Arkansas will play yet another ranked opponent this weekend, as Tennessee comes to town for a three-game series. Here is a preview of the matchup…
Schedule (TV)
Friday, April 26 - 6:30 p.m. CT (SECN+)
Saturday, April 27 - 6:30 p.m. CT (SECN+)
Sunday, April 28 - 4 p.m. CT (SECN)
The final game of the series will be televised on the SEC Network, which is why it has the unusual Sunday start time of 4 p.m. As always, all three games can be streamed on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app. (That is the only viewing option for the first two games.)
Weather Report
It will be a little cool, but the weather should be nice for most of the series, according to the Weather Channel.
Friday’s game will start in the low-70s to upper-60s before temperatures dip into the low-60s and upper-50s by the end. It will likely be similar for the next two games, with a slight chance of rain.
The wind could also be a factor for the second two games of the series.
Arkansas’ Starting Rotation (season stats)
Friday - R-Jr. RHP Isaiah Campbell (10 games/10 starts, 7-1, 2.44 ERA, 78 K/10 BB, 66 1/3 IP)
Saturday - Fr. LHP Patrick Wicklander (15 games/8 starts, 3-1, 4.28 ERA, 58 K/26 BB, 40 IP)
Sunday - TBA
Head coach Dave Van Horn is sticking with the same rotation as last week, leaving the finale open with Campbell and Wicklander starting the first two games.
Game 3 will depend on how the first two games go, but if he isn’t used in those games, freshman right-hander Connor Noland (2-2, 4.60 ERA) will likely get the nod because redshirt junior right-hander Cody Scroggins (2-0, 4.54 ERA) is still resting with arm soreness.
He is coming off the best outing of his career, holding Mississippi State’s powerful offense scoreless for 7 2/3 innings. It was the first time he had worked past the fifth inning and it came a week after he failed to record an out at Vanderbilt.
Campbell has been the unquestioned ace of the staff, pitching 7 2/3 innings in each of his last two starts. He has the 11th best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the country and most of his numbers are actually better than Blaine Knight through his first 10 starts last season.
For Wicklander, it will be his second straight SEC start and third of the season. He gave up two earned runs in four innings against the Bulldogs, which raised his ERA as a starter to 2.30 in 31 1/3 innings.
In the Polls
For the fifth straight weekend, Arkansas will be involved in a top-25 showdown, as the Razorbacks are No. 6 and the Volunteers are No. 20 in the latest HawgBeat Composite Poll. It will also be a top-10 matchup in the RPI, pitting No. 6 Tennessee against No. 8 Arkansas.
Former Assistants Return
One of the biggest storylines going into the series is that it marks the return of Tony Vitello, who was the Razorbacks’ hitting coach for four seasons before becoming Tennessee’s head coach.
Now in his second seasons with the Volunteers, this will be the first time he’s faced his former team, which still features several players he recruited.
“He recruited me here, that’s one of the reasons I came here actually,” center fielder Dominic Fletcher said. “He’s a great guy and he’s going to go out there and compete with whatever team he’s with. It’s going to be fun to play against him.”
Campbell - who was actually in his first signing class at Arkansas - described Vitello as a “really good dude.”
“I have all the respect for him and what’s he’s brought to Tennessee,” Campbell said. “I know he’s going to be pumped up and excited to come back to Baum and play us. He’s going to have his team ready to go.”
Although they and several of their teammates will be excited to play against their former coach, this is nothing new for Van Horn. In the past year alone, he has played three of his former assistants.
Rob Childress, who worked for Van Horn at Texarkana College, Northwestern State and Nebraska, brought Texas A&M into Fayetteville near the end of last season and will host the Razorbacks in a few weeks.
Earlier this season, Louisiana Tech came to Baum-Walker Stadium led by Lane Burroughs, who briefly worked under Van Horn at Northwestern State. In October, Todd Butler and Wichita State visited Arkansas for a fall scrimmage.
“I think it’ll be like any other game,” Van Horn said. “I don’t see it any differently. Once the game starts, it’s all about how we play, how the Razorbacks play. It doesn’t matter who’s sitting in the other dugout.”
It will also be the return of former volunteer assistant Josh Elander, who Van Horn said he loved having on staff in 2017. He is now the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for the Volunteers.
“We told (Vitello) to take Josh because he had a chance to get paid,” Van Horn said. “Here we are again back to that (third) assistant thing, and if we had another assistant at the time, Josh would have been the paid guy because we thought he was really good.”
Scouting the Opponent
Tennessee’s starting rotation (season stats)
Friday - So. LHP Garrett Crochet (12 games/2 starts, 3-2, 2.45 ERA, 55 K/11 BB, 40 1/3 IP)
Saturday - Jr. RHP Garrett Stallings (10 games/10 starts, 7-2, 1.82 ERA, 71 K/11 BB, 69 1/3 IP)
Sunday - Jr. RHP Zach Linginfelter (12 games/11 starts, 6-4, 3.91 ERA, 50 K/17 BB, 53 IP)
Despite being picked to finish fifth, Tennessee has established itself as the third best team in the SEC East behind Georgia and Vanderbilt, which are top-5/top-10 teams.
