The first weekend of the Arkansas baseball season is now in the rearview mirror.
The No. 2 Diamond Hogs beat James Madison on Monday in the teams’ series finale of a four-game set, 4-0, on the same day Arkansas jumped in the polls. Arkansas’ victory clinched a 3-to-1 series win.
Ben McLaughlin’s two-run single in the first was all Arkansas really needed. Freshman pitcher Colin Fisher, making his Diamond Hogs debut, was golden. He allowed just three JMU hits over his five innings of work while striking out four. Koty Frank, Will McEntire and Stone Hewlett allowed just two more baserunners between them the rest of the way to keep the Bulldogs at bay.
Meanwhile, Arkansas saw its lead grow by one in the third and again in the seventh. Leftfielder Jayson Jones plated a run on a single in the former inning and Wehiwa Aloy knocked in another run in the latter on a single of his own.
Arkansas has the rest of the week off until Friday when the Diamond Hogs head to Arlington, Texas. Dave Van Horn’s team will participate in the College Baseball Series over the weekend against Oregon State (Friday), Oklahoma State (Saturday) and Michigan (Sunday).
The team returns to Baum-Walker Stadium the following Tuesday for a one-off game against Grambling.