Category: Arkansas baseball

Pure dominance: Diamond Hogs take series from A&M with big win Friday

Brady Tygart is back. Will McEntire looked fantastic. Arkansas baseball is just fine.

Any worry that may have creeped in last weekend when Arkansas was swept by bottom-of-the-barrel Georgia is pretty much faded away already.

Sixth-ranked Arkansas fell just a spot after that series loss, indicating there was no real reason to buy into some massive fall from grace. On Friday, after taking the series opener against Texas A&M, Arkansas took the series with a 10-4 win. The Razorbacks will go for a sweep Saturday.

Friday’s win wasn’t just that. It was sound.

Will McEntire struck out eight batters and gave up just two hits in his 5 2/3 innings. He actually came in for relief of Brady Tygart, who made his first career start. Tygart, a preseason All-American, had missed the last two months with an arm injury, but coach Dave Van Horn wanted to work him back in slowly.

The Aggies led 1-0 through their first six outs, but Arkansas responded with the next five runs, all of which came one at a time.

It was that kind of game for the lineup. Razorbacks’ hitters had 11 knocks and walked seven times. Jace Bohrofen had the best day. He went 3 for 5 with a double and two RBI.

Texas A&M threatened in the seventh after scoring two runs and loading the bases. But with two outs, Gage Wood recorded a strikeout to limit the damage. Arkansas then scored two runs in the bottom to provide the final.

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Arkansas baseball vs Texas A&M – Game 3: How to watch, stream, listen

Arkansas will go for a sweep on a cool day in Fayetteville.

Maybe last weekend was just a blip after all.

The sixth-ranked Arkansas baseball team snapped a three-game SEC losing streak Thursday against Texas A&M, then, on Friday, picked up the series win in a dominant performance on both sides.

Now the Diamond Hogs will go for a sweep, counteracting the one against Georgia a week prior. First pitch of Game 3 versus the Aggies is set for 11 a.m. from Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas’ win Friday built the Hogs’ lead to four games over Alabama and Texas A&M in the SEC West. The Razorbacks are two games back of LSU in the loss column, however, for the division lead.

Regardless, the Diamond Hogs remain in the hunt for a potential national seed with a month left in the regular season and before the conference tournament starts. A sweep would only help such a standing.

Dynamite! Brady Tygart set to join Arkansas rotation Friday night against Texas A&M

Arkansas’ All-American hasn’t pitched in two months.

Brady Tygart was, perhaps, the No. 1 reason the Arkansas pitching staff was considered the best in the country in the offseason. He and Jaxon Wiggins.

But Wiggins was lost for the season before the year even began and Tygart pitched in just four games before missing basically two months with an apparent elbow injury. Arkansas’ staff has largely struggled since, despite the team being ranked No. 6 in the country.

The good news is that Tygart is set to return. Like, now.

The junior will make his first career start Friday night against Texas A&M. He hadn’t pitched since March 1. First pitch from Baum-Walker is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Tygart was an All-American last year when he struck out 51 batters in 31 2/3 innings as Arkansas’ closer. But the Razorbacks sit in the bottom quarter in the SEC in earned-run average this season, largely without Tygart, so coach Dave Van Horn is experimenting with maximizing Tygart’s innings count to give the Hogs their best chance.

Arkansas won the series opener on Thursday, 7-5.

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No. 6 Arkansas knocks off Texas A&M to snap three-game SEC skid

Jace Bohrofen hit a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning to lift the Diamond Hogs.

Things simply hadn’t gone Arkansas’ way in the last week.

Until Thursday.

The No. 6 Razorbacks snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-5 win over Texas A&M on Thursday from Baum-Walker Stadium. The victory boosted the Diamond Hogs to three games up in the win-column from the Aggies and Alabama in the SEC West. Arkansas is two games back in the loss column from LSU, though the teams are tied in wins.

Thursday’s win nearly wasn’t.

Jace Bohrofen deposited a two-run home run in the eighth inning over the right field to break a 5-all tie, a tie that came only after Arkansas squandered a 5-0 lead.

Razorbacks’ hitters chased A&M starter Troy Wansing after just three innings. Wansing allowed all five runs by walking six and giving up five hits. He also threw a wild pitch. Arkansas tagged him for those five all in the second inning.

The Aggies responded in the fourth with two home runs. A two-run job by Jordan Thompson was followed two batter later with a solo shot from Hunter Haas. In the fifth, Texas A&M tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

Hagen Smith dominated from that point on. The starter-turned-closer for Arkansas threw four innings, giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out four to pick up the victory.

The teams pick things back up Friday night, weather permitting, with first pitch of Game 2 scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Arkansas baseball vs Texas A&M – How to watch, stream, listen to Game 2

The Diamond Hogs opened their series against Texas A&M with a 7-5 victory, ending their four-game losing streak.

Even though it only lasted a week, it seems like it’s been a long time since Arkansas was in the win column.

The Diamond Hogs opened their series against Texas A&M with a 7-5 victory, ending their four-game losing streak. 

During that losing streak, Arkansas was on the opposite side of multi-run innings that determined games. This time they got off to a hot start, scoring five runs in the second inning, thanks to a grand slam by Peyton Stovall, building an early 5-0 lead.

