Arkansas focused squarely on diamond clash with red-hot Mississippi State squad
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
FAYETTEVILLE – While some Arkansas baseball fans may have their attention on Texas A&M or Kentucky this weekend, rest assured that Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn’s is squarely on Mississippi State.
The No. 3 Diamond Hogs (40-9, 17-7) and No. 15 Bulldogs (32-16, 14-10) – winners of 10 of their last 12 games – begin a three-game series Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Kentucky (35-10, 18-6) leads Arkansas and new No. 1 Tennessee (40-9, 17-7) by a game in the SEC’s overall race while Texas A&M (41-8, 16-8) and Mississippi State are second and third in the Western Division standings behind the Razorbacks.
“Believe me, we know where they’re at,” Van Horn said. “We don’t feel like they’re hiding in the corner. We know right where they are. They’re right on our tail. A&M probably feels the same way.
“It’s the end of the year, it’s pretty exciting. I think if you’re a fan, you should love this stuff. Hopefully our fans will come out to the ballpark and watch two good teams go at it that have a lot to play for.”
Arkansas and Mississippi State are also set to meet Saturday at 6 p.m and on Sunday at 2 p.m. for a Mother’s Day game. The first two games will be streamed by SEC Network + while the third will be televised by the SEC Network.
The Razorbacks, 5-4 in their last nine SEC games, will be trying to put losing the last two of three games at Kentucky last weekend behind them.
Van Horn believes a day off from practice for finals earlier this week and not having two mid-week games as they have in three of the last four weeks has helped his team both mentally and physically.
“It was good,” Van Horn said. “You could tell they were excited to be back out on the field. Went out there an hour and a half, two hours. It just seemed a little different, a little louder. I expect today’s workout will be the same and guys getting ready to play their last home SEC series here at Baum-Walker. But it’ll be good.”
The Bulldogs are just a three years removed from winning the national championship in 2021 under head coach Chris Lemonis, but then bottomed out and finished last and next to last in the SEC standings the following two seasons.
“Well, I don’t know their program inside and out as far as age over the last couple of years,” Van Horn said. “Sometimes the national championship hangover, you can’t get over it. It’s just something that, it’s just the way it is.”
Arkansas will send out arguably the nation’s best college pitcher in left-hander Hagen Smith (9-0, 1.36 ERA) on Friday night, Brady Tygart (4-2, 3.34) in game two and Mason Molina (3-2, 3.81) on Mother’s Day.
Smith was brilliant with 14 strikeouts over six innings last weekend at Kentucky, but Tygart and Molina lasted just three innings each the next two games, which were both losses.
“After yesterday’s workout we’re going to stick with the same rotation,”Van Horn said. “Because they both feel good, healthy. No one has a sore arm. No complaints. Ready to go.”
Molina has struggled with his command while going just 6 1/3 innings in his last two starts while walking 10.
“Hopefully he has a better outing than he had in the last couple,” Van Horn said. “I don’t know. He’s just got to go out and pitch. I mean he’s an older guy. He’s got a lot of weekend experience at this level. Hopefully he’ll go out and have a good outing for us. I expect him just to be a lot better.”
Gage Wood came in behind Tygart and pitched 4 1/3 innings at Kentucky.
“We’ll kind of let the game tell us what to do for the most part,” Van Horn said of his role for Wood. “He can either be early out of the pen if it doesn’t go well or he could finish a game for us as well. He’s thrown the ball as good as anybody and he deserves to be out there.
“So just kind of see how’s it going. What’s the score. What’s the inning. Are we up, are we down. Where we’re at. We know what he can do. We’ll see how we’re playing and the feel of the game before we make a decision on whether we’re going to get him going or not.”
Mississippi State will counter with Purdue righty transfer Kahl Stephen (7-3, 2.96 ERA), ambidextrous sophomore Jurrangelo Cijntje (7-1, 3.53) and senior right-hander Brooks Auger (1-2, 4.13).
Stephen and Cijntje, who is throwing mostly right handed now, have Van Horn’s respect.
“Well, they’re both really hard throwers,” Van Horn said. “You’ve just got to stay in the zone. They’re awfully good. That’s as good a 1-2 punch in the league, the way I look at it. At least statistically, Stephen has been getting after it on Fridays and Cijnte’s been doing great on Saturdays. Real, real well. Yeah, we’ve got our hands full and we know it.”
After going 7-8 in its first 15 SEC games, Mississippi State’s 10-2 stretch in overall games have included a sweep of Auburn and taking two of three games from Vanderbilt and Alabama.
“I think it starts on the mound,” Van Horn said. “They have at least two starters that give them a chance to win every weekend. Win a series, get ahead in the season, find a way to win one of the next two.
“If Friday doesn’t go good, Saturday they’ve got another dude out there that can get you out. Both of them have plus stuff, high draft choice stuff. That’s probably the start.
“They really field. They’re kind of like us. If you look at their numbers as far as defensively, our numbers are about the same. They don’t give you a whole lot…I don’t know if they fielded in ’23 or ’22, but you’re talking about pitching and defense, that means you’re probably going to be in the game.
“They know how to win. That’s a great program. Fanbase is amazing. There’s a lot of expectation there.”
Dakota Jordan (367, 16 HRs, 56 RBIs) and Hunter Hines (.286, 14 HRs, 47 RBIs) are two key cogs in the Mississippi State offensive attack.
“He’s got like 55, 60 RBIs and 16 home runs,” Van Horn said of Jordan. “He’ll strike out a little bit, but he’ll also hit the ball hard. When he hits it, watch out. He’s a big guy that takes up the whole batters box. He is still almost hitting .370. He’s a tough one.
“You’ve got Hunter Hines who can hit as far as anyone in the league from the other side of the plate. You got some run scorers mixed in there. They’ve got a few guys who can run. They’ve stolen like 55 or 60 bases. Only been thrown out like 10 times or something.
“They just take what you give them. And if you don’t hold them, they’re going to go. If you make a mistake, they can hit it over your head. That’s what I’m saying. They are a dangerous team. They’re very talented. That team has been playing their best baseball since last month.”
Arkansas will host Mississippi State this weekend and then travel to Texas A&M to play next Thursday through Saturday to close the regular season.
“If I looked at all the teams in the SEC right now, I think all the coaches would say the two teams you don’t want to play are Mississippi State and Texas A&M,” Van Horn said. “Those would be in the top three or four, and we play both of them. That’s just the way it is.
“A few weeks ago, they probably said you didn’t want to play Arkansas. Now they’re probably saying, ‘Yeah, Arkansas, they’re just getting by. They got their wins and they don’t score enough runs and once you get past Hagen you’re in good shape.’
“…Hey, it is what it is. Don’t hide it. That’s what I talked to our guys about. But yeah, Mississippi State is going to be a major challenge for us. I don’t know why that happens.
“I mean, Ole Miss the same way. (Rebels head coach) Mike (Bianco) and I are pretty good friends, and he shakes his head about it. Really comes down to the players. When it’s all said and done, they’re the ones that either do it or they don’t. They should get the credit when they do it, and that’s the way we feel.”
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Van Horn noted freshman pitcher Colin Fisher (6-1, 2.67) came through his Monday ulnar collateral ligament surgery in good shape.
“It’s on the good side,” Van Horn said. “He should be ready for next season. Yeah. Just didn’t have to do full Tommy John. Just a little bit of action in there and they fixed it, and he should be able to go next January. He’ll rehab. He should be good to go, like full bore when the season starts if everything stays the way it is.”
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