By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Fresh off winning an SEC series at Ole Miss, the defending national champion, Arkansas returns home for two midweek games at Baum-Walker Stadium hosting Little Rock.
Arkansas (25-6) has a big week considering following the pair of games against the Trojans they host Tennessee for a three-game series this weekend. Dave Van Horn talked about what he hopes to accomplish with the two midweek games.
"I’ll definitely play guys," Van Horn said. "I’ll play everybody in the next two games. What I mean, some guys that haven’t played much will play at least one game and maybe two. We’ll see how it goes. I want to win the games, but at the same time, we’ve got a quick turnaround. We play, what is it, Tuesday and Wednesday, and bang, you’ve got Thursday and then you play Tennessee on Friday. We have to be smart with our pitching. We’re going to have to have some guys go a little longer that maybe haven’t pitched much and just leave them out there. Hopefully we can win a game or two."
Little Rock (17-11) is coming off a three-game sweep over UT Martin. While it was once big news when the Hogs baseball team played an in-state school, but now it's basically commonplace.
"Well, I look at them as it’s a game that we need to get some guys in," Van Horn said. "We need to maybe give your starting catcher a rest and one outfielder here, an infielder there and get some of these players that work hard every day a little chance to play if we can do that. But bottom line, I want to try to win the game. Every game is a big deal to me because this is what I do. But not going to go crazy trying to win them. I don’t want to jeopardize having our guys ready for Friday."
Van Horn is very familiar with Little Rock coach Chris Curry.
"Yeah, he coached with us a couple years, did a great job," Van Horn said. "I knew he’d be a really good head coach. He’s proven me right and he’s done a really good job down there in Little Rock."
The Trojans have four players hitting .300 or better. Center fielder Tyler Williams leads the team with a .373 average. He has hit six home runs while knocking in 23 runs. Third baseman Nico Baumbach is hitting .350 and has nine home runs. Second baseban Skyler Trevino also has nine home runs and has 32 RBIs. Shortstop Alex Seguine is hitting .300.
A trio of local prospects are also playing a role for the Trojans. Former Hope and Hill College right-handed pitcher Austin Stubbs has pitched in 12 games. He's 2-0, a 2.96 ERA and has earned two saves.
Former Benton infielder Aidan Garrett is hitting .207 with a home run. Former Bryant and Murray State College catcher Jake Wright has three home runs, knocked in 11 and hitting .168.
Tuesday's game begins at 6:30 p.m. and then Wednesday at 4 p.m. Both games can be on the SEC Network+.