Hogs, Ole Miss set to clash today at SEC Tournament

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will finally play its first game in the SEC Tournament today at 3 p.m. against Ole Miss.

The Razorbacks, seeded No. 2, got a double bye while Ole Miss is the No. 7 seed. Ole Miss defeated No. 10 Florida 3-1 on Wednesday to advance against Arkansas. The two teams opened SEC play against each other during the season. In Oxford, Ole Miss took the opener 10-6 on March 14. The Hogs though took the series winning 12-3 and 12-9 on Saturday and Sunday. This year’s tournament has a new format being single elimination. Dave Van Horn talked about the Hogs getting the double bye and tournament being single elimination.

“Well, it definitely changes things,” Van Horn said Thursday. “We’re just fortunate we were in the top four so we get to skip a couple rounds. Get a couple days to catch our breath a little bit after the 30-game SEC (schedule). Here we are. We play Friday. If we win we’ll go with our next pitcher kind of like a weekend series, but you know, the other thing is you have a little bit of pressure because it’s win or go home. But we had a good workout. Got to have the team all together. We’ll be ready to play tomorrow.”

Arkansas (43-12) will go with lefty Zach Root on the mound. The first meeting against Ole Miss didn’t go well for Root and resulted in his first loss as a Razorback. In three innings, Root allowed 10 hits, seven runs, walked two and struck out three. Root is 6-4 on the season with an ERA of 4.16. Van Horn feels Root may have some extra motivation today considering how his first outing against the Rebels went.

“Probably a little bit,” Van Horn said. “He knows that he didn’t have his best stuff and didn’t have his command. First SEC game. Been pretty good after that, though. I would think with him personally, this would be a big start for him.”

Van Horn also addressed what kind of pitch count Root will be on.

“Probably more like a normal game,” Van Horn said. “You know, if he’s good, he’s good. Last time against Ole Miss, he wasn’t good. Didn’t go good. He was wild, which we haven’t seen really all year. He had given us really, I was thinking back on it, four good starts in a row. We got down there and it kinda wasn’t him. Yeah, hopefully he’ll pitch a lot better against them this time.”

Ole Miss (38-18) will counter with right-hander Riley Maddox (5-5, 5.46). Maddox took the loss against Arkansas in the second game of the series. He pitched four innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, walked two and struck out a trio.

“Yeah I mean he’s a good right-handed pitcher,” Van Horn said. “I can’t give you too much detail, I need to go back and look at some stuff and I’ll watch video and look at the tendencies. Obviously we have scouting reports on him, we just got back from practice and found out on the bus on the way back that he was pitching. So I’ll get some of that when I get upstairs, I don’t want to say the wrong things. But, competitive, throws strikes, competes and some good secondary pitches.”

One thing that has Van Horn feeling good is the Razorbacks will definitely be a national top-8 seed and thus hosting a super regional if they get to that point. Arkansas will host a regional. Having already locked up a top-8 seed takes some pressure off the Hogs in Hoover.

“I guess I would say yes,” Van Horn said. “I mean, we’re not feeling like we’ve got to win a game or two to get a top-eight. We feel like that we’ve secured it, but at the same time it’s not going to keep us from trying to win any less. Maybe you just play a little freer.”

If the Hogs win today they will face either LSU or Texas A&M on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The championship game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. and on ESPN2. The rest of the games in this tournament are on the SEC Network. If his Hogs beat Ole Miss what does the rotation look like beyond this game?

“Yeah, I’m curious, too, so we’ll let you know after we get by the first game,” Van Horn said. “I’m not going to tell you. We just don’t want to let… we don’t know yet. Obviously, (Gage) Wood’s going to pitch. We’re not planning on pitching him tomorrow, but if we had to… There’s a really good opportunity that he’s going to start Game 2. And then after that, I don’t want to look that far down the road. Again, if we win the game, first game, get to play the second game and it’s not going good, we’re going to pitch guys that need to pitch.”

Wood had been on a strict pitch count coming off injury, but did throw 76 pitches against Tennessee in his last outing.

“Yeah, he’s not really on a pitch limit right now,” Van Horn said. “I mean obviously the limit for most of our guys is around 100, but he could throw 80 probably, so I guess he’s on a little one. We’re going to keep an eye on him. Plus now you’re talking Friday, now Saturday, you look to next weekend and with Root, he could have the regular rest, he could get an extra days rest, however you want to work it and Gage, we want to make sure he’s got a full week to rest.”

Van Horn was asked if the Razorbacks do advance to Sunday’s final and play three games in Hoover does that worry him about the Fayetteville Regional next weekend?

“Yeah,  with the new format, this is the thing… if you finished in the top four, you’re gonna… if you win 3 straight, you win the championship,” Van Horn said. “If you lose one, it’s over. Even a couple teams that are playing today, Auburn being one, I think they’re playing now. the two teams that finished in the top four, if they happen to win today, they get an off day tomorrow, then they play Saturday, and if they win, they get to play for a championship. We’re 3 days in a row, so it’s fine. Just get a little more rest on the front end of it, but we’re set up. We don’t feel like we’re extending anybody or overdoing it, It’s almost like you have another… if you get to play three, you get an opportunity to play another weekend series, in a way.”

How much does the looming regional play any role in pitching decisions this weekend?

“Well, yeah, obviously, we’re thinking about next weekend a lot,” Van Horn said. “We’re lining up our pitching where we can throw them Friday or Saturday if they throw Friday or Saturday here. We could flip them. We could throw somebody else on Friday. We’ve got to get through the weekend, and we need to make sure everybody’s healthy and feeling good, but if everything goes as planned, whether we win three games, two games, or we get out of here after tomorrow, we’ll figure out who we’re playing, and then we’ll make some decisions.”

The other side of the bracket has Vanderbilt (4) and Tennessee (8). The Vols defeated Texas (1) 7-5 in 12 innings on Thursday.