FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Hog hurlers were impressive in leading No. 4 Arkansas to an 8-1 victory Wednesday over BYU baseball.

The Razorbacks (9-1) work to eight of their pitchers who tallied as many strikeouts for the afternoon. BYU evened its record at 4-4 and picked up five singles in front of a season-high crowd of 2,832.

Cougar sophomore Desmond Poulson suffered his first loss of his college career after posting a 6-0 record last season.  Similar to Tuesday, walks and a sacrifice fly helped Arkansas take a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

“We dug ourselves a hole just like yesterday,” said BYU coach Vance Law.  “We walked too many guys with pitches that didn’t go our way.  We need to hit the ball better and I have no doubt we will.”

The Razorbacks belted a pair of home runs, a two-run shot by Dominic Ficociello in the second and a solo off a fastball in the sixth by Jimmy Bosco.

The Cougars got their lone run in the third when Kelton Caldwell drew a leadoff walk and scored on a single by Stephen Wells.

BYU got steady pitching performances by Mason Marshall and Chris Howard who combined for three innings of shutout relief.

“It was tough for our batters to get a real gauge on how they were being pitched because they couldn’t settle in on one guy,” said Law.  “Arkansas is well-coached and they executed very well, showing a lot of class and hustle.”

BYU is idle until next week when it travels to California for a three-game series at No. 30 UC Irvine.

No. 4 Arkansas hosts BYU baseball Tuesday to start a two-game series.

Arkansas (7-1) hosts BYU (4-2) in the second meeting between the two schools, but it is the first time the Cougars have gone to Fayetteville.  BYU leads the series 1-0 with a 6-5 upset over then No. 7 Arkansas in 1990 at the Pepsi/Me-N-Ed’s Tournament in Fresno, Calif.

Sophomore returned missionary Tyler Westensee will make his first appearance on the mound for BYU on Tuesday against Razorback sophomore Brandon Moore (0-0, 3.60) in a matchup of right handers.  On Wednesday, the Cougars will start Desmond Poulson (0-0, 3.00) who was a Freshman All-American last season when he posted a 5-0 record. Poulson will face freshman Greg Milhorn (0-0, 0.00 in 3.0 IP).

"It's always a big challenge to face one of the top teams in the country,” said BYU coach Vance Law. “They are solid and have good tradition.  It's a nice challenge for us and a good measuring stick for us to see if we can represent ourselves well with consistent performance."

Among the leading BYU hitters is right fielder Jaycob Brugman, also a Freshman All-American last season, who has a current six-game hitting streak.  Sophomore first baseman Brock Whitney leads BYU with three game-winning RBI.

The Cougars are currently in first place in the West Coast Conference at 2-1 due to an early series last weekend against Saint Mary’s College.  No other league games will take place in the WCC until the end of March.

Following the Arkansas series, BYU’s baseball team will have a rare idle weekend before returning to California next week in a three-game series at UC Irvine.  The BYU-Arkansas games are available on live audio and video through paid subscription at http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com or livestats are free.

The Cougars fly to Tulsa, Okla., then have a two-hour bus ride to Fayetteville, the longest bus ride of the BYU 2012 season.