How to watch No. 6 Arkansas vs Alabama, starting pitchers, more
The No. 6 Arkansas Razorbacks (21-4) are back at home this weekend as they prepare to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (20-6) for a three-game series at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville starting Friday.
Arkansas is coming off of a 16-3 run-rule midweek win over Omaha and the Hogs have won 15 in a row at home entering this weekend’s series with weekend sweeps of Wright State, Louisiana Tech, and Auburn during the streak.
Alabama comes into this weekend’s series with a 10-4 win over Middle Tennessee in Huntsville, Alabama, on Tuesday and home series loss over Kentucky last weekend. Alabama lost the first two games to Kentucky, 4-3 in 12 innings and 9-5, but won the finale on Sunday, 4-3.
"Older team, guys that have been in their program for three or four years," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said of Alabama. "Even their sophomores played a lot as freshmen. The juniors have obviously played a lot. They’ve just got an older team, experienced, they don’t get rattled."
Arkansas’ starting rotation remains unchanged for a third consecutive week with left-hander Hunter Hollan getting the start on Friday.
Hollan enters the weekend with a 4-0 record and a 1.97 ERA on the year. The southpaw has allowed nine runs on 25 hits and has struck out 31 in 32.0 innings pitched. Hollan pitched 5 1/3 innings against No. 1 LSU last Friday, allowing no runs on three hits and fanned seven batters.
"He’s been really good," Van Horn said of Hollan. "He’s been consistent, he throws strikes, he competes. He’s got three or four different pitches. He’s got a couple different type of breaking balls. When he’s on, he’s really good."
Alabama right-hander Ben Hess will get the start on the mound Friday night. Hess holds a 3-0 record on the season with a 3.34 ERA and has allowed 16 runs on 26 hits. He has struck out 44 batters in 32 ⅓ innings. Hess threw 1 2/3 innings against Arkansas last season in Tuscaloosa and allowed two runs on two hits and struck out two in the Crimson Tide’s 8-6 win over the Razorbacks.
"He’s just got good stuff," Van Horn said of Hess. "When he makes a mistake or leaves the ball out over the plate, we need to make good contact. If not, it can be a long night."
HawgBeat will have you covered with live updates, stats, commentary and much more throughout the game, and you can check out details on how to watch, starting pitchers, starting lineups when they're posted, notes and more below:
How to watch/listen
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (21-4, 4-2) vs Alabama Crimson Tide (20-6, 2-4)
When: 6:30 p.m. CT Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Fayetteville, Arkansas — Baum-Walker Stadium
Stream/Online: SEC Network+, SEC Network+, SEC Network (Josh Haley & Troy Eklund on Friday and Saturday), (Derek Jones & Lance Cormier on Sunday)
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Phil Elson & Bubba Carpenter)
Starting Rotations
Friday: Alabama RHP Ben Hess (3-0, 3.34 ERA) vs. Arkansas LHP Hunter Hollan (4-0, 1.97 ERA)
Saturday: Alabama RHP Luke Holman (4-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. Arkansas RHP Will McEntire (4-1, 5.23 ERA)
Sunday: Alabama LHP Grayson Hitt (3-1, 3.77 ERA) vs. Arkansas TBA
Notes
~ Arkansas is ranked by all six major college baseball polls:
D1Baseball – No. 6 (-1)
Perfect Game – No. 5 (-2)
NCBWA – No. 6 (-3)
USA Today Coaches – No. 6 (-3)
Collegiate Baseball – No. 7 (-4)
Baseball America – No. 7 (-1)
~ Alabama leads the all-time series against Arkansas 52-46 and the Tide have won the last three games in the series.
~ Arkansas has won 8 of the last 10 series and have dominated Alabama over the last decade with home sweeps of the Crimson Tide in 2012 and 2018. Arkansas is 35-28 against Alabama under head coach Dave Van Horn.
~ A win for Arkansas on Friday would give it a 16th consecutive win at home, which would extend the team's longest home winning streak in a single season under Dave Van Horn and longest since 1997.
~ Since Van Horn’s first season at the helm of the program in 2003, the Hogs have had 10 home winning streaks of 10 or more games, including four home winning streaks of 12 or more games:
15 – March 1-March 28, 2023 – current home winning streak
14 – March 5-April 2, 2022
14 – April 14-June 9, 2018
12 – Feb. 11-March 11, 2003
Some notes courtesy of Arkansas Communications