The Volunteers are 31-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play. They are coming off a road sweep at Kentucky, which came on the heals of a series win over then-No. 2 Georgia.
Pitching is by far the strength of their team, but Van Horn mentioned that they also have some solid hitters - which helped them put up 16 runs in one of their wins over the Wildcats last weekend.
“They can really, really play,” Van Horn said. “They have a good team and a lot of people are just talking about their pitching - every time you look up, they’re shutting teams out and giving up one run - but they’re swinging the bats pretty good now, scoring runs.”
Sophomore left fielder Alerick Soularie is Tennessee’s top bat, as he’s hitting .374 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs. He also has more walks (24) than strikeouts (23) and is actually hitting better against SEC opponents (.387) than in non-conference games.
Tied with him for the team lead in home runs is junior third baseman Andre Lipcius. He is hitting .275 and has a team-high 41 RBIs.
Tennessee also has the SEC’s top base stealer in junior center fielder Jay Charleston. He is hitting just .228, but when he does get on base, he’s a threat to steal, with 29 swipes in 31 attempts. That is 10 more stolen bases than anyone else in the conference. Junior right fielder Justin Ammons is a threat to run, as well, with 13 stolen bases on 18 attempts.
“They have a couple of guys that can really run… (and) they’ll move people around,” Van Horn said. “They have a couple guys that can hit it out of the park, but they’re not just going to sit around and wait on it.”
However, it is impossible to look at the Volunteers and not notice their incredible pitching numbers. They have the country’s top ERA, the second best WHIP and the fourth best strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Although he is Saturday’s starter, Stallings is the ace of the staff. In his six SEC starts alone, he has a 1.94 ERA and is holding opponents to a .234 batting average while averaging nearly seven innings.
The Friday starter will instead be Crochet for the third straight week. Conference opponents are hitting .291 against him, but he threw five shutout innings against Georgia and gave up just two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings against Kentucky last week.
Linginfelter has been Tennessee’s least effective starter, averaging less than five innings in his six SEC starts and posting a 6.91 ERA in those outings.
“Most of their guys that are doing the job were already in the program as far as pitchers,” Van Horn said. “They just needed a little bit of time and maybe a different pitching coach, a different philosophy maybe.”
Freshman right-hander Camden Sewell (0.67 ERA in 27 IP), junior left-hander Will Heflin (2.55 ERA in 17 2/3 IP) and junior right-hander Andrew Schultz (2.00 ERA in 18 IP) are the Volunteers’ top relievers.
They’ll also likely use senior Will Neely, who was a weekend starter before Crochet took his spot, out of the pen. He has one of the worst ERAs on the team at 5.93 despite throwing the third most innings (41).
At the back end, redshirt sophomore left-hander Redmond Walsh will close out games. In addition to his seven saves, he has a minuscule 0.35 ERA in 26 innings this season. He also has 26 strikeouts to only four walks.
“It’ll be like every weekend in the league for the most part,” Van Horn said. “You’re playing a really, really good club and we’ll have to play good.”
Examining Arkansas’ Lineup Switch
A few weeks ago, Van Horn shuffled the top of his lineup by moving Casey Martin out of the leadoff spot and sliding Trevor Ezell up to replace him.
The Razorbacks are now 14 games into the switch and it seems to be working for both players.
As the leadoff batter for the first 28 games of the season, Martin was slashing just .267/.338/.508. He has since hit in the 2- and 3-hole and looks much more like the preseason All-American he was expected to be, with a .359/.446/.656 slash.
Ezell hasn’t experienced quite as dramatic of an improvement, but his numbers have gone from .286/.408/.459 to .309/.452/.545 as the leadoff man.
It’s a position he enjoys because he held the top spot in Southeast Missouri State’s order for a large chunk of his career there before transferring to Arkansas.
“I spent my first two collegiate seasons there, so I’m definitely comfortable there,” Ezell said. “I just try to be a tone setter and put a good at bat together and kind of see what that guy has that day.”
Stat of the Week
It will be a clash of styles at Baum-Walker Stadium between Arkansas’ strong lineup and Tennessee’s stellar pitching staff. Both teams’ strong suits have been particularly dominant lately, so something will have to give.
Over their last nine games, the Volunteers have posted a 1.33 ERA and 0.96 WHIP while limiting opponents to a .202/.273/.298 slash line.
By contrast, the Razorbacks are hitting .378/.481/.649 and forcing their opponents into a 12.21 ERA and 2.66 WHIP over their last seven games.
Stat Comparison - Arkansas | Tennessee (national rank, out of 297 teams)
Batting average: .303 (14th) | .261 (174th)
Slugging percentage: .488 (8th) | .412 (98th)
On-base percentage: .405 (17th) | .371 (111th)
Home runs: 50 (t-19th) | 39 (t-50th)
Runs/game: 7.8 (16th) | 6.1 (119th)
ERA: 4.17 (71st) | 2.68 (1st)
WHIP: 1.31 (42nd) | 1.06 (2nd)
Strikeouts/9 innings: 9.6 (25th) | 9.1 (55th)
Strikeout-to-walk ratio: 2.35 (57th) | 3.44 (4th)
Fielding percentage: .971 (100th) | .982 (4th)
Stolen bases/game: 1.29 (90th) | 1.76 (33rd)
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