By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 7 Arkansas will hit the road again for a Tuesday night game at Missouri State in Springfield.
Arkansas (30-10) is coming off a rough weekend in Athens where they were swept by Georgia. Missouri State (22-16) and the Razorbacks always seem to play very competitive games. Dave Van Horn knows his team is in for another road battle.
"The Missouri State-Arkansas game is usually a good midweek game," Van Horn said. "It's usually very competitive. Obviously, I think Missouri State plays hard. They have a good program. They work at it. I don't know exactly where they're at record-wise this year, but I've seen a lot of their scores. They played Missouri tough; I think they might have gotten beat by a run the other night. Missouri might have scored two in the last inning to beat them last Tuesday. I think that was in Columbia."
Missouri State lost to Missouri 10-1 at Hammons Field on April 11, but only lost to them 7-6 this past Tuesday in Columbia. Van Horn talked about Hammons Field and trying to build some momentum.
"They're usually great games," Van Horn said. "They have a beautiful ballpark there that they play in. Yeah, after you lose like we did today and lose three in a row on the road, it would be nice to gain a little momentum before A&M comes in because A&M is playing really well right now."
Missouri State center fielder Spencer Nivens leads the team hitting .369. He has 10 home runs and has knocked in 36 runs. Right fielder Zack Stewart is hitting .331 with 8 home runs and 42 RBIs. Shortstop Nick Rodriguez is hitting .316 with five home runs. First baseman Cody Kelly leads the team with 12 home runs and is hitting .250.
Tuesday night's game will be on ESPN+. The Hogs have one remaining non-conference game after this one. Next Tuesday they will be at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock to host Lipscomb at 6 p.m.
The Texas A&M and Arkansas series begins Thursday night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. Friday's game is at 6 p.m. and then Saturday at 11 a.m. Friday's game on the SEC Network+ and then SEC Network on Saturday morning. Texas A&M (25-15, 9-9) is tied with Alabama two games back of the 11-7 second-place Hogs in the SEC West. LSU sits atop the standings at 12-5 in the West.