No. 2 Diamond Hogs looking for road success during South Carolina’s Big Gamecock Weekend

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

After protecting its house for the 25th straight time on Wednesday, Arkansas has now hit the road trying to protect its SEC Western Division.

The No. 2 Razorbacks (32-5, 12-3) will face No. 20 South Carolina (26-11, 8-7) in a three-game set beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CST.

Arkansas is 27-1 at home this season, 2-1 at neutral sites and 3-3 on the road, where they are likely to face big crowds sine South Carolina is hosting its Big Gamecock Weekend featuring spring football and baseball action.

“That’s why they call it a streak, it just keeps going and going and going,” Razorback head coach Dave Van Horn said of his team’s success at Baum-Walker Stadium. “…But, I don’t know what to tell you. Great job, just keep winning at home. It’s been nice, but we need to go win on the road.”

The two teams will also play Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 with all three games being streamed on SEC Network + with Dave Weinstein and Kip Bouknight calling the action.

“Big Weekend, obviously,” South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston said to local media on Wednesday. “They all feel big now, being in the SEC, being in a good spot. So we’ve got a great team coming in. I feel like we’re pretty darn good as well. Anxious to see hopefully a full Founders Park rocking and rolling and seeing us play great baseball.”

Arkansas lost its consensus top-ranked position by losing the last two of three games at Alabama, but still leads new No. 1 Texas A&M (30-4, 11-4) – who is in Tuscaloosa this weekend – by a game in the division race.

“Obviously those guys are veteran hitters and they all have power, too,” Van Horn said. “It’s not like they’re just hitting for an average or getting on base, slapping it all over the place. They’re hitting the ball over your head.

“They’re all dangerous. You can’t really look past one to get to the other.”

South Carolina is 18-4 at Founders Park, the Gamecocks’ home stadium.

“They’re really good, tough place to play,” Van Horn said. “It’s like all the SEC venues.

“…It’s tough to win on the road. You’ve got to go there and you’ve got to play hard and play smart and when you get a chance to score, you’ve got to score. We know what’s ahead of us.”

Arkansas took two mid-week games from visiting Texas Tech – rallying from a 7-0 deficit to win 9-8 on Tuesday and a one-run deficit on Wednesday to afternoon to emerge with a 5-4 decision.

“We can be really good sometimes and sometimes it’s quick innings,” Van Horn said. “It can be frustrating, but what we can do — because we can pitch — is stay close.

“We’re confident. We’ve just found ways to win. When you don’t screw up a lot, you’re going to win those one-run games.”

“…On the pitching side, defensive side, we throw a lot of strikes and we don’t make too many mistakes in the field. We’ve been able to stay away from giving up (big innings). That’s why we’ve been able to stay in games.

“We find ways to win whether it’s with a big hit or bunt or manufacturing or whatever.”

While Arkansas is sticking with its normal plan of starting ace Hagen Smith (7-0, 1.53, ERA, 89 strikeouts in 47 innings) in the opener, South Carolina is bumping normal Friday night starter Eli Jones (3-1, 3.57) to Saturday.

Instead the Gamecocks are going with redshirt sophomore Roman Kimball (2-1, 4.57).

“At the end of the day, what’s most important is we have all this figured out by the end of the season when the games are win or go home,” Kingston said. “And so we’re going to continue to experiment until we feel like we have it 100 percent.

“I just don’t feel like we’re there yet. Instead of being scared to staying tied to one thing, we’re going to try things and see if we can find the best version of ourselves.”

Kimball got the nod over other guys who had pitched out to the bullpen.

“Roman gets the nod because he has a .169 opponents batting average, which is the best on our team,” Kingston said. “He’s been the hardest guy to hit on our team. And his last four outings have been very good. So we’re going with him because we think he gives us a chance to win.”

Kingston knows the tough challenge Smith is for his team, whose 373 batters to strike out this season is second-most in the league behind Missouri.

“I think last weekend showed what we’re capable of, we scored 28 runs on the road at Florida,” Kingston said. “So I think that shows what we’re capable of.

“Hagen Smith probably will be the first pitcher off the board in this year’s Major League draft,” Kingston said. “I look at that as a tremendous challenge. And I think our guys do as well.

“That’s why the SEC is so exciting because you get opportunities to play against the best. He clearly is one of the best. And I think our guys will be excited for the challenge.”

Peyton Stovall’s .327 batting average leads Arkansas while Hawaiian born Razorbacks Wehiwa Aloy and Nolan Souza have combined for xx homers.

South Carolina, which opened the season 20-5, swept Vanderbilt before beating Alabama and Texas A&M in their final games to keep from getting swept.

The Gamecocks changed the pattern last weekend by taking the first two games at Florida before losing the final contest.

“Statistically, their stats and our stats are pretty close, pretty similar,” Kingston said. “So I think it’s just going to be a matter of who gets the big hit, and obviously, we’ve had moments where we do, we’ve had moments where we don’t.

“And that’s why it’s going to be so important to have an electric environment this weekend. And I think we will. So it’s two really good teams.”

Kingston feels like his team has played a tough slate this season.

“Again, we’ve had really good teams come in here,” Kingston said. “We’ve played good teams all year, we’ve played as many top 25 teams as anybody in the country. Our strength of schedule is as hard as anybody in the country.

“So we are battle tested already at this point in the season. So it’s just another chance to play great baseball in a great conference.”

Photo by John D. James

• • •

Friday:
• South Carolina: Roman Kimball (R-So. RHP) 2-1, 4.71 ERA, 21.0 IP, 22 BB, 28 SO
• Arkansas: Hagen Smith (Jr. LHP) 7-0, 1.53 ERA, 47.0 IP, 17 BB, 89 SO

Saturday:
• South Carolina: Eli Jones (Jr. RHP) 3-1, 3.57 ERA, 45.1 IP, 12 BB, 38 SO
• Arkansas: Mason Mollina (Jr. LHP) 3-0, 3.32 ERA, 43.1 IP, 21 BB, 65 SO

Sunday:
• South Carolina: TBA
• Arkansas: Brady Tygart (Jr. RHP) 3-1, 2.59 ERA, 41.2 IP, 21 BB, 52 SO