FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas will host UCA on Tuesday night in baseball action at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas is fresh off a sweep over No. 16 Tennessee and is have success despite several key injuries this season. Arkansas (29-7, 11-4) only has three non-conference games remaining this season counting Tuesday's contest. However, this will be the final home one. Dave Van Horn knows these midweek games are unpredictable and expects the same on Tuesday.
"Well, I’ll play a few guys that didn’t play in the last couple of days or didn’t play much," Van Horn said. "But we’re going to try to win it. We just can’t extend anybody. We can’t put guys out there that are probably going to throw Thursday or Friday. Maybe somebody who’s going to go Saturday, which would be Game 3. My take on it is we’re going to try to win it, but we’re not going to ruin our weekend to do it. Hopefully some of the guys that get into the lineup, they produce, and hopefully some of the pitchers that are on the mound, they have good outings.
"UCA’s in the same boat we are. They just played three conference games. I don’t know what they’re going to throw at us. But yeah. Just going to go out and play baseball and hopefully play well."
UCA (16-19, 7-8) defeated North Florida on Friday, but then fell to them twice on Saturday. But UCA does own a 5-4 win over Vanderbilt and fell to LSU 10-4 earlier in season. The Vanderbilt win has to catch Van Horn's attention.
"UCA has a good program," Van Horn said. "They play on turf, Vandy plays on turf, so they probably felt comfortable on it. That was a big win for their program. You travel to Nashville, you want to win. It’s baseball — anything can happen. If you don’t show up mentally, you’ll get beat. If you think, ‘Oh, we can just roll the balls and bats out there and we’ll beat these guys,’ and you’re thinking about your record compared to their record, you’re in trouble."
Since Ben Bybee, a usual midweek starter, was the first on the mound Sunday then don't look for him on Tuesday. Cody Adcock, who has started some weekend games, would appear to be a possibility to get the ball first against UCA.
"He’s definitely going to throw," Van Horn said. "Is he going to start? I don’t know yet, but he’ll definitely pitch. Well, you know he’s a strike thrower.
"So yeah… He was a guy that we could have started today or brought in. But yeah. So we’re going to get him out there on Tuesday whether we start him or bring him in a couple innings in and let him get a few innings."
First baseman Brady Slavens had a good weekend against Tennessee. On the season, he's hitting .277 with four home runs and has knocked in 29 runs. Slavens is one of those Van Horn has rested in midweek games.
“I had a lot of resting time on midweek games," Slavens said. "I think I've played once in the last five or six of them so it's good to see other guys play cause everyone is capable of all the hitters we have. Just getting them at-bats just keeping them hot and ready to go if someone else goes down is good.“
UCA has six players hitting .302 or better. Third baseman AJ Mendolia leads the squad hitting .342 with four home runs and has 25 RBIs. Right fielder Kolby Johnson has eight home runs to lead the team, knocked in 30 runs and hitting .302. Shortstop Reid Bowman is hitting .340 with a pair of home runs and plated 17. Second baseman Tanner Leonard is hitting .315.
Tuesday's game is slated to start at 6 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network+. Next Tuesday the Razorbacks will be in Springfield to face Missouri State and then on May 2 they will be in North Little Rock to take on Lipscomb in Dickey-Stephens Park.
Arkansas will be on the road Thursday-Saturday for a three-game SEC series against Georgia (19-17, 4-11). Thursday's game starts at 6 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network. Friday's game begins at 5 p.m. and then 1 p.m. on Saturday.