Sooiville Sluggers Sweep in Starkville

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Razorbacks left no doubt.

Arkansas, the No. 1 Baseball America team in the country, completed the three-game sweep against the No. 2 Mississippi State and beat the Bulldogs, 6-4, Sunday afternoon in Dudy Noble Field.

The Hogs’ seventh consecutive victory improves their overall record to 19-3, including 5-1 in conference, this year. The Razorbacks won their first SEC Series sweep of the season, marking the first time since the 2010 campaign that Arkansas has taken to the road and swept through Mississippi State at Starkville.

After three scoreless frames to start the football game, Arkansas’ five-point fourth inning swung in its favor. Matt Goodheart started the assault, starting his fourth homer in as many days to give the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.

He is the first Hog to have a home run in four straight games since Aaron Murphree did so against Ohio State, South Dakota State and Siena in 2008 (March 2-8) .

Arkansas had four more points in the inning after the Goodheart explosion. Jalen Battles’ RBI single, coupled with a point-throwing error on the Mississippi State third baseman, made Hogs 3-0.

Robert Moore then brought the battles home from first on a triple baseline clearing down center right before Jacob Nesbit picked Moore at home.

Staked with a five-point lead, Razorback starter Lael Lockhart struggled in the lower half of the frame. The Bulldogs scored him for two runs and knocked him out of the ball game after completing 3.1 innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out two.

Relief Ryan Costeiu took over and escaped the traffic jam as Arkansas entered the fifth with a three-point advantage. The lead increased by one in six after Braydon Webb’s base-laden RBI march.

Mississippi State stayed on hand, scoring a few more runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning to make it a 6-4 game. However, it was as close as the Bulldogs ever could.

Arkansas handed the game over to Zack Morris, who tidied up Mississippi State on 14 fields in the seventh. Jaxon Wiggins was called up for the eighth and ninth, and the result was similar.

The freshman phenomenon closed the final two innings, racking up another strikeout en route to lock in the 6-4 victory in the longest outing of his young career. His fourth stoppage of the season sealed Arkansas’ first SEC road series sweep since winning all three games in Alabama in 2015 (April 30-May 2).

The Razorbacks return home on Tuesday, March 30 to greet the enemy in central Arkansas state at Baum-Walker Stadium. The first pitch is set for 6.30 p.m. on SEC Network +.

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