The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2) will host the Illinois State Redbirds (4-3) at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville on Wednesday afternoon.
After taking two out of a three-game series against Eastern Illinois over the weekend, the Razorbacks are back to face another team from the Prairie State in the Illinois State Redbirds.
Illinois State went 2-2 last week, falling 6-5 in a midweek game at SIU-Edwardsville and winning two games out of three in Jonesboro against Arkansas State. After facing the Razorbacks, the Redbirds will complete their trip around the state taking on Central Arkansas in a weekend series.
Getting the start on the mound for Arkansas will be senior left-hander Zack Morris, who will be making his first start and third overall outing of the season. The southpaw from Cabot will pitch in his 47th career game at Arkansas, and he has a career 7-2 record with 61.0 innings pitched and 50 total strikeouts in that span.
The Redbirds will start freshman right-hander Thomas Harper, who will be making his second career start after getting the nod for Illinois State’s midweek outing against SIU-Edwardsville. The Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, native threw 4.0 innings against the Cougars, allowing five hits, two runs, five walks and struck out four in the 6-5 loss.
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:
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2) vs Illinois State Redbirds (4-3)
When: 3 p.m. CT Wednesday
Where: Fayetteville, Arkansas — Baum-Walker Stadium
Stream/Online: SEC Network+ (Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund)
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Bubba Carpenter)
Arkansas Starting Pitcher
Senior LHP Zack Morris
6'3", 225 pounds / Cabot, Arkansas / Cabot HS
2023 stats: 0-1, 13.50 ERA, 3 GP, 5.1 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 K, 2 BB
Arkansas Starting Lineup
1. Tavian Josenberger CF
2. Jace Bohrofen RF
3. Jared Wegner LF
4. Brady Slavens 1B
5. Peyton Stovall 2B
6. Kendall Diggs DH
7. Caleb Cali 3B
8. Parker Rowland C
9. John Bolton SS
Illinois State Starting Pitcher
Freshman RHP Thomas Harper
6'4", 205 pounds / Wauwatosa, Wisconsin / Wauatosa East HS
2023 stats: 0-0, 3.60 ERA, 2 GP, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 5 BB
Illinois State Starting Lineup
1. Auggie Rasmussen RF
2. Luke Cheng SS
3. Greg Nichols 3B
4. Adrian Flores 1B
5. Shay Kubo 2B
6. Daniel Pacella LF
7. Connor Olson DH
8. Dylan Swarmer C
9. Blake Stenger CF
Notes
~ Arkansas is ranked by all six major college baseball polls after the second weekend of play:
D1Baseball – No. 8 (+1)
Perfect Game – No. 3
NCBWA – No. 7
USA Today Coaches – No. 8 (-2)
Collegiate Baseball – No. 7 (-1)
Baseball America – No. 9 (+2)
~ Arkansas is 7-3 all-time against Illinois State, winning the last two meetings in the series. Their first meeting was a 3-game series in Fayetteville in 1992 with the Razorbacks sweeping the Redbirds. All 10 meetings have come in Fayetteville.
~ The Razorbacks faced Illinois State in the opening weekend in 2022. The Redbirds handed Arkansas their first opening day loss since 1994, winning 3-2.
~ Arkansas is 63-13 all-time against Division 1 teams from the state of Illinois (Eastern Illinois, Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, SIU-Edwardsville, Western Illinois)
~ Illinois State was picked preseason to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference poll
~ One Redbird was named to the preseason All-MVC Team: Sixth-year senior relief pitcher Jared Hart.
Some notes courtesy of Arkansas Communications
