SEC series to feature Razorbacks, Gamecocks
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks may say, in retrospect, it was better to escape Grambling State’s upset attempt Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock than obliterate the Tigers as anticipated in a presumed non-conference mismatch.
Arkansas (25-9, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday to hold off Grambling (1617) ahead of tonight’s start of a three-game SEC series at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville against South Carolina (19-14, 5-7). Redshirt senior Carson Shaddy scored on junior Eric Cole’s single to close a four-run eighth inning Tuesday after trailing, 6-3. Matt Cronin earned the save in the ninth to keep fans 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. “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 got 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 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 p.m. game televised by the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79). Friday and Saturday’s games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, on SEC+ Internet video.
“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 L.T. Tolbert, .312, as well as left fielder Carlos Cortes and center fielder Jacob Olson, hitting only .225 and .198, but both have power. Cortes has seven home runs and 19 RBIs. Olson has nine home runs and 24 RBIs.
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 Gamecocks lost two out of three games at Kentucky (22-10, 5-7).
“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, Arkansas is paced by freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad, batting .370 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs. The Razorbacks are scheduled to start ace right-hander Blaine Knight (6-0), of Bryant, with a 1.93 ERA, tonight; lefty Kacey Murphy (4-2), 2.30 ERA, of Rogers, on Friday night; and right-hander Isaiah Campbell (2-3), 4.03 ERA, on Saturday afternoon.