Let the games begin
Hogs try to forget bitter end of ’17
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team put together a wild, bounce-back season in 2017, surging to second in the SEC West, hitting a league-high 83 home runs and hosting an NCAA Regional at Baum Stadium for the first time since 2010.
Yet, the last images the Razorbacks have from last June, hours after an epic, rain-delayed 11-10 victory over Missouri State that finished after 3 a.m., were not good ones.
“It doesn’t sit well with us, especially watching them dog pile on our home field,” junior outfielder Eric Cole said of the Hogs’ 3-2 loss to the Bears, who went on to lose in the Fort Worth Super Regional at TCU.
No. 6 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is scheduled to get back to the diamond today at 3 p.m. for its season-opener against Bucknell (21-28 in 2017), hoping to build on the momentum of 2017 and live up to their consensus top-10 preseason ranking.
“You never want to lose the last game on your home field and know that you could have done something else or know that you could have went further,” Arkansas catcher Grant Koch said. “That’s more motivation for us.
“Coming into this year, regardless of last year, we have plenty of motivation. … We have a great opportunity. I think we accept that. We don’t run from that. We’ve got a really good opportunity this year and that’s motivation for us.”
The Razorbacks finished 45-19, 18-11 in the SEC, and posted seminal accomplishments in the SEC Tournament that included a no-hitter against Auburn, a home-run binge, and a run-rule rout of eventual national champion Florida.
Though Coach Dave Van Horn’s club lost key talent like pitcher Trevor Stephan, first baseman Chad Spanberger and outfielder Jake Arledge, there is a load of top returners on the pitching staff and among the position players.
Blaine Knight (8-4, 3.28 ERA), a junior right-hander from Bryant will take the mound for the opener against Bucknell ace Connor Van Hoose (6-6, 2.28), the Patriot League preseason pitcher of the year.
Van Horn has announced right-handers Isaiah Campbell and Keaton McKinney as starters for Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. and Sunday’s noon games, respectively. Both are coming off surgeries. Knight and Campbell can probably throw around 80 pitches, while McKinney, who had Tommy John surgery last winter, will be limited to around 50.
“I think the guys, they’re just glad we’re not scrimmaging this week,” Van Horn said.
“They’re tired of competing against each other and just ready to play somebody else.”
Bucknell Coach Scott Heather, a former Arkansas pitcher, said the Razorbacks’ lineup looks strong.
“Top to bottom, they have some pretty impressive guys on the mound and a pretty deep lineup,” Heather said. “They have a little more power than we’re used to facing top to bottom.
“They’re definitely going to compete for a national title and have a team talented enough to do that. We play Virginia a lot the first couple of weekends … and it will be interesting for me to see how I feel they compare to those teams that were playing in the national title and eventually won it. Just watching the video and seeing the scouting report, I think talent wise they are right up there with those kind of teams.”
Behind the starting trio of Knight, Campbell and McKinney Arkansas stocks a large roster of arms. The veterans include right-handers Jake Reindl (4-1, 2.31, 3 saves), Barrett Loseke (3-0, 4.21) and Cody Scroggins (0-0, 3.86) and left-handers Matt Cronin (31, 2.00), Evan Lee (0-0, 3.60, 2 saves), Kacey Murphy (5-1, 3.65) and Weston Rogers (1-0, 7.11). They’ll be supplemented by freshmen, including 6-8 Jackson Rutledge, Caleb Bolden, Bryce Bonnin, Kole Ramage, Hunter Milligan and Zebulon Vermillion.
“I think we have three incredible quality starters in Blaine, Isaiah and Kacey, and then we’ve got a lot of good returners in my class,” Reindl, a junior, said on media day Jan. 27. “We’ve got a lot of good sophomores and we have a ton of — the freshman class is really talented with Bolden and Rutledge and there’s so many guys that are gonna be incredibly good.”
Murphy (5-1, 3.65) started the no-hitter against Auburn last year and he’ll likely start once a week and take on teams with left-handed heavy lineups.
“Depth is kind of the word everyone describes us with and I think that’s accurate,” Murphy said. “I think we have a lot of guys who are going to contribute, so it’s a big confidence booster with that.”
The Arkansas starting lineup today is likely to include shortstop Jax Biggers, the team’s leading returning hitter with a .338 average, designated hitter Luke Bonfield (.294, 9 HR), the team’s leading returner with 49 RBI, second baseman Carson Shaddy (.279, 8, HR, 40 RBI), catcher Grant Koch (.264, 13, 42), first baseman Evan Lee (.333, 8 RB), third baseman Jared Gates (.246, 6, 14) and outfielders Dominic Fletcher (.291, 12, 37), Eric Cole (.282, 5, 25) and freshman Heston Kjerstad.
The Razorbacks have a 2-0 record against Bucknell, with both meetings coming in the postseason, including a 10-0 Arkansas victory in an elimination game at the 2014 NCAA Charlottesville (Va.) Regional.
Heather said talk of more games started at that regional.
“I was trying to get on the schedule for last year, but [Van Horn] does a good job of scheduling ahead,” Heather said. “We had to push it back one year and it ended up working out.”
The trip to Arkansas is one of 15 consecutive road games to begin the season for Bucknell. The Bison are scheduled to play in five cities in four states before their first home game on March 17.
Matt Jones of WholeHogSports contributed information for this article.