Stanek sorely missed

FAYETTEVILLE — The last time Arkansas used seven pitchers in a game before Saturday’s series finale against Auburn, the Razorbacks held Oral Roberts to one hit in a 6-1 victory.

It didn’t work as well for Arkansas’ seven pitchers against Auburn, which had 18 hits in a 12-5 victory over the Razorbacks at Baum Stadium.

The Razorbacks were counting on sophomore starter Nolan Sanburn and junior Ty Wright to eat up a lot of innings Saturday with Ryne Stanek sidelined, and the results were disastrous.

Sanburn, who is draft eligible after this season, couldn’t get out of the second inning and allowed 4 hits and 3 runs in 1 inning. Wright couldn’t get out of the third inning and allowed 1 hit, 1 run and 2

1 walks in 1 ⁄ innings.

3 Sophomore Brandon

2 Moore had to go 2 ⁄ innings

3 and allowed 4 hits and 2

1 runs after pitching 3 ⁄ on

3 Thursday night. Junior Trent Daniel replaced Moore and was rocked for 5 hits and 4 runs in 1 inning.

“We’re trying to get through the weekend without [Stanek], we had to have some guys step up and give us some innings so we didn’t have to bring in our other guys so early ... and we couldn’t stop anybody,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.

“The guys that don’t pitch as much as they want to ... when they get out there and they get the ball, they need to show us they can do it so we have confidence to give them the ball.”

Van Horn’s frustration with the pitching staff also included junior starter Randall Fant lasting just three innings in the Razorbacks’ 5-4 victory on Friday night. He hasn’t gone more than three innings in any of his past three starts.

“How many innings did we get out of our starter, for like three weeks in a row?” Van Horn said. “These are guys that are talking about playing at the next level. You’ve got to be able play at this level first. Sometimes that can get in the way at this time of the year.”

Van Horn said he expects Stanek (6-3, 2.99 ERA) to be able to pitch at Tennessee next weekend.