College students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95! Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to andrewhutchinson413 (at) gmail (dot) com.
After surviving a dogfight with Illinois State on Opening Weekend, the second week of the 2022 season was not any easier for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks handled Indiana 5-2 on Friday before needing some late-inning heroics from Jalen Battles to salvage a doubleheader split Sunday, losing to Stanford 5-0 and then beating Louisiana-Lafayette 6-4 to close out the Round Rock Classic.
Head coach Dave Van Horn was very open and honest following Sunday’s games that there are several things his team must figure out between now and the start of SEC play in mid-March if they’re going to compete for a fourth straight SEC West title.
Before we turn the page to the midweek matchup with Omaha and looming weekend series against Southeastern Louisiana, here are our parting thoughts from the Razorbacks’ trip to Texas…
O Bats, Where Art Thou?
Perhaps one of the most surprising developments in college baseball through two weeks has been Arkansas’ lack of offense. The Razorbacks were expected to have one of the best and deepest lineups in the country, with plenty of star power returning and more help coming in the form of freshmen and transfers.
It very well could turn things around and be the top offense it was projected to be, but Arkansas has been downright abysmal at the plate so far this season.
The Razorbacks are dead last in the SEC in all three slash categories — .213 batting average, .326 on-base percentage and .360 slugging percentage — and it’s not particularly close. They are 36, 49 and 18 points behind the next closest team in the conference in those statistics, respectively.
Simply putting the ball in play has been a challenge at times. Arkansas owns a 27.9 percent strikeout rate, which is slightly worse than last year’s 27.1 percent rate. That was particularly on display Sunday, when the Razorbacks went a combined 9 for 63 (.143) with 28 strikeouts — an alarming 44.4% strikeout rate — against Stanford and Louisiana-Lafayette.
On top of that, Arkansas has been terrible with situational hitting. The Razorbacks are one of two SEC teams still hitless with the bases loaded, as they and Texas A&M are both 0 for 10, plus they’re dead last in batting average with runners on base (.182 — 52 points worse than anyone else) and in scoring position (.214).
Arkansas also has just one RBI in six opportunities with a runner on third and less than two outs and has advanced runners just 39.2 percent of the time. All other SEC teams are 50% and 40%, respectively, or better in those categories.
