Streaking Hogs set for Tigers on road
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 4 University of Arkansas baseball team will put a couple of big streaks on the line this weekend at Missouri.
The Razorbacks (16-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) have won 11 consecutive SEC series and 11 straight games heading into tonight’s series opener against the Tigers (12-5, 0-3) at 6 p.m. at Taylor Stadium.
Arkansas has not suffered a losing weekend in SEC play since dropping two of three at Texas A&M on the final weekend of the 2019 regular season. The COVID-19 pandemic knocked out conference play in 2020, and Arkansas won all 10 of its league series last year en route to the SEC regular season and tournament championships.
Fourth-year right-hander Connor Noland (3-1, 3.07 ERA) will start the weekend for the sixth consecutive week for the Razorbacks, who have won 15 of their last 18 games versus Missouri.
The Tigers (12-5, 0-3), coming off a road sweep at the hands of new No. 1 Vanderbilt, will counter with 6-3 right-hander Spencer Miles (2-1, 5.19) who was touched for seven earned runs in three innings by the Commodores last Friday.
The Tigers were 12-2 before being swamped by the Commodores by a combined score of 28-6.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said it’s tough to evaluate the Tigers until his club gets on the same field with them.
“I know the situation for them because we’ve all been in it before,” Van Horn said. “You have a rough weekend, and you’ve got somebody coming to you, it’s super important.
“We’re going to get involved with a team that’s on a mission, and they’re going to give us everything we can handle. Because they’re 0-3 and we’re 3-0, we can’t take anybody lightly, obviously. We have to go up there and play hard every game.”
The Razorbacks seem to be emerging after a slow start at the plate that led to a sputtering 5-3 start.
Newcomers Michael Turner (.369, 4 home runs, 20 RBI), Chris Lanzilli (.364, 2, 14) and Peyton Stovall (.313, 2, 10) are the only Razorback regulars hitting better than .300. Robert Moore (.292, 2, 15) peered over the .300 mark during a hot start against Kentucky, when he had back-to-back three RBI games, while Zack Gregory (.292, 1, 5) is reaching base at a solid .469 clip that trails only Lanzilli (.481) on the team.
Third baseman Cayden Wallace (.284, 3, 20) had a torrid run immediately after Van Horn moved him to the leadoff spot, including grand slams in back-to-back games. However, he cooled off in the Kentucky series with a 1 of 14 weekend.
The second baseman Moore (4 for 9), catcher Turner (4 for 10) and outfielder Lanzilli (3 for 10) all had good weekends in the sweep of Kentucky, but outfielder Brady Slavens (0 for 10)
and second baseman Stovall (2 for 11) joined Wallace in cooling off against the ‘Cats.
Missouri ranks ninth in the SEC with a .297 team batting average.
The Tigers are led by Torin Montgomery (.364, 14 RBI), Ty Wilmsmeyer (.361, 1 HR, 9 RBI), Ross Lovich (.350, 2, 12) and Josh Day (.323, 5, 13).
However, Vanderbilt put the clamps on the Tigers’ bats, holding them to 15 of 94 (.160) hitting last weekend. Only South Carolina (.118), swept by sizzling-hot Tennessee had a slower start at the plate in SEC play.
Van Horn, who attended high school in greater Kansas City, has maintained a successful recruiting base in the region, bringing in current talent like Moore, Slavens, reserve infielder Kendall Diggs and pitchers Zebulon Vermillion and Mark Adamiak.
The Tigers also recruit heavily in the area.
“We know a lot of of their players,” Van Horn said. “We recruited some of those guys. They recruited some of the guys we have. Obviously they’re the closest university to us that we play in the league, so there’s going to be some familiarity a little bit through the recruiting process.
“We didn’t play them last year. Just looking at the numbers, their offensive numbers are really good. They’ve fielded the ball. They haven’t hit for a lot of power, but they’ve hit. Their batting average is up there. Yeah, they ran into a tough team in Vandy, a hot team in Vandy. It just didn’t go good for them.”
Arkansas will stay with the rotation it has used all season, with freshman Hagen Smith (4-1, 3.08 ERA) and sophomore Jaxon Wiggins (3-0, 3.38) following Noland. The Tigers have announced Austin Marozas (0-0, 5.40) for Sunday’s 1 p.m. game. However, they have not announced their starter for Saturday’s game, which will be broadcast on the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79) after Austin Troesser (3-0, 2.21) came out of last week’s Saturday game at Vanderbilt after two innings.