Arkansas vs Vanderbilt: Analyst Doesn’t Want to Give Most Likely SEC Champ Any Love

After taking Game 1 of the Arkansas vs Vanderbilt series, the Razorbacks are on the verge of their second regular-season SEC title in three years — but that apparently doesn’t mean anything to SEC Network analyst Todd Walker.

In a segment following Arkansas’ 8-2 win over the Commodores, Walker — a former LSU standout who went on to play 12 seasons in the big leagues — named the four SEC teams he thought have the best chance to win the national championship this year and left off the team currently in first place.

Instead, his top four teams were Tennessee, Florida, LSU and Vanderbilt. When asked about the obvious omission, Walker didn’t exactly have a great answer.

“I’m a big believer in Dave Van Horn,” Walker said. “Of course, they’ve got some missing parts, as well, but when Hagen Smith’s on the mound or Hunter Hollan, they’re very, very good. They lost Peyton Stovall for the year, Jared Wegner’s back, so their offense is looking a little better. I only have four choices, so I had to pick the four best ones.”

Interestingly, he put the Volunteers at No. 1 on his list. Not only were the Volunteers swept in Fayetteville a month ago, but they are just 3-12 away from Lindsey Nelson Stadium and have yet to fully lock up a top-16 seed that would allow them to host a regional. To do that, they likely need to win 2 of 3 at South Carolina this weekend, as they are 14-13 in SEC play and No. 23 in the RPI. Walker also cited Tennessee’s “three frontline starters” — but Chase Dollander and Drew Beam have ERAs over 5.00 in SEC play.

LSU checks in at No. 3 on the list, largely due to having arguably the top two MLB Draft prospects in Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews, but even Walker acknowledges that the Tigers “have some issues,” including having “no dominant arm” in the bullpen and no third starter.

Even with all of their injuries, the Razorbacks don’t have that problem. Smith and Hollan are legit SEC ace-type arms, while Brady Tygart is coming on strong in his return from a UCL strain and guys like Gage Wood, Will McEntire and Cody Adcock have pitched really well recently. That’s at least four more proven arms than LSU and their top two guys have been better than Tennessee’s more heralded top two.

As if that wasn’t enough, part of Walker’s reasoning for putting Vanderbilt at No. 4 was its three left-handed starters — two of which are dealing with injuries and won’t pitch the final two weekends of the regular season. He also said Enrique Bradfield Jr. “has to get hot” for the Commodores to make a run and “he hasn’t done it yet,” despite him hitting .313 over the last 13 games while the rest of Vanderbilt’s lineup has gone ice cold.

Then there’s the fact that Arkansas could potentially wrap up the SEC title by the end of the day Friday.

The Razorbacks can clinch the SEC West with just one more win over Vanderbilt or one loss by LSU against Georgia.

A win over the Commodores would also guarantee Arkansas at least a share of the overall championship, as would a loss by Florida against Kentucky. If both of those things happen, the Razorbacks would secure the outright title.

As always, Best of Arkansas Sports will be watching Game 2 of the Arkansas vs Vanderbilt series and providing live, inning-by-inning updates below, as well as periodical updates of Friday’s LSU-Georgia and Florida-Kentucky games…

LIVE UPDATES — Arkansas vs Vanderbilt

Pregame Tidbits

As expected, Arkansas will start sophomore right-hander Brady Tygart in Game 2. He’s expected to have a pitch count in the 55-60 range in his fourth start since returning from a UCL strain.

Starting Lineups – Arkansas vs Vanderbilt

How to Watch Arkansas vs Vanderbilt

Thursday, May 18 – Arkansas 8, Vanderbilt 2

Friday, May 19 – 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)

Saturday, May 20 – 2 p.m. CT (SECN+)

Accountability Check — 2023 Arkansas Baseball Predictions

Best of Arkansas Sports managing editor Andrew Hutchinson published his week-by-week predictions for the 2023 season just before the Razorbacks opened the year at the College Baseball Showdown. Those predictions can be read in full here, but we’ll also be doing weekly “accountability checks” in this space.

Prediction: 3-0 on the weekend / 39-13 overall, 18-9 in SEC play

Baum-Walker Stadium should be buzzing ahead of Arkansas’ final regular-season home series. The Gamecocks are a top-25 team in some preseason polls, but they’ll run into a buzzsaw this weekend, as the Razorbacks put themselves in the middle of the SEC West race with a sweep.

Actual: 2-1 on the weekend / 38-13 overall, 19-8 in SEC play

It wasn’t a sweep like we predicted, but Arkansas still won two of three against South Carolina last weekend. The Razorbacks are tracking one game ahead of our predictions in SEC play, but are pretty much spot-on with our overall record prediction – the difference being a midweek game against Arkansas State getting rained out.

Composite College Baseball Top 25

Unlike football and basketball, which have just the AP and Coaches Polls all year (with football adding the CFP rankings late in the season), college baseball has five major polls. (Collegiate Baseball used to be included, but it was dropped due to severe inconsistencies in its rankings.)

To get a better feel for how teams stack up, BoAS has combined those rankings into a single top 25 by using a points system in which a No. 1 ranking = 25 points, No. 2 = 24 points and all the way to No. 25 = 1 point. We will update this each week throughout the season…

MOVED IN: Auburn (24), Southern Miss (25)
MOVED OUT: UTSA (24), Texas Tech (25)

Conference Breakdown

• SEC: 8
• ACC: 6
• Big 12: 2
• Pac-12: 2
• Sun Belt: 2
• AAC: 1
• Big East: 1
• Big South: 1
• Big Ten: 1
• C-USA: 1

***

More coverage of Arkansas baseball from BoAS…