Well- armed Hogs hope to quiet Baylor bats
FAYETTEVILLE — With facts to back it up, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn never slacks from an opportunity to brag on Southeastern Conference baseball.
However when it comes to batting, Van Horn swings to the Big 12 champion Baylor Bears his Razorbacks play in the Super Regionals beginning today in Waco, Texas.
SEC West runner- up Arkansas, 42- 19 and winner of the Houston Regional, and Baylor,
48- 15 and Waco Regional winner and No. 4 national seed, play the best- of- three series today, Sunday and Monday, if necessary, to determine who joins the other Super Regional champions at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Game times are 4 p. m. today and 3 p. m. Sunday, both televised by ESPNU, and if necessary, 3 p. m. Monday on ESPN2.
Baylor brings a .312 batting average with a lineup starting six batting over .300, led by All- American catcher Josh Ludy (. 368, 15 home runs and 69 RBI).
Ludy is hitting 25 points higher with eight more homers and 27 more runs batted in than Arkansas’ triple- threat leader, third- team All- American third baseman Matt Reynolds (. 343, seven home runs and 42 RBI).
Shortstop Tim Carver (. 307) and first baseman Dominic Ficociello (. 300), Arkansas’ next highest average hitters, hit below Baylor’s next five batsmen below Ludy, Baylor first baseman Max Muncy knocking home 54 RBI.
“Offensively there is no team in the SEC that can hit like that as far as numbers,” Van Horn said. “That .312 team batting average jumps out at you.”
After losing the first game of the Waco Regional, 4- 2 to Oral Roberts, Baylor blasted out of the loses’ bracket 11- 6 over Texas- Arlington, 5- 2 over Oral Roberts and 9- 2 and 8- 2 over Dallas Baptist.
“They swung their way back into the tournament,” Van Horn said.
Arkansas junior right- hander DJ Baxendale, today’s starter, said the Bears can slug and run, too.
“I know they are a great hitting team and don’t strike out much and have a high amount of walks and like to put the ball in play,” Baxendale said. “They hit and run and bunt and make the defense work.”
At the Houston Regional, Arkansas starters Baxendale, Ryne Stanek and Randall Fant and relievers Barrett Astin ( team- high 10 saves), Brandon Moore, Nolan Sanburn and Colby Suggs rendered the opposing offenses unworkable. The Razorbacks won 5- 4 over Sam Houston State, 1- 0 over host Rice and 5- 1 over Sam Houston in the final. Arkansas pitching yielded but one earned run those games in Houston.
“They’re a tough hitting team, we know that,” sophomore Sanburn said of the Bears. “But we’re a tough pitching team. We’ve got a lot of good arms on our team. We’ve confident in anyone we run out there.”
Though they have records relatively modest at 7- 4 each, Baxendale and Stanek are considered among college baseball’s premier pitchers and certainly proved it at the Houston Regional.
The Bears will sweat in a best- of- three setup facing Stanek Sunday should the Hogs win today. Stanek blanked Rice through seven with Astin preserving the 1- 0 win.
“It’s great to have not just one, but two guys that can really show up and perform for us like that,” Arkansas first baseman Ficociello said of Baxendale and Stanek.
However, Baylor coach Steve Smith, a Baylor pitcher in 1982 when Van Horn was Arkansas’ second baseman for retired Hall of Fame coach Norm DeBriyn, boasts fine pitchers, too.
Baylor right- hander Trent Blank, today’s starter, is 10- 1 with a 2.32 ERA and left- hander Josh Turley ( 9- 1, 1.82) starts Sunday. Right- hander Tyler Bremer, the likely Baylor starter for a Monday game, is 7- 1, 3.08. Baylor closer Max Garner matches Astin’s 10 saves.
“They don’t have pitchers that are overpowering,” Van Horn said, “but what they do is they don’t walk you. They throw strikes.”