Razorback sophomore third baseman Cayden Wallace (#7) from Greenbrier, AR slides into home plate and scores against LSU at Baum-Walker Stadium Thursday night in Fayetteville, AR.
FAYETTEVILLE - Coach Dave Van Horn’s Razorbacks likely aren’t feeling too great about themselves.
They lost 2 of 3 in last weekend SEC West series at Texas A&M followed Tuesday night in North Little Rock eking, 2-1 by the University of Central Arkansas Bears on a 10th-wild pitch after bashing the Bears, 21-9 on April 5 in Fayetteville.
But they are 32-9 overall, still leading the SEC West at 12-6 and ranked nationally by D-1 Baseball.
Now consider Coach Mike Bianco’s Ole Miss Rebels playing Arkansas in a 3-game SEC West series at Baum-Walker starting at 6:30 tonight and continuing at 7 p.m. Saturday, televised by ESPN2 and noon Sunday on ESPN.
Many deemed Bianco’s Rebels the favorite to win the SEC West. D-1 Baseball ranked Ole Miss eighth in its national preseason poll.
Instead the Rebels, 23-17 overall, arrive 6-12 last in the West.
What’s the deal?
“Yeah, they’ve had some injuries have hurt them a little bit more,” Van Horn said. “I mean, you just never know how it’s going to go. Kids have good years one year. They have an average year the next. A lot of combinations. They’ve played a tough schedule. I mean it’s hard to say. My thing is I just try to take care of our team and when we play whoever we’re going to play we go after them. So I don’t really know what to say about that.”
He’s seen enough good Ole Miss teams in Bianco’s 21 years coaching the Rebels to expect nothing less than the best. And earlier this season a similarly beginning with great expectations but underperforming Florida team beat Van Horn’s Razorback 2 out of 3 in Gainesville. Florida was the first SEC team to win a series from Arkansas since 2019.
“I expect them to be really good,” Van Horn said Thursday. “ I expect it to be a really good series. You can throw the records out in my opinion. They’ve got good players. They’ve got good arms. They’re very offensive. I mean, up and down their lineup is tough. It could flip. I’ve seen it happen. So I expect it to be a very good series, very competitive.”
Certainly nobody disputes the credentials of Ole Miss first baseman Tim Elko, 16 home runs and 51 RBI while batting .306.
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, also swings a big stick. .295, 14 home runs 37 RBI.
Although freshman left-hander Hagen Smith, only lasting three innings but though Arkansas won out of out the bullpen, and Jaxon Wiggins not surviving a 5-run first-inning in last Sunday’s 11-10 loss at Texas A&M, Van Horn said he’ll stick with the rotation of Smith Saturday and Wiggins Sunday following Connor Noland Friday night.
“It’s kind of been the pattern a little bit with Hagen Smith and Jaxon Wiggins, that they didn’t have a real good outing one weekend and the next weekend they were pretty good,” Van Horn said. “I think they would both tell you they didn’t have a real good outing last weekend so hopefully they’ll pitch a lot better this weekend and give us a little more time to get into the game and figure out what we need to do with our bullpen.
Noland pitched well enough to win but but took a hard-luck 2-1 loss at A&M. Both in Friday’ and Sunday’s losses at A&M the Razorbacks stranded runners at second and third with nobody out against lefty Aggies reliever Jacob Palisch.
“Bottom line, go up there, have a good approach, stay through the middle of the field and you give yourself a lot better chance to make contact against some of the really … that A&M pitcher was really good.”
If the Hogs can have the lead late, their closer, freshman Brady Tygart, 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA. has six saves and was just added to the National College Baseball Writers Association Watch List.
Left-hander Evan Taylor also has pitched effectively and often in relief.
“I’d have to say that nobody could have projected that he was going to be this good,” Van Horn said. “It’s all evolved because he’s having success and now he’s got a lot of confidence. He’s a big guy. He wants the ball. He’s kind of got a rubbery type arm. He could give you a couple of outings on the weekend and probably a third if one of those outings was pretty short.”
Cabot’s Zack Morris was the middle relief winner with Tygart netting the save in the game that Arkansas did win at A&M.
Van Horn did some lineup changes against A&M and UCA but said he likely will put Greenbrier’s Cayden Wallace, .305 and stolen base leader, 10 of 11, back in the leadoff spot.