Razorbacks Pitching Staff Fans 16 as Hogs Edge Kentucky

Three Arkansas Razorbacks pitchers combined for a season high-tying 16 strikeouts Friday night as the Hogs took Game 2 of their weekend series against Kentucky, 5-4, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington.

The win pushed No. 12 Arkansas to 35-19 overall and 16-13 in SEC play. Kentucky dropped to 31-19 and 14-16 in conference games.

With the win, the Razorbacks also locked up their ninth straight winning season in SEC play, a streak dating back to 2017.

The rubber match of the series goes Saturday, May 16, at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+ with Dick Gabriel on play-by-play and Doug Flynn as analyst.

Gaeckle Gets the Hogs Going

Starter Gabe Gaeckle handled the early work and did it well. He threw 5.1 innings, gave up two runs and struck out seven batters before leaving with the lead.

The Razorbacks built that lead thanks to two big swings earlier in the game.

Zack Stewart hit a solo home run in the third inning, his second homer in back-to-back games.

Then in the fourth, Camden Kozeal put a two-run blast over the fence for his 17th home run of the year, the most on the team. Kozeal finished the night 2-for-5 with the homer and an RBI.

Ryder Helfrick and Kuhio Aloy also chipped in with RBI hits in the fifth and seventh innings, pushing the Arkansas lead to 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

But Kentucky wasn’t done. The Wildcats took advantage of two Arkansas errors in the seventh to tie the game at four.

That set the stage for one of the biggest moments of the night.

Souza Steps Up in the Eighth

Maika Niu led off the top of the eighth with a walk then stole a base. That’s when Nolan Souza came through.

On a 1-1 pitch, the Razorbacks second baseman lined a double to left center to score Niu and give Arkansas a 5-4 lead it wouldn’t give back.

Souza went 2-for-4 on the night with that key double and an RBI. Damian Ruiz also had two hits in five at-bats, including a double and his performance pushed his season slash line to .310/.453/.468 in 45 games, the best average on the team.

McElvain Closes the Door

After Gaeckle departed, Steele Eaves came on and threw 0.2 innings before Ethan McElvain took the ball and didn’t let go.

The left-hander worked a season-long three shutout innings, struck out seven — matching a career high — and earned the win to move to a perfect 5-0 on the season.

McElvain’s numbers this year are hard to ignore.

He now carries a 1.24 ERA across 17 relief appearances, has struck out 45 batters in 29.0 innings and held opposing hitters to just a .165 batting average.

Eaves and McElvain together combined for nine strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief.

The complete pitching staff effort — 16 total strikeouts between Gaeckle, Eaves and McElvain — matched the team’s season high and gave Arkansas the kind of performance it needed on a night when the offense gave some runs back.

The Hogs came out of Friday’s game with a split in hand and a chance to take the series in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.