FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas third baseman Brent Iredale homered twice and led the fifth-ranked Razorbacks to a 5-2 victory over Washington State on Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Iredale tied the game 2-2 with a 391-foot home run to left field in the fourth inning and gave Arkansas a 3-2 lead with a 401-foot blast to left in the sixth.
“For a while there he was about all the offense we had rolling,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said, “and then some of the guys kicked it in later there.”
Wehiwa Aloy added a 414-foot home run to left in the eighth to give the Razorbacks some breathing room. Aloy’s first home run of the season scored Charles Davalan, who led off with a double, and made the score 5-2.
Following a single by Logan Maxwell and a walk by Iredale, Arkansas (3-0) loaded the bases in the eighth when Nolan Souza drew a 2-out walk. The Razorbacks stranded 3 when pinch hitter Ryder Helfrick bounced into a force play at second base.
Van Horn said the team “didn't play great” and mentioned mistakes in his post-game remarks, but added, “At the same time, we’re finding ways to win and we’re getting to see a lot of pitching this weekend.”
Freshman right-hander Carson Wiggins made his anticipated Arkansas debut in the ninth inning and worked around a 2-out double by Ollie Obenour. Wiggins struck out Will Cresswell swinging at a 3-2 fastball to end the game.
Wiggins, who was a top 100 draft prospect last year by Baseball America, was electric. Sixteen of his 20 pitches were fastballs that averaged a velocity of 99.1 mph.
“I thought he threw good,” Van Horn said. “Most of them were right around the plate. Even his misses were close.”
The Cougars (0-3) stranded base runners in scoring position 5 times, including at third base in the second, sixth and seventh innings.
Ricco Longo grounded out to third base to strand Max Hartman (leadoff single) against Arkansas right-hander Dylan Carter in the sixth. Left-hander Parker Coil replaced Carter with 2 outs in the seventh and got Jonah Shull to ground out to strand Ryan Skjonsby (leadoff double).
Coil struck out Logan Johnstone to strand a runner at second base in the eighth.
“We put ourselves in a position to try to score, but I think it’s OK to sometimes tip your cap to your opponent,” Washington State coach Nathan Choate said. “I thought the guys at Arkansas did a good job and they have good stuff, and they’re a pretty good pitching staff. We kept trying to apply pressure. We just couldn’t get the swing when we needed it, and they got two swings later in the game when they needed it. It seemed like that was the difference.”
The Razorbacks’ bullpen pitched 4 innings of scoreless relief without a walk. Carter was credited with a 1 2/3-inning win and Wiggins earned his first save.
Right-handed starters Gage Wood of Arkansas and Luke Meyers of Washington State each allowed 2 runs in their 5-inning starts.
Kendall Diggs led off the bottom of the second inning with a double and scored on Zane Becker’s double to center field against Meyers to give the Razorbacks a 1-0 lead.
Washington State took a 2-1 lead against Wood in the top of the fourth. Johnstone drew a 1-out walk and scored on Longo’s triple to center field.
Davalan, the Arkansas center fielder, took a bad route to the ball that turned a likely single into a triple for Longo. He scored on Skjonsby’s sacrifice fly to left in the next at-bat.
Iredale homered on Meyers’ second pitch of the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 2-2. His second home run came on a 1-2 off-speed pitch by left-handed reliever Jake Tedesco with 1 out in the sixth inning.
Iredale, an Australia native who transferred to Arkansas from New Mexico Junior College, has been the star of the opening weekend. He is 6 for 11 with 2 walks and 7 RBI.
He nearly homered twice Friday and had the sacrifice fly that scored the game-winning run in the 10th inning of the 3-2 victory in the season opener.
“Every game I’m trying to make the best swings I can and make good contact,” Iredale said. “If I see a pitch I like, I’m just going to try and hit it as hard as I can.”
Wood struck out 7, allowed 2 hits and walked 1 during his 77-pitch start. He threw 48 pitches for strikes.
“I thought Gage had good stuff,” Van Horn said. “He really didn’t have his breaking ball today, and he did it mostly with a fastball and the cutter, so that was impressive. He gets that breaking ball going and it would have been a really good day for him.”
Meyers struck out 3 and allowed 4 hits and 1 walk. He threw 49 of 86 pitches for strikes in his Division I debut. Meyers was a JUCO All-American at Central Arizona College last season.
“There’s a couple of pitches that he would like back, but I thought he went out there and was aggressive and attacked and changed speeds pretty good,” Choate said.
Tedesco took the loss in a 3-inning relief stint. He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, and struck out 5.
Arkansas won the series and can sweep with a victory Monday at noon.
Correction: Brent Iredale's batting stats were initially incorrect and have been corrected.
