The Arkansas baseball team will get three days off before the SEC Tournament. After Saturday’s result, they need it.
The Razorbacks played their worst game of the season, falling to Alabama on the road, 18-5. Coach Dave Van Horn’s bunch will play the first game of the second round on Wednesday against the winner of No. 6 Georgia and No. 11 Alabama who play in the first single elimination round on Tuesday.
Arkansas’ pitching simply did not have it. Of the eight pitchers who worked, only two allowed no runs. Alabama tagged starter [autotag]Jaxon Wiggins[/autotag] for five runs and chased him after just 1 1/3 innings. Overall, Hogs pitchers gave up the 18 runs on just 11 hits, but they walked 11 batters, hit three more and threw four wild pitches.
The Crimson Tide had built the lead to 18-3 by the time the fifth inning was over. Alabama second baseman Bryan Eblin led the Tide with five RBI. Leftfielder William Hamiter added four more.
The Diamond Hogs lineup was fair, knocking 11 hits, including home runs from [autotag]Braydon Webb[/autotag] and [autotag]Cayden Wallace[/autotag]. They also drew four base-on-balls.
But the story was pitching. Freshman [autotag]Hagen Smith[/autotag] is expected to start the SEC Tournament game on Wednesday even though he was used out of the bullpen Saturday. He gave up five runs on three hits and two walks. He also struck out the four batters he retired.
Arkansas will make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season, not counting the 2020 season that was washed out because of COVID-19. The Razorbacks have failed to make the postseason only once under Van Horn, in 2016. It will be difficult for the team, despite their No. 5 ranking entering the weekend, to get a national seed without winning the SEC Tournament, however, because their RPI sits in the 20s.