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Behind another shutdown pitching performance and its best offensive effort of the weekend, No. 1 Arkansas completed a three-game Southeastern Conference opening series sweep of University of Missouri baseball with a 9-1 victory over the Tigers Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Mason Molina (3-0) held the Tigers hitless through five innings, striking out 10 batters over 5 1/3 frames, before four relievers combined to limit Mizzou (9-11, 0-3 SEC) to a single run on two hits over the final 3.2 innings.

Wehiwa Aloy led the Razorbacks’ 10-hit attack, logging a 2-for-3 day while driving in three runs, and Ben McClaughlin homered and reached safely in four of his five trips to the plate.

The Razorbacks (17-2, 3-0 SEC) started the game with a two-run rally in the first after Peyton Stovall’s leadoff single sparked the early scoring opportunity. Kendall Diggs followed with an RBI double, and a wild pitch by Mizzou starter Carter Rustad (3-2) brought in the second Arkansas run of the day.

McLaughlin went deep for a two-out solo shot in the third, before Stovall’s RBI double and Aloy’s sacrifice fly added two more tallies in the fifth for a 5-0 Arkansas lead.

Given the early cushion, Molina cruised through the first five innings. The left-hander faced just one batter over the minimum, before Jeric Curtis led off the sixth with a base hit to left-center.

From there Koty Frank logged a pair of strikeouts to end the sixth, before Thomas Curry’s solo shot started the seventh and gave the Tigers their first — and only — run of the weekend. Gage Wood and Gabe Gaeckle each recorded a scoreless inning of relief to close out the victory and the series sweep for Arkansas.

TIGER NOTEBOOK

• With the setback, Mizzou falls to 33-36-1 all-time vs. Arkansas.
• Curry’s home run is his third of the season and the first by a Tiger since Jackson Lovich’s solo shot vs. Purdue Fort Wayne on March 10.
• Curry’s homer also snapped a 24-inning scoreless drought for the Tigers, who had been shut out in each of the first two contests of the series.
• Rustad dropped just his fifth career mound decision in 41 overall appearances.
• The Tigers were limited to eight total hits in the series.

UP NEXT
Mizzou concludes its five-game road swing Tuesday (March 19) with a neutral-field matchup with Kansas at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Tickets for the 6 p.m. nonconference contest are available through MLB.com/Royals.

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