Razorbacks, Gamecocks set to open SEC series
FAYETTEVILLE Perhaps, the Arkansas Razorbacks say in retrospect, it’s better that heading into tonight’s start of a three-game SEC series at Baum Stadium against South Carolina that they had to come back with four runs in the eighth to escape Grambling State 7-6 Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock than obliterate Grambling State as anticipated in a presumed non-conference mismatch.
Arkansas, 25-9 overall, leading the SEC West at 8-4 and ranked second and third nationally in some polls, needed Carson Shaddy scoring from first on Eric Cole’s single closing its four-run eighth after trailing 6-3 and required ace closer Matt Cronin saving it in the ninth to keep its home away from home folks happy in North Little Rock.
“Well, it was big probably for the mental side of it,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said of extending a now six-game winning streak, including last weekend’s threegame SEC West sweep of Auburn at Baum Stadium. “First off, you've got to give Grambling credit. Man, they played good. They didn't make very many mistakes and they got two or three big-time hits and fouled off a lot of pitches and got to the next pitch and drove in some runs. For us to come back and win that game, it was big for us, not to have to deal with it, the negative of you got beat by a team with an RPI that wasn't very high, and all the things that go with it. If we would have lost, we would have just learned from it and moved on, but It just makes it easier.”
And sharper, Arkansas sophomore center fielder Dominic Fletcher said.
“When you blow somebody out, you kind of lose a little bit of mojo going into the next game,” Fletcher said. “I think it was good that we kept it close, kept it competitive.”
As Van Horn noted, it was Grambling State playing well that made it competitive, but his Hogs did rise to their unexpectedly perilous occasion.
“I think if you blow somebody out that you're supposed to beat, guys
lose focus,” Van Horn said. “When you play a tight game, it definitely keeps you in the moment. It keeps you scrambling a little bit and realize that no matter who you're playing, you can get beat. So it probably just helps keep the focus a little bit more.”
Their focus certainly turns on South Carolina now for tonight’s 6 o’clock game televised by the SEC Network with the Friday and Saturday games starting at 6:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. on SEC+ Internet video.
Now two head baseball coaches removed from two-time South Carolina national champion coach Ray Tanner, promoted to South Carolina athletic director, the Gamecocks come to Baum at 19-14 and 5-7 in the SEC East
against a Razorbacks team that is 6-0 in the SEC at Baum, having swept Kentucky and Auburn here between losing two of three in SEC series at Florida and at Ole Miss.
“We needed to win as many (SEC games at Baum) as we could obviously because we didn't take very good care of business on the road at Ole Miss and Florida,” Van Horn said.
Van Horn implied the Hogs need to rely on more than just the comfort of home against South Carolina, led offensively by third baseman Jonah Bride (.322 batting average) and shortstop LT Tolbert (.312).
Left fielder Carlos Cortes and center fielder Jacob Olson are hitting only .225 and .198 respectively, but have power with, seven home runs and 19 RBIs and nine home runs and 24 RBIs, respectively.
Right-handers Cody
Morris (6-2), Adam Hill (3-3) and Ridge Chapman (1-4) started last weekend’s SEC series when coach Mark Kingston’s Gamecock lost two of three at Kentucky.
“Well, everyone we've talked to about them claims they're extremely talented whether they're winning or not,” Van Horn said.
“They've got really good arms on the mound. They've played a really tough schedule. They seem to be awfully good. It's just the league is awfully good.”
Batting .311 as a team paced by freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad (.370, eight home runs and 32 RBIs), Arkansas on the mound tonight starts ace right-hander Blaine Knight (6-0, 1.93 earned run average), lefty Kacey Murphy (4-2, 2.30 ERA) Friday night and right-hander Isaiah Campbell (2-3, 4.03 ERA) on Saturday afternoon.