BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Razorbacks are the SEC Western Division champions.
For the fifth time in six seasons and ninth time in program history, No. 3 Arkansas (43-11, 20-9 SEC) clinched the SEC West title after defeating No. 5 Texas A&M (43-11, 18-11 SEC), 6-3, Friday night at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Hogs have now won the SEC Western Division eight times – 2004, 2007, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 – under head coach Dave Van Horn. With Friday night’s win, Arkansas also clinched its fifth 20-win SEC season in school history.
Hudson White and Mason Molina, a pair of Texas Tech transfers, provided the heroics in their return to the Lone Star State. White’s go-ahead three-run blast in the eighth proved to be the game-winner, while Molina emerged from the bullpen for the first time this season and twirled three perfect innings with two strikeouts to secure Arkansas’ win.
White’s game-winning home run was his fifth of the season and fourth in his last seven games. Molina, meanwhile, retired all nine batters he faced in his first relief outing since his true freshman season at Texas Tech in 2022.
Arkansas trailed early to begin Friday’s game, as Texas A&M got off to a quick start with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the first. Making only his second career start on the mound, sophomore right-hander Gage Wood fired five strong innings with five strikeouts and zero walks against the Aggies, allowing just three runs (two earned) on seven hits.
The Razorbacks answered with a run in each of the second and third innings. Peyton Holt’s RBI single scored White from second in the second before Wehiwa Aloy’s team-leading 12th home run of the season tied the game at two in the third.
Texas A&M, however, would regain the lead in the bottom half of the third on an RBI single. All three of the Aggies’ runs came against Wood, who threw 58 of 86 pitches for strikes in his first career SEC start and first career road start.
Facing its second deficit of the night, Arkansas once again answered the bell. Ben McLaughlin tied the game at three on his RBI single in the top of the sixth to score Peyton Stovall, who finished with a team-leading three hits, from second.
In relief of Wood, sophomore left-hander Parker Coil spun a scoreless bottom of the sixth before turning the ball over to Molina, who entered in the seventh and worked around an inherited base runner against the heart of the Aggies’ lineup.
The junior left-hander struck out leadoff hitter Gavin Grahovac and induced a harmless pop-up from two-hole hitter Jace LaViolette before generating an inning-ending grounder from three-hole hitter Braden Montgomery.
Molina’s success on the mound set the table for the Razorbacks’ top half of the eighth. Stovall singled and Aloy doubled to lead off the inning before White hit the go-ahead three-run homer to give Arkansas its first and only lead of the night.
White finished 2-for-3 with a team-leading three RBI to raise his season slash line to .285/.377/.467 with five home runs and 25 RBI. In SEC play, the Keller, Texas, native is slashing a team-leading .326/.402/.500 with 14 homers and 15 RBI.
Texas A&M went down in order in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings, as Molina put the finishing touches on the ballgame to earn the win and secure the Hogs’ SEC Western Division championship-clinching victory.
The three-game weekend series between the Razorbacks and Aggies at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park concludes tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch in the regular-season finale scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, on SEC Network. Arkansas, which has lost its last two weekend series in Bryan-College Station, seeks its first series win at Texas A&M since 2017.
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