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WHO: No. 7 Arkansas (29-13, 10-8) vs. Alabama (23-20, 5-13)
WHERE: Baum Stadium, Fayetteville (Ark.)
WHEN: Friday 6:30 pm (CDT), Saturday 6:00 pm (CDT), Sunday 1:00 pm (CDT)
TV: SEC Network+ and the WatchESPN app
Arkansas looks to stay atop the SEC West and prolong its success at home this weekend, welcoming the Alabama Crimson Tide to Baum Stadium for a three-game SEC series.
The Razorbacks (29-13) are 24-4 in the friendly confines of Baum Stadium this year and have won 15 of their last 16 home contests, including a 5-1 win over No. 4 Texas Tech on Tuesday night. In that victory, Barrett Loseke pitched four and two-thirds on perfect work, striking out a career-high 10 batters en route to a 14-out save. Arkansas was swept last weekend in Starkville by a then-last place Bulldog team and aims to avoid a repeat performance. The Hogs lead the series in Fayetteville 21-18 but were swept by Bama at home in 2016.
The Crimson Tide (23-20) sit in last place in the division at 5-13 and have lost seven of their last nine games. They’re coming off a midweek victory as well, defeating Troy, 4-3, at home on Tuesday night. Like Arkansas, Alabama was swept in conference last weekend. The Tide got crushed in three straight games by in-state SEC rival Auburn. They are 4-10 on the road this year but lead the all-time series with Arkansas, 47-38.
Arkansas will stick to its guns as far as pitching rotation this weekend, sending out Blaine Knight (6-0, 2.24 ERA) on Friday night to face Sam Finnerty (4-2, 4.09 ERA). Kacey Murphy (5-3, 2.26 ERA) will pitch Saturday evening against Jake Walters (2-5, 5.07 ERA). Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Campbell (3-4, 4.08 ERA) will take the mound in the finale opposite lefty Garret Rukes (1-2, 2.18 ERA).
Here are three things to know about the Crimson Tide:
Bama’s leading power hitter is a boom or bust batter.
Junior outfielder Taylor Chandler has an impressive, team-leading 11 home runs and 28 RBIs on the year. However, he’s only batting .211 and has 43 strikeouts, second most on the team. Senior infielder Chandler Avant leads the Tide in batting average at .327 (one of two regulars hitting over .300), RBIs with 36 and doubles with 13. Junior Cobie Vance has the most hits on the team with 52. Their highest offensive output as a team came on February 16 against Valparaiso, racking up 16 runs and 15 RBIs.
All three Tide throwers are regular starters.
Alabama will send out junior Sam Finnerty on Friday night to pitch against Arkansas. Finnerty is 4-2 with an ERA of 4.09. He’s thrown only 23 strikeouts and 9 walks in 61.2 innings (the most on the team) and has given up an average of 9.8 hits in conference starts. Saturday starter Jake Walters has a team-high 64 strikeouts in 55 innings His best outing of the year came against Missouri when he held the Tigers scoreless on 4 hits and threw 12 strikeouts in six and one-third innings. Redshirt freshman Garret Rukes will pitch the finale. The 6-4 lefty has made 9 starts but has only pitched 20 and two-thirds innings. His longest outing of the year is three innings which he’s down three different times. He pitched at least two innings five times and was pulled after one against Kentucky. Rukes has the best ERA of the three at 2.18.
The Tide got trounced by Auburn last weekend.
As previously mentioned, Alabama suffered a conference sweep of their own last weekend. The Tide welcomed Auburn into Tuscaloosa and lost by a combined 44-10 in three games. In game one, Bama actually had the lead in the bottom of the fourth but surrendered 16 runs in the next three innings, losing 19-5. In a Saturday doubleheader, similar to Arkansas, Auburn fell 5-0 in game two before getting smashed again in the finale, 20-5.
