Stephan throws 1st vs. Vandy

FAYETTEVILLE — Circumstances contributed to Dave Van Horn’s decision to start 6-5 right-hander Trevor Stephan in Arkansas’ series-opener today against Vanderbilt, but Stephan didn’t just fall into the role.

Van Horn said the decision to start Stephan in the No. 1 slot was based on Stephan’s performance against Tennessee last Saturday and the fact that Blaine Knight, Arkansas’s normal No. 1 man, had to throw on two days during last week’s rain-interrupted series at Knoxville, Tenn.

Stephan, who is 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA, will be opposed by Vanderbilt 6-3 righthander Patrick Raby (8-3, 2.29) in game 1 of Arkansas’ final SEC home series. The game will be broadcast live by the SEC Network.

“Blaine threw Thursday and Saturday, so this will just give him another day’s rest,” Van Horn said. “There’s no reason to bring him back on short rest.

“Stephan threw Saturday as well, but he got hot and got it done in a couple of hours, so we feel like that might be the best move, at least this weekend.”

Stephan pitched a onehit shutout in a seven inning 2-0 victory over the Volunteers last Saturday and was named pitcher of the week by the National College Baseball Writers Association and SEC.

“That was big for the

confidence level,” Stephan said. “You always want to give your team a chance.”

Stephan said he’s had to sharpen his performances against SEC competition after going six weeks without a victory after a 5-4 victory over Mississippi State on March 18.

“The competition got harder and my mistakes were getting hit,” Stephan said. “I just had to learn how to pitch a little better.”

The series will impact both sides of the SEC standings. The Razorbacks (35-13, 14-9 SEC) are 1½ games behind Mississippi State in the SEC West. Vanderbilt (29-19, 12-11 SEC) still has a chance of catching Florida (16-8) and Kentucky (15-9) in the SEC East.

Arkansas concludes its SEC regular-season schedule next week against Texas A&M (14-10, 34-15) at College Station.

“Our goal is to win the West this year,” second baseman Carson Shaddy said. “It’s not to host a regional or anything like that. … “It would be great, but we’re just focused on winning these last two series and then going to the SEC Tournament and trying to win that.”

The Razorbacks are 4-5 over their last nine games.

“Yeah, we’ve just kind of been sputtering along, it’s pretty obvious,” Van Horn

said. “I think every team goes through it a little bit. Our job as coaches is to try to get them rolling here at the end.”

The Razorbacks won their weekend opener six weeks in a row with Knight taking five victories in that span, but have lost their openers each of the past three weekends against Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee, which were oddly completed on a Friday, Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Stephan has allowed no runs on four hits over his last 12 innings since yielding four runs in the first inning in a 4-1 loss to Ole Miss on April 28.

“I’m just commanding my fastball better, and having

the off-speed working, really is my biggest difference,” Stephan said when asked about his hot streak.

“He went through a little rough patch, but we all know how good he can be,” Shaddy said, adding that Stephan’s fastball has been an effective out pitch lately.

“That’s his best pitch by far,” Shaddy said. “I’ve hit off of it, and it jumps on you and it rises, it seems like.”

Freshman outfielder Dominic Fletcher described Stephan’s pitching as electric.

“He’s got probably one of the best fastballs in the SEC,” Fletcher said. “When he’s getting ahead in the count and getting after hitters, there’s not many teams that could put up a few runs on him.”

Vanderbilt opened the season ranked in the top 10 of nearly every college baseball poll, but the Commodores fell out of the polls after losing two of three at Ole Miss to open SEC play, and followed that with an 8-8 stretch in the middle of the season. The Commodores have gone 7-3 since losing a series against Florida on April 15.

“We’re facing a good team that has outstanding pitching,” Van Horn said. “They’ve got two to three kids that are supposed to go high in the draft, maybe as early as the second or third pick.”

Vanderbilt has five regulars hitting .300 or better: Julian Infante (.328, 9 HR, 52 RBI), Reed Hayes (.316, 0, 34),

Will Toffey (.310, 5, 40), Jeren Kendall (.303, 13, 36) and Jason Delay (.303, 2, 25). Infante had a career-best seven RBI in Sunday’s 14-5 victory over Missouri.

Knight (6-3, 3.63 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against 6-4 righthander Kyle Wright (2-5, 3.35). The Commodores are likely to start 6-5 right-hander Chandler Day (7-1, 3.54) in Sunday’s 1 p.m. finale, while 6-0 left-hander Kacey Murphy (4-0, 3.41) is probable for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks are likely to have senior Dominic Taccolini (3-0, 4.99) back in action after missing a few weeks with tightness in his pitching arm.

Stephan