Led by Ryder Helfrick’s two-homer game, No. 7 Arkansas (1-0) swatted four home runs and blasted its way past Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State (0-1) in a 12-2 Opening Day run-rule win in front of an announced crowd of 18,387 fans on Friday night at Globe Life Field in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown.
With the win, the Hogs improved to 10-2 in games played at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. Arkansas also improved to 26-1 (.963 winning percentage) in season openers since 1999, tied with LSU for best nationally in that span.
Helfrick, who homered in his first and second at-bats of the season, was joined by Camden Kozeal and Maika Niu in the season-opening offensive onslaught. Kozeal’s two-run shot extended the Razorbacks’ lead to 9-2 in the seventh inning before Niu’s three-run homer in the eighth grew the Hogs’ lopsided advantage to 12-2 to invoke the 10-run rule.
Five Razorbacks recorded multiple hits in the win, as Arkansas pounded Oklahoma State’s pitching for 12 runs on 13 hits and four walks. Helfrick, the Hogs’ superstar catcher, finished 2-for-4 with four runs scored, two home runs, three RBI and one stolen base. He is the first Razorback since Heston Kjerstad in 2020 to homer twice in a season opener.
Helfrick kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the first. After Nolan Souza’s leadoff double, Helfrick hammered the first pitch he saw 428 feet to left center to put Arkansas up 2-0. The Discovery Bay, Calif., native threw out a runner stealing in the top of the third before stepping up to the plate in the bottom of the frame and socking a 415-foot solo shot.
Gabe Gaeckle, making his second consecutive Opening Day start on the mound, twirled four shutout innings before Oklahoma State broke through for a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. A two-run homer cut Arkansas’ lead to 3-2 and spoiled Gaeckle’s line, but Cole Gibler would enter in relief to extinguish the threat and preserve the one-run advantage.
In all, Gaeckle finished with nine strikeouts, one shy of his career high, over 4.1 innings of work. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and one walk before hitting his predetermined pitch count of 75.
The Razorback offense answered back in the bottom of the fifth with three runs, including a pair of RBI from Kuhio Aloy. Aloy’s two-out single pushed the lead to four and put Arkansas firmly in the driver’s seat with Gibler on the mound.
Gibler did not allow a hit over a career-long 3.2 scoreless innings in relief. The left-hander struck out six, one shy of his career high, and allowed just one base runner on a walk to finish Arkansas’ 12-2 victory and earn his first win of the year.
The Razorbacks’ season-opening weekend in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown continues tomorrow night. First pitch between seventh-ranked Arkansas and No. 10 TCU from Globe Life Field is 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, on FloCollege.
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