Hogs looking to Knight for opener
FAYETTEVILLE — All three games in this Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Auburn Tigers SEC West series running tonight, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Baum Stadium count equally.
But the Blaine Knight vs. Casey Mize starting pitching matchup makes tonight’s the most anticipated of the three slated for 6:30 tonight and 6 p.m. Saturday on Internet viewing at SEC Network+ and Sunday’s game starting at 4 p.m. to accommodate SEC Network (Resort Channel 79) television.
The nationally Division 1.com rankings putting coach Dave Van Horn’s Razorbacks sixth while
21-9 overall and 5-4 in the rugged SEC and coach Butch Thompson’s Tigers (22-7, 4-5) 17th trumpet the weekend’s importance, but it’s Knight vs. Mize tonight attracting the most major league scouts to Baum.
Knight, the Razorbacks’ junior right-hander from Bryant, brings a 5-0 record with a 2.01 earned run average and 42 strikeouts vs. 10 walks through
40 1/3 innings in seven starts.
Junior right-hander Mize, 6-0 and 2.11 ERA, amazes even more with 70 strikeouts vs. three walks through 47 innings.
Van Horn likens Mize to David Price, the former Vanderbilt All-American and current Boston Red Sox pitcher who previously excelled for the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers.
“He’s a right-handed David Price,” Van Horn said. “You beat him, you beat David Price at Vandy seven years ago. This guy is leading the NCAA in pitching stats in just about everything. … We’re going to see if we can beat him on Friday … But they have two other really good starters as well.”
Mize vs. Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas’ freshman flash, should have scouts drooling. Kjerstad, the left-handed hitting left fielder batting .400 with eight home runs, hit his most recent home run against Louisiana-Monroe Wednesday 430 feet over Baum’s 25-foot tall scoreboard into the pond beyond.
“He is just a good hitter because he can drive the ball to left field and — just like today — he can turn on a ball,” Van Horn said after Kjerstad’s Wednesday shot into space. “If you make a mistake or leave it in the zone a little bit, he usually doesn’t miss it. He hits it hard somewhere.”
Mize doesn’t make many mistakes and keeps his pitch count low throwing strikes.
“You’d like to take pitches and get his pitch count up,” Van Horn said. “But if he’s filling it up, we don’t want to get behind in the count and give him even more of an advantage.”
Knight doesn’t make many mistakes either even when his stuff isn’t up to snuff.
“A few days his stuff’s been great,” Van Horn said. “But even on days when it’s just OK the more mature, old Blaine Knight knows how to get through some innings and seems to get out of jams. He doesn’t get rattled.”
Auburn did rattle Knight’s ERA last year in one of the right-hander’s rare bad outings.
“The way I see it, they got lucky last year,” Knight said. “They caught me on an off day, and they happened to be hot. I don’t plan on that happening twice.”
Auburn can hit, batting .289 as a team led by first baseman Brendan Venter, .348, with five Tigers hitting from five to seven home runs.
Right-handers Tanner Burns (2-4, 2.43) and Davis Daniel (2-1, 3.37) come next in Auburn’s SEC weekend rotation.
Kacey Murphy, the 3-2, 2.25 junior lefty from Rogers become Arkansas’ second-best starter, will pitch Saturday’s game two of the series with Sunday’s Arkansas starter still to be announced.
Arkansas junior right-hander Isaiah Campbell, opening the season as Arkansas’ No. 2 starter but ineffective two weeks ago and then scratched last week because of elbow soreness, is back on the roster but likely to be used in relief rather than starting against Auburn, Van Horn said.
Some inopportune shoddy defense cost Arkansas losing 2 of 3 SEC games last week at Ole Miss and cost Auburn losing 2 of 3 SEC home games last week to Missouri.
Arkansas committed four errors struggling to beat Louisiana-Monroe, 10-9, Tuesday night in 10 innings but did field flawlessly while beating ULM, 4-0, Wednesday.
Because of Thursday’s forecast for thunderstorms today, fans are advised to stay posted in case tonight’s game gets rescheduled to open a Saturday doubleheader.