Hogs not foreign to SEC straits
FAYETTEVILLE — No. 18 Arkansas is vowing to pitch and hit with a more aggressive edge this weekend against Auburn after being swept in its opening SEC series at No. 12 South Carolina.
The Razorbacks (15-6, 0-3 SEC) host Auburn (11-10, 1-2 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. today at Baum Stadium for their SEC home opener.
“We know we’re in last place right now, but we’re going to start chipping away, and you’ll see an edge from this team, that we’re about to start playing really good,” Arkansas third baseman Carson Shaddy said.
“I think the team’s hungrier than ever,” outfielder Luke Bonfield said.
The older Razorbacks have experience in rebounding from bad SEC starts. Last year’s club lost its first three league games at defending College World Series champion Vanderbilt and was 1-5 in the SEC before rallying for a 17-12 conference record and a College World Series appearance.
Coach Dave Van Horn has that and other examples to draw from to motivate his team.
“He told us yesterday he’s started 2-7 and came back and was top of the conference, so anything can happen,” Shaddy said. “It’s one weekend, and it’s time to put it in the past.”
Said starting pitcher Dominic Taccolini, “We definitely don’t want to start 0-3, but we’ve been there before and we’ve come out of the hole. The past two years, both the teams we’ve played were away, and they’re both really good teams.”
The Razorbacks struck out 33 times in the threegame set in Columbia, S.C., and top pitchers Taccolini, Keaton McKinney and Zach Jackson were all roughed up to varying degrees as the Gamecocks won 10-6, 6-2 and 8-6.
“The first inning I left too many pitches up, and they just hammered them,” said
Taccolini, who allowed five runs in the first inning and three more in the second before holding South Carolina scoreless the next four in Friday’s 10-6 loss.
Taccolini said pitching coach Dave Jorn was hammering home pitch location to the staff in Wednesday’s workout.
“If you get the ball down, the hitters find a way to almost get themselves out,” Taccolini said. “When you leave the ball up in hitters counts, it’s just what they want. You’ve got to move their feet, [Jorn] says, and keep them uncomfortable.”
Van Horn said Sunday’s loss, when the Razorbacks blew a 6-1 fifth-inning lead, was the most painful.
“It hurt everybody, and it would have saved our trip,” Van Horn said. “Now you come back 0-3 and don’t have a midweek game, don’t have a chance to play and get it going. We’ve got to start finishing games, and obviously we’ve got to get off to a better start in games so we’re in ball games in league play.”
Taccolini (3-1, 4.06 ERA), who had three quality starts and a 2.16 ERA before his South Carolina struggles, will get the ball tonight against Auburn senior right-hander Justin Camp (1-1, 4.94).
Auburn — led by first-year Coach Butch Thompson, a former Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi State assistant coach — is second in the SEC with a .327 batting average and third with 166 runs.
“I’m sure Arkansas will be ready to go, as always,” Thompson said. “They’re well coached, and it’ll be a great atmosphere.
“Hopefully we’ll keep playing great offense, and we’ll bring confidence in from that side.”
Auburn’s Joshua Palacios (.433) and Anfernee Grier (.432) are first and second in SEC batting average, while Grier and Niko Buentello have six home runs apiece to tie South Carolina’s John Jones for the league lead.
“They’re a really good hitting team,” Shaddy said. “It’s going to be up to our pitchers to go and minimize what they do with the bats, and then we’re going to have to come out as hitters and really fire away at their three starters.”
Van Horn was not happy about averaging 11 strikeouts
per game last weekend.
“We had a few guys who were in their first time in SEC play, and I don’t think they handled it too well offensively,” he said. “I’m not going to name any names, but guys are walking back to the dugout saying, ‘That pitch was 5 inches outside,’ and I said, ‘Well, it’s still strike three.’
“You’ve got to fight it off. But we didn’t do a very good job with two strikes, and we haven’t done a very good job with two strikes in probably the last 10 ball games, and it’s cost us some runs.”
Bonfield said the Arkansas batters plan to be more aggressive at Baum Stadium this weekend.
“Just hunt some fastballs early in the count,” he said. “I think that’s what contributed to some of the strikeouts was not being aggressive enough early in the count and letting some good pitches go by.”
Shaddy said hitting coach Tony Vitello talked Wednesday about battling with two strikes more effectively.
“I think you’re going to see a better approach from the team as a whole this weekend,” Shaddy said.