Pompey’s walk off homer powers Hogs to win over Bulldogs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – TJ Pompey’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth powered No. 5 Arkansas (13-5, 1-0 SEC) to a 5-4 win against No. 3 Mississippi State (12-3, 0-1 SEC) Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium on SEC Opening Day.Due to anticipated rain and thunderstorms in the forecast Sunday, March 15, Arkansas and Mississippi State will play a doubleheader Saturday, March 14. First pitch in game one of tomorrow’s twin bill is set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network with Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Chris Burke (analyst) on the call. At the conclusion of game one of the doubleheader, Baum-Walker Stadium will be cleared. Game two will be played approximately one hour after game one’s conclusion.

Saturday’s tickets remain valid for the 1 p.m. game, while Sunday’s tickets will be valid for the following game. Season ticket holders must download their ticket for Saturday’s game two separately as there will not be “all-in-one” tickets.

The Razorbacks can clinch their ninth consecutive SEC Opening Weekend series with a win in tomorrow’s doubleheader. Arkansas has won eight consecutive series against Mississippi State inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 & 2024), with the last series loss in Fayetteville coming in the 2007 season.

Pompey’s walk-off homer to lead off the bottom of the ninth capped a thrilling SEC opener between the fifth-ranked Razorbacks and third-ranked Bulldogs. Arkansas jumped out to a 2-0 lead on RBI groundouts from Zack Stewart and Camden Kozeal in the first and third inning, respectively, before Mississippi State evened the game at two in the fifth.

Gabe Gaeckle started on the mound for Arkansas and fired 5.2 innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts before giving way to Cole Gibler, who inherited a pair of runners in the top of the fifth but escaped without further damage. The Hogs retook the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning on Nolan Souza’s RBI fielder’s choice before Stewart belted his fourth home run of the season – a 115-mph solo shot to right field – in the sixth to extend the advantage to 4-2.

Down to their final out in the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs swatted a game-tying two-run home run to even the score at 4-4. Pompey, however, wasted no time sending the Hogs home happy, homering to right center on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the bottom half of the ninth inning and put the exclamation point on a memorable 5-4 win in front of an announced crowd of 10,464 fans – the largest SEC Opening Day attendance at Baum-Walker Stadium in program history.

Souza (2-for-3, 2B, RBI) was the lone Razorback to record multiple hits in Friday’s series opener. Stewart, meanwhile, is now slashing a team-leading .400/.472/.833 with four home runs and eight RBI through 10 games played this season.

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