Razorbacks blank Missouri St. 10-0

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas Razorback pitchers struck out a school record 18 batters and the hitters pounded 17 hits in the No. 9 Razorback baseball team’s 10-0 victory over Missouri State at Baum Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Razorbacks (17-4, 6-0 SEC) had four pitchers combine for 18 strikeouts of Missouri State hitters with Brett Eibner fanning seven over four innings, Sam Murphy five over three innings and Christian Kowalchuk and Kendall Wehrle three in an inning of work each. Each Razorback pitcher either matched or exceeded their career high for strike outs in a game. Missouri State (11-11, 3-0 Missouri Valley) had its seven-game winning streak halted with the loss.

Arkansas’ pitchers looked solid as they posted Arkansas’ first shutout in a year (March 25, 2008 against Centenary, 9-0). Eibner picked up his second win of the season for his effort as he tossed 70 pitches and allowed just two hits while walking one. Murphy had his best outing of the season with his five strikeouts over three innings with just one base runner allowed. Kowalchuk and Wehrle each ran into some trouble over the final two innings but pitched out of the jams as they stranded five Missouri State base runners over the final two innings.

“It was a great game for our guys,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “We came off a good series with auburn, and this a great tune up for us for Mississippi St.”

Six Arkansas hitters recorded multi-hit games in the win led by Chase Leavitt and Scott Lyons, the Razorback No. 1 and No. 2 hitters, who had three hits each. Andrew Darr, Zack Cox, James McCann and Jarrod McKinney each had two hits for the Hogs in the win while Tim Carver, Ben Tschepikow and Jacob House each had one. Leavitt and Lyons also led the Hogs in RBI on the day with three and two, respectively.

Arkansas wasted no time by scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Chase Leavitt led off with a triple to the right-field corner and scored on the next batter as Lyons extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a RBI single. Lyons’ hitting streak matches Arkansas’ longest of the season and is a career best for the senior from West Covina, Calif.

The Hogs tacked on another two runs in the bottom of the third inning and it was again Lyons that was an integral part as he led off the inning with a double to right-center field. Tschepikow drove Lyons home with a single to right field and after a ground out moved him to third, he scored on a ground out by Andy Wilkins.

Arkansas made it 4-0 in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by none other than Lyons which scored Zack Cox who reached on a single and added two more in the fifth with another five hits in the inning. The Razorbacks touched up the Missouri State bullpen for another four runs in the seventh for good measure.

The Razorbacks look to continue their fast Southeastern Conference start on Friday evening when they welcome the Mississippi State Bulldogs to Baum Stadium. For more information regarding Razorback baseball or University of Arkansas athletics please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.