FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman left-hander Colin Fisher threw five scoreless innings in his Arkansas debut and the fourth-ranked Razorbacks defeated James Madison 4-0 on Monday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Fisher allowed 3 hits, struck out 4 and threw 38 of 63 pitches for strikes.
Ben McLaughlin’s two-run single in the bottom of the first inning provided the only runs Arkansas needed. McLaughlin scored Kendall Diggs, who singled, and Hudson White, who reached on a throwing error by James Madison second baseman Mike Mancini.
Jayson Jones added a two-out RBI single up the middle in the third inning to score White, who doubled to left field to lead off the inning.
All early runs were scored against James Madison right-hander Casey Smith, who allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 2 in 6 innings. He threw 63 of 86 pitches for strikes.
The game sped along for 6 1/2 innings. The teams reached the seventh-inning stretch by 1:35 p.m., only 93 minutes after first pitch.
Wehiwa Aloy’s one-out RBI single scored Ty Wilmsmeyer to put the Razorbacks ahead 4-0 in the seventh, but they were unable to do anything else. Peyton Holt struck out and Jones lined out to end the inning.
Arkansas stranded eight base runners. The Razorbacks were 4 for 16 with runners on base and 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
Koty Frank, Will McEntire and Stone Hewlett combined to pitch the final four innings for the Razorbacks. Frank pitched the sixth inning, McEntire pitched the seventh and eighth, and Hewlett worked around a walk and a throwing error by third baseman Jared Sprague-Lott in the ninth inning.
Both runners were in scoring position when Jacob Steinberg grounded out to Hewlett to end the game.
Arkansas (3-1) will play No. 7 Oregon State on Friday at 7 p.m. in Arlington, Texas.