[autotag]Jalen Battles[/autotag] homered twice and [autotag]Connor Noland[/autotag] worked seven innings in Arkansas’ 8-1 win over Mississippi State in the teams’ series opener on Friday night from Baum-Walker Stadium.
The win kept the Diamond Hogs (20-4, 6-1 in SEC) two games ahead of second-place Texas A&M in the SEC West and one game behind unbeaten Tennessee in the overall conference table.
Arkansas pounced early, scoring six runs in the second inning to put away Mississippi State. Five straight Hogs batters reached in the inning with two outs. [autotag]Robert Moore[/autotag] smacked a two-run triple and Battles hit a two-run home run to highlight the frame.
On the other side, Noland continued his sharpness. The senior moved to 4-1 on the season after allowing just four Bulldogs hits and striking out six in his seven innings.
[autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag] joined Battles as the only other Razorbacks batter to collect two knocks, one of which was a double.
The two teams play Game 2 from Fayetteville at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.