Arkansas didn’t need any late-inning magic this time.

The Razorbacks scored five runs in the third inning — three of them on a home run by Jake Wise — and went on to beat Mississippi State 6-1 on Saturday night.

The easy victory snapped a string of three consecutive Southeastern Conference wins by Arkansas in its last at-bat, and also catapulted it into first place in the SEC West.

Arkansas (26-8, 8-6 SEC) has won eight in a row overall and is now a half-game ahead of Alabama, which was swept in a doubleheader against Tennessee on Saturday.

Jarrod McKinney gave Arkansas a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the second inning, then the Razorbacks blew it open in the third.

Three consecutive singles loaded the bases before Kyle Robinson brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. Dominic Ficociello followed with another single to make it 3-0, then Wise hit his home run to left field.

Mississippi State (21-14, 5-9) had several chances to get back in the game, but couldn’t make much of nine hits. The Bulldogs stranded 11 runners, including two each in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.