The Razorbacks split a pair of midweek games at No. 9 Texas and then continued their hot start to conference play by winning their first SEC road series since 2017, taking two of three at Alabama.
Before we completely turn the page to yet another tough week that includes a road game at Missouri State and a home series against Ole Miss, though, let’s take one final look at the last five games in our weekly feature for HawgBeat subscribers.
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Beyond the Box Score
Game 2 at Texas
Arkansas’ second game against Texas, which it lost 7-6, is a perfect example of how box scores don’t tell the whole story. The raw statistics show a bullpen that had a complete meltdown with 14 walks and four hit batsmen, throwing more balls (94) than strikes (81).
While it was undoubtedly an ugly showing by the Razorbacks’ pitchers, it is also worth noting that the relievers were six freshmen and a sophomore making his Division I debut. Three of them - Jacob Burton, Caden Monke and Carter Sells - didn’t even make the 27-man roster for the weekend series at Alabama and the other four - Evan Taylor, Liam Henry, Elijah Trest and Collin Taylor - pitched only when the margin was at least nine runs.
Head coach Dave Van Horn was saving his top bullpen arms - Jacob Kostyshock, Kevin Kopps and Matt Cronin - for the Alabama series because he places the utmost importance on SEC games. Texas may mean a lot to fans because of the old Southwest Conference rivalry, but Van Horn is on record saying it’s just another non-conference opponent to him.
Instead of going all out to sweep the Longhorns, he was trying to put his team in the best possible position to win the Alabama series. As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20 - he had no way of knowing his offense would crush the Crimson Tide’s ace, who came in with a 2.03 ERA, and allow him to throw the aforementioned freshmen in Game 1 of that series two days later.