The Aggies tied the game 5th inning, having a 4-run inning of their own, but the Hogs added two more runs to seal their 12th SEC win of the season.

Arkansas sits one game behind LSU for the top spot in the SEC West. Game two is Friday night, and here is where you catch the action.

Arkansas baseball vs Texas A&M – How to watch, stream, listen to Game 1

Razorbacks looks to end its four-game losing streak and end April on a good note.

April has been rough for Arkansas baseball, and a weekend series against the streaky Texas A&M Aggies could determine if they end the month with a winning record.

The 9-6 record in the month doesn’t tell the complete story. Diamond Hogs have looked good at times but just as bad. The last eight games are an excellent example of that.

Diamond Hogs swept Tennessee, keeping the Volunteers under three runs in all three games. However, the following weekend they were swept by the bottom feeders of the SEC, the Georgia Bulldogs, igniting the current four-game losing streak.

The Razorbacks should walk out of April with their fourth SEC series win. However, the SEC is tough, and the Aggies are underachieving this season, which makes this a problematic and unpredictable series.

Bad News Diamond Hogs: Josenberger officially ruled out indefinitely

More bad news for Arkansas baseball.

Good news has eluded the Diamond Hogs this past week, extending their losing streak to four games, but it’s followed with more bad news.

Tavian Joseberg has officially been ruled out indefinitely due to a hamstring injury he suffered during the Saturday game in the weekend series loss to Georgia. As a result, he didn’t travel with the team to Missouri State.

Injuries have plagued the Razorbacks all season, but it seems to have become a real problem within the last couple of weeks of games.

“We’re just trying to patch this thing together until we can get all of our guys back,” Van Horn said. “We’ve just got to win enough games to get to a regional because there’s going to be a lot of conference games played without our guys. We’ve got to find a way to win.”

The center fielder has been one of the more consistent players for the Diamond Hogs. Just three weeks ago, he was named SEC Player of the Week, putting together .571 BA, .657 SLG, 1.143 OPS with eight hits, including two doubles and two homers, and six RBI.

This makes two outfielders injured in the last two weeks, with Jared Wegner nursing a thumb injury. The Diamond Hogs host Texas A&M for a very important weekend series.

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For the third time in four games, big inning dooms Diamond Hogs

Arkansas has dropped four straight games after Missouri State handles Hogs in Springfield.

Georgia isn’t a better baseball team than Arkansas. Missouri State isn’t a better team than Arkansas.

But somehow, in the last four games, the Razorbacks have dropped every single contest to those opponents. After the Bulldogs’ weekend sweep, Missouri State handled Arkansas in Springfield, 8-4, on Tuesday night.

A six-run third inning was the difference. Zack Morris entered for Cody Adcock on the Arkansas hill to start the frame and immediately struggled. Morris struck out the first batter then gave up a walk and two singles before another strikeout. Then came the waterfall.

Two-run double.

RBI single.

Two-run homer.

The Bears were up 7-2 and that was all that mattered.

The big inning has been damning for Arkansas recently. Georgia scored five in the third on Thursday in a 6-5 win and four in the second on Friday in a 7-3 victory. The Razorbacks have dropped four straight games, accordingly, as the Razorbacks’ pitching staff is ninth in the SEC in earned-run average (5.05) and 13th in both opponents’ average against (.271) and strikeouts (355).

The Hogs will try to right the ship Thursday through Saturday when Texas A&M, which sits two games back of Arkansas in the SEC West, visits Fayetteville.

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Arkansas baseball at Missouri State – How to watch, stream, listen

Missouri State would love nothing more than to hand their old rivals, Arkansas, a fourth straight loss.

For a few years in the middle of the 2010s, Arkansas and Missouri State had one of the best nontraditional rivalries in college baseball.

Alas, the Diamond Hogs have remained near the top of the sport’s landscape, competing for College World Series berths seemingly every season. The Bears, went through a struggle in latter part of the decade.

Now, though, in 2023, with Arkansas again in the nation’s Top 10 and Missouri State second in the Missouri Valley Conference, the teams’ one-off meeting Tuesday night should have some fire behind it.

Arkansas is heading up the road about two hours to Springfield for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, assuming the weather cooperates. Fresh off a sweep at the hands of Georgia on the weekend, the Razorbacks could use a bout of good fortune.

Missouri State isn’t exactly going to just hand it over. The Bears are 11-4 in MVC play and are a borderline NCAA Tournament caliber club. Besides, Keith Guttin has been coaching at Missouri State since 1983. He’s seen Arkansas and Dave Van Horn a time or two.

SEC Baseball Power Rankings: It was all good just a week ago

Some of the best teams in the SEC were swept, another reminder of how good this league really is.

The beauty of power rankings is they change from week to week. Changes could be drastic for some and great for others.

In the SEC, even the best can feel the damaging effects of week-to-week rankings. The top three teams in last week’s power rankings suffered sweeps to conference foes.

It was just another reminder of how good this conference is. Predicting a national champion that is not an SEC representative will be complex. Don’t be surprised if the College World Series is an extension of the SEC tournament.

The Diamond Hogs fell in the national rankings, and after their performance over the weekend, dropping them in this week’s power rankings is mandatory.