Razorbacks dominate UAPB in North Little Rock run-rule win

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It didn’t take long for the No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks to make their presence felt Tuesday night at CHI St. Vincent Field at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Behind a balanced offensive attack and sharp pitching, the Hogs cruised past in-state opponent UAPB 12-2 in just seven innings, triggering the run rule and collecting their eighth mercy-rule win of the 2026 season.

Kuhio Aloy was the standout performer at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBI — both career highs on the night.

He’s now hitting .281 with a .346 on-base percentage and a .446 slugging mark, with five home runs and 30 RBI on the season, putting him tied for third on the team in that category.

Arkansas didn’t do it with one big inning, either.

The Razorbacks scored in five of their seven turns at the plate and put up three-run frames in the third, fifth and seventh innings.

When they needed to close it out, they did it in a clean, efficient fashion that’s become a habit in midweek play this year.

Camden Kozeal went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI and Nolan Souza matched that production going 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of runs driven in.

Aloy, Kozeal and Souza accounted for eight of the team’s 12 runs batted in on a night when the lineup produced 13 hits, drew nine walks and was hit by pitches three times.

Zack Stewart capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning that plated Kozeal, who’d already driven in a run earlier in the frame with a double.

That hit made it academic and Arkansas walked off with a convincing midweek performance.

The Razorbacks are now 25-13 on the year and 8-2 in midweek games. They’ve gone 4-1 in midweek matchups against in-state opponents specifically and extended their dominance over UAPB to 8-0 all-time.

More broadly, Arkansas has gone 32-6 against in-state competition dating back to 1947.

The win also pushed Arkansas to 13-2 all-time playing inside Dickey-Stephens Park, home of the Arkansas Travelers.

It’s a venue that’s been good to the Hogs and Tuesday’s performance didn’t do anything to change that.

On the mound: Smooth combined two-hitter

The pitching staff was just as efficient as the lineup. Three Arkansas pitchers combined to hold UAPB to just two hits over seven innings while striking out six batters.

It was the kind of performance that lets a coaching staff save arms for the weekend while still getting important work done.

Colin Fisher started and earned his fourth win of the season, tossing three shutout innings with one strikeout in what was his first midweek start of the year.

He set the tone early, keeping UAPB’s offense quiet while the Razorbacks built their lead on the offensive end.

True freshman Mark Brissey came out of the bullpen and delivered a standout outing.

He worked 2.1 innings — a career-long effort — and matched his career high with three strikeouts.

Brissey allowed one hit and one walk, giving the coaching staff exactly what they needed from a young arm in a lower-stakes midweek environment.

Two additional relievers rounded out the effort and collectively the pitching group kept the Golden Lions well within the run-rule margin from the third inning on.

UAPB managed just two hits total and never threatened to make it a competitive game after the early innings.

For a Razorbacks team that’ll need fresh and healthy arms heading into a tough SEC weekend series, Tuesday’s workload distribution was managed well. It’s that kind of attention to the pitching schedule that can pay dividends as the SEC stretch run continues.

Next: No. 5 Georgia coming to Baum-Walker

The Hogs don’t have much time to settle in after Tuesday’s win.

Arkansas returns to Fayetteville and opens a three-game SEC series against fifth-ranked Georgia on Thursday. First pitch between the Razorbacks and Bulldogs is set for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

That’s a significant series for a team sitting at 25-13, still working to strengthen its SEC résumé with postseason positioning in mind.

Georgia is one of the better teams in the country and a home series against a top-five opponent gives Arkansas a real chance to make a statement heading deeper into April.

For now, though, Tuesday belonged to the Hogs. They handled their business against an in-state opponent, got key contributors like Aloy and Souza going at the plate and kept the bullpen workload reasonable.

That’s a quality midweek performance on every level.