Adcock shines in first start for Diamond Hogs
The No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks might have found another key piece to the puzzle, as right-hander Cody Adcock twirled a scoreless six-inning, one-hit gem Sunday in the Diamond Hogs' 5-0 win over Auburn.
Arkansas entered the weekend with a different starting rotation than it's had to begin the year. Head coach Dave Van Horn elected to make usual Friday starter Hagen Smith a "wild card" and he threw lefty Hunter Hollan on Friday, righty Will McEntire on Saturday and left Sunday as TBA.
After deciding on Adcock as his starter entering Sunday's contest, Van Horn said on the pregame radio broadcast that he hoped for four innings out of the Crowder College transfer. Adcock went six innings in his first Division I start since May 29, 2021, when he threw against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament for Ole Miss.
"I felt like he didn’t have nearly as many bad misses," Van Horn said. "He had a lot of close pitches. Maybe in the first inning or second inning he hung a pitch when he was ahead in the count. Other than that, he got it together and he pitched like he was in command."
Adcock threw with confidence and didn't have the mistake pitches he's thrown throughout this season. The native of Texarkana, Arkansas, entered the game with a 7.82 ERA, but his efforts Sunday helped him lower that to 5.30.
"Yeah, I felt good today," Adcock said. "I was just going to come out and give our team a chance to win. It really just comes down to executing pitches, so that's what I was doing, just trying to take it one pitch at a time, and I got the results I did."
The right-hander struck out six and walked just one while facing just one more than the minimum through the six innings. He issued a one-out walk in the top of the second, but he bounced back by inducing a fly out and striking out the next batter to get out of trouble.
"Yeah, my second inning I didn't think I was making pitches the way I should have," Adcock said. "I don't know what it was, maybe after I came out to the third for the warmup pitches. I don't know what it was, but something clicked, and I was like 'OK, it's go time.'"
Adcock's start was not only impressive, but it proved that Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs might have made the right decision by making Smith a "wild card" entering the series. All three of Arkansas' starters went exactly six innings and it took just seven pitchers for the Hogs to sweep the Tigers and allow just five total runs on the weekend.
Next weekend will be the real challenge when the Diamond Hogs travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to square off with the No. 1 LSU Tigers. First pitch Friday is set for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN2.