FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn gave rare insight into his No. 3 Razorbacks’ big weekend baseball series against No. 15 Mississippi State during a lengthy video conference Thursday.
Van Horn first announced the SEC-West leading Razorbacks (40-9, 17-7 SEC) would stick with the same pitching rotation of Hagen Smith (9-0, 1.36 ERA), followed by Brady Tygart (4-2, 3.34) and Mason Molina (3-2, 3.81) after giving consideration to inserting sophomore Gage Wood (3-1, 2.81) into the mix.
The Bulldogs (32-16, 14-10) will counter with right-handers Khal Stephen (7-3, 2.96) and Jurrangelo Cijntje (7-1, 3.53) with Sunday’s starter to be announced later.
Then while discussing how Mississippi State has bounced back from consecutive 9-21 SEC seasons to contend for an NCAA regional host role, Van Horn veered off into an analysis of the Razorbacks, who have gone 5-4 in their past nine SEC games while the Bulldogs are 7-2.
“If I looked at all the teams in the SEC right now, I think all the coaches would say the two teams you don’t want to play are Mississippi State and Texas A&M,” Van Horn said. “Those would be in the top three or four, and we play both of them. That’s just the way it is.”
Indeed, the Razorbacks have a tough finishing run with a regular-season ending set against the Aggies at College Station, Texas, starting next Thursday.
“A few weeks ago they probably said you didn’t want to play Arkansas,” Van Horn said. “Now they’re probably saying, ‘Yeah, Arkansas, they’re just getting by. They got their wins and they don’t score enough runs and once you get past Hagen you’re in good shape.’ … Hey, it is what it is. Don’t hide it. That’s what I talked to our guys about.”
The Razorbacks, while trailing Kentucky by one game for the overall SEC lead, have not been delivering often with runners in scoring position the past several weeks with multiple hitters in slumps of varying lengths. Arkansas is scoring 5.25 runs per game in league play, lowest among the conference contenders and ahead of only Florida (5.13), LSU (5.13), Auburn (4.75) and Missouri (3.5).
The Razorbacks’ team batting average in league games is .240, better than only Florida (.238) and Missouri (.213), and 34 percentage points behind Mississippi State (.274).
On the mound, Arkansas is 12-0 in starts by Smith, but the performances and lengths of Tygart and especially Molina have become causes for concern.
Smith, a left-hander, leads the SEC in wins, strikeouts (125) and WHIP (0.82), and he leads the nation with 17.05 strikeouts per nine innings. The junior from Bullard, Texas, had no-decisions on opening day against James Madison, the following week in his 17-strikeout gem against Oregon State before dozens of scouts in Arlington, Texas, and against Florida on April 26. He picked up the win in all nine of his other starts and he’s provided a quality start in 10 of his past 11 outings.
“They can really pitch,” Mississippi State Coach Chris Lemonis said of Arkansas on Sunday. “They arguably have maybe the best pitcher in the country in Hagen Smith. All three of their starters are really good and they pitch good at the back end.
“I’m sure they’re very comfortable pitching at home. It’s a veteran offensive group that has won a lot of games. They know how to play winning baseball. I don’t think it’s that they’re putting up two touchdowns every game, but they can move the ball. They’ve got some guys who can hit it out of the park. They play really good defense. So they just play winning baseball.”
Tygart had a string of three consecutive outings of five-plus innings come to a halt last weekend at Kentucky when he allowed season highs of 6 hits and 5 runs in 3 innings during an 11-3 loss.
Molina has pitched six innings just once, at Alabama on April 13, and he has not gotten out of the fourth inning in his past two starts while walking 10, striking out 6 and giving up 5 hits and 5 runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Van Horn said after last Saturday’s loss at Kentucky that Wood threw well in relief and suggested the right-hander might “take somebody’s job.” But he and pitching Coach Matt Hobbs eventually decided to stay with the same rotation.
“They both feel good, healthy,” Van Horn said of Tygart and Molina. “No one has a sore arm. No complaints. Ready to go.”
Mississippi State, which hosts Missouri next weekend, had been using 6-5 senior right-hander Brooks Auger (1-2, 4.13) in its starting rotation. However, after he was roughed up by Alabama last week in a 10-5 loss Lemonis has elected not to name a Sunday starter.
