FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Hog hurlers were impressive in leading No. 4 Arkansas to an 8-1 victory Wednesday over BYU baseball.
The Razorbacks (9-1) work to eight of their pitchers who tallied as many strikeouts for the afternoon. BYU evened its record at 4-4 and picked up five singles in front of a season-high crowd of 2,832.
Cougar sophomore Desmond Poulson suffered his first loss of his college career after posting a 6-0 record last season. Similar to Tuesday, walks and a sacrifice fly helped Arkansas take a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
“We dug ourselves a hole just like yesterday,” said BYU coach Vance Law. “We walked too many guys with pitches that didn’t go our way. We need to hit the ball better and I have no doubt we will.”
The Razorbacks belted a pair of home runs, a two-run shot by Dominic Ficociello in the second and a solo off a fastball in the sixth by Jimmy Bosco.
The Cougars got their lone run in the third when Kelton Caldwell drew a leadoff walk and scored on a single by Stephen Wells.
BYU got steady pitching performances by Mason Marshall and Chris Howard who combined for three innings of shutout relief.
“It was tough for our batters to get a real gauge on how they were being pitched because they couldn’t settle in on one guy,” said Law. “Arkansas is well-coached and they executed very well, showing a lot of class and hustle.”
BYU is idle until next week when it travels to California for a three-game series at No. 30 UC Irvine.