FAYETTEVILLE — Cody Scroggins struck out 11 batters in six innings to lead the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 11-0 Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The 11 strikeouts were a career-high for the redshirt junior, as were the six innings. The righty gave up two singles and a walk among his 88 pitches that led the Razorbacks to their first rubber match win of 2019.
“Just a tremendous response by our team after a tough loss yesterday, letting a four-run lead slip away from us in the middle of the game,” said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn. “Today, it all started with Cody Scroggins; he just had a great game. Six innings, 80-something pitches, threw pretty much nothing but strikes. When he got behind, he found a way to come back. He used a lot of sliders, a few changeups, a lot of fastballs. He kind of just pounded the bottom of the strike zone. I’m super happy for him, but he gave us what we needed.”
No baserunners made it past first base for Scroggins’ entire performance, and he retired seven of the first eight batters he faced. Scroggins earned his first victory of the season and his first decision in 27 career appearances going back to 2016.
“I wanted to be a starter, but it wasn’t too important to me,” said Scroggins. “Wherever the team needs me they can put me, to be honest. If I need to close a little bit and give (Matt) Cronin a break I can, middle-relief, start. But, I’ve been kind of starting lately and they’ve been telling me to get three or four and today I went a little bit extra because everything was kind of working for me today.”
The shutout was the Hogs’ first since shutting out South Carolina on both ends of a seven-inning doubleheader last April. The three hits allowed were tied for a season-low. A year ago, Arkansas tallied six shutouts a season ago with two of them occurring in Southeastern Conference play.
Arkansas takes on Western Illinois for a two-game midweek series starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.