Razorbacks not overlooking Bulldogs
FAYETTEVILLE — At only 19-19 overall and 5-10 last in the Southeastern Conference’s West division, the Mississippi State Bulldogs may not seem a major obstacle vs. the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks in this weekend’s three -game series starting tonight in Starkville, Miss.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn knows better.
Van Horn’s Razorbacks (28-10, 10-5) and the Bulldogs play at 6:30 p.m. tonight, 6 p.m Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday on SEC+ Internet video and the Razorbacks Radio Network.
The Bulldogs, now with pitching coach and former Kentucky head coach Gary Henderson in charge as interim coach, suffered early-season turmoil with coach Andy Cannizaro acknowledging making “poor decisions” as cause for his sudden resignation
in February.
The turmoil was reflected on March 16-18 as Vanderbilt (23-14,
9-6) swept the Bulldogs in the SEC season-opener in Starkville.
Apparently, the Bulldogs have regrouped. They have not been swept in the SEC since. The Bulldogs won 1 of 3 in SEC series at Missouri (25-12, 6-9), current SEC West runner-up LSU (24-14, 9-6) and Auburn (26-12, 6-9).
The Ole Miss Rebels (30-8, 8-7) are tied for third in the West with Texas A&M (28-9, 8-7), but the Rebels would be tied with Arkansas for best in the West had Mississippi State not upset them for two games of a three-game series two weekends ago in Starkville.
“I’ve watched a couple of their games or parts of them and some video,” Van Horn said. “They still have pretty much the same amount of talent they’ve always had.”
That talent last year propelled then first-year Cannizaro’s Bulldogs to a 40-27 overall record and
17-13 for third-best in the SEC West. “They’re probably just not as deep on the mound or in that bullpen, but they’ve got good players,” Van Horn said. “There were high expectations there this year.
“Obviously, they had a shakeup with the head coach and kind of threw them for a loop. They got off to a bad start. They’ve slowly rebounded. They beat Ole Miss a couple weeks ago at their place, and they had a chance to beat Auburn and win that series. They’re like every team in our league. They’re dangerous.”
Center fielder Jake Magnum, hitting .354, and second baseman Hunter Stovall, .311, lead the Bulldogs in batting average. Shortstop Luke Alexander, though only hitting .238, leads their power with five home runs and 26 RBIs.
Lefty Konnor Pilkington (2-5) sports a 2.87 ERA and 64 strikeouts against just nine walks in 56 innings. Fellow left-hand pitcher Ethan Small (3-3) has a 2.94 ERA with 69 strikeouts.
Right-hander Jacob Billingsley
(2-2, 4.00 ERA) also likely starts for the Bulldogs against an Arkansas rotation tonight through Sunday of Blaine Knight (6-0, 1.95), Kacey Murphy (5-2, 2.00), and Isaiah Campbell (3-3, 3.44).
Left-handed closer Matt Cronin saved both games of last Saturday’s SEC doubleheader sweep of South Carolina (20-17, 6-9) at Baum Stadium won by Murphy and Campbell.
The Razorbacks hit the road off a 9-1 in-state homestand of nine games at Baum, the latest Tuesday night’s 11-7 nonconference victory over Missouri State (22-11, 5-1 Missouri Valley Conference), and one at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock in an April 10 victory over Grambling State (19-18, 11-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference).
However, the Razorbacks are struggling on the road at 4-5, including losing 2 of 3 in SEC series at Florida (32-7, 12-3) and at Ole Miss.
“You know, we had a great homestand,” freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad said. “But I think we are ready to prove we are a team that can not only win games at home but also get some series wins on the road.”