Arkansas baseball suffers stunning upset at home to Arkansas State
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Arkansas baseball, a preseason top 10 team and ranked No. 6 in the latest Top 25 poll, wasn’t expected to have much trouble with Arkansas State, a 26-28 team a season ago.
Instead, the Red Wolves pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college baseball this season. They routed the Razorbacks, 12-4, on Tuesday in the first of a two-game series in Fayetteville. It was the Hogs’ first loss to the Red Wolves in program history.
Freshman Peyton Lee was given the start. But he was shelled in the 2nd inning as A-State scored six runs on five hits, sending nine men to the plate. The big blow was a two-out grand slam by Ashton Quiller that made it 6-1 Red Wolves.
A-State went on to add a run in both the 3rd and 4th innings on Cross Jumper and Lane Walton’s solo homers before an Aidan Houseworth RBI double and Jumper’s second home run of the day — a two-run shot — upped the lead to 11-3 in the 7th. The Red Wolves added a 12th run on a wild pitch in the 8th.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas bats were quiet as the Razorbacks managed just eight hits on the afternoon. Maika Niu and Zack Stewart each went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a home run apiece. The rest of the Arkansas lineup had four hits between them. At one point, the Red Wolves retired 12 batters in a row.
The Razorbacks will look to shake off Tuesday’s loss as they wrap up the two-game midweek set on Wednesday. First pitch from Baum-Walker Stadium is set for 4 p.m. ET.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
