Tag: Arkansas baseball

Dave Van Horn says Mason Molina will miss Arkansas-Florida weekend series

Arkansas Razorbacks Baseball: Left-handed starter Mason Molina will miss this weekend’s SEC series when No. 2 Arkansas welcomes Florida to Baum-Walker Stadium.  

Arkansas starter Mason Molina will miss this weekend’s SEC series against Florida at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Coach Dave Van Horn told WholeHogSports’ Matt Jones Thursday that Molina had twisted his right ankle during a recent workout. Molina is coming off his shortest outing of the season. The left-hander completed just 3 1/3 innings in Saturday’s 6-3 loss to No. 21 South Carolina. He threw only 30 of 70 pitches for strikes and issued a season-high seven walks.

Van Horn said he expects Molina to be back in the rotation when the second-ranked Razorbacks (35-6 overall, 14-4 SEC) head to Kentucky the following week. The Wildcats are ranked No. 5 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

In the meantime, who will Arkansas turn to with Molina out? Van Horn isn’t yet sure. Hagen Smith is the team’s scheduled Friday night starter and will start the series opener against Florida (21-19, 8-10). Brady Tygart will start the second game with Game 3’s starter still up in the air.

From Jones’ story:

Van Horn said right-hander Ben Bybee was limited to two innings against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday with Molina’s injury in mind. Bybee and freshman left-hander Colin Fisher have started multiple midweek games this season.

“We’ll go with the best option,” Van Horn said of a Game 3 starter. “We could staff it. We could pitch it like a Tuesday game. We’ll figure it out after we finish a couple games on who we’re going to throw, or at least start….Whoever we start is only going to go a few innings anyway.”

Friday’s first pitch against Florida is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT at Baum-Walker Stadium. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

How good is Hogs pitching? Three different Razorbacks named to Stopper of the Year watch list

Dude. Look at the Arkansas pitching numbers from these three. Mercy.

The Arkansas baseball team entered the 2024 banking its pitching staff. Considering the Diamond Hogs spent more than a month at No. 1 and are now No. 2 in the nation, the bet was smart.

And it isn’t just Hagen Smith for the Razorbacks, either, though he is a front-runner for first-team All-American honors and is on a short list of Golden Spikes possibilities. No, the arms behind him are getting things done, too.

Arkansas relievers Will McEntire, Gabe Gaeckle and Stone Hewlett were each named to the midseason watch list for college baseball’s Stopper of the Year. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association gives the award to the top reliever in the game each year.

Gaeckle carries a 2.81 earned-run average and 0.86 WHIP in 25 2/3 innings. McEntire has 53 strikeouts and a 1.05 WHIP in 42 innings. And Hewlett, the lefty specialist, has a 0.70 WHIP in 10 innings.

 Arkansas is tops in the SEC in team ERA by almost a whole run, tops in opposing batting average by 20 points, strikeouts by almost 30 and lead in fewest doubles and fewest home runs allowed.

Career night for Wehiwa Aloy powers No. 2 Arkansas past UAPB

Arkansas Baseball: Wehiwa Aloy’s five RBIs made for a career night for the star shortstop, and the second-ranked Razorbacks defeated UAPB, 11-1, Tuesday.

Wehiwa Aloy had four hits and drove in five runs, and No. 2 Arkansas rolled past Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB) in an 11-1 run-rule victory in midweek action Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Aloy’s first hit of the night scored leadoff man Peyton Stovall for a 1-0 Arkansas lead in the first inning.

The Razorbacks’ (35-6 overall) bats stayed quiet until the fifth inning when Aloy came to the plate again. This time, the shortstop broke a 1-1 tie by punching a two-out, two-run double to right center that put Arkansas ahead, 3-1.

The Hogs broke the game wide open an inning later with a seven-run sixth inning. Arkansas sent 11 batters to the plate — including Aloy, whose second consecutive two-out hit resulted in a two-run single that put the Razorbacks ahead, 7-1.

Aloy finished the night a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with five RBIs, a career-high. He brought his season total to 42 RBIs, the most on the team.

Arkansas’ scoring wasn’t limited to just Aloy.

Kendall Diggs followed Aloy in the sixth with an RBI single, then Nolan Souza added a two-run double to end the inning with a 10-1 Arkansas advantage.

Stovall ended the game in the seventh with an RBI sac fly to plate Ross Lovich for the game-ending run.

Cooper Dossett (3-0) earned the win in relief with a career-high three innings of scoreless, two-hit ball. The right-hander struck out four and did not allow a walk.

Arkansas improved its perfect record in midweek play to 10-0. The Hogs also improved to 11-2 all time at Dickey-Stephens Park, home of the Double-A Texas League’s Arkansas Travelers.

Coach Dave Van Horn’s team returns to SEC action Friday night when the Hogs host the Florida Gators at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

Arkansas baseball remains high atop latest Field of 64 projections

Arkansas Baseball: On3 Sports projects the Arkansas Razorbacks as the No. 2 overall national seed in the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament with four weekends remaining in the regular season.

Only four weekends remain in the SEC regular season, and coach Dave Van Horn’s Arkansas Razorbacks are sitting in as good a position as anyone in the race for one of the top national seeds in the 2024 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

The Razorbacks (34-6 overall) are ranked No. 2 in every major poll this week, including the USA TODAY Sports’ baseball coaches poll. Only No. 1 Texas A&M is ahead of Arkansas in this week’s Top 25 rankings.

Moreover, the Hogs are No. 2 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings. Similar to NET rankings in men’s and women’s basketball, RPI measures not just a team’s won/loss record but its strength of schedule and other factors.

In the latest Field of 64 projections from On3 Sports, Arkansas is projected as the No. 2 overall national seed among potential postseason host sites.

Per On3’s Jonathan Wagner:

“Arkansas certainly has a compelling case for the top overall seed, but they come in at No. 2 for another week. The Razorbacks are 34-6 overall, 14-4 in the SEC and No. 2 in RPI. With weekends remaining against Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Texas A&M, they’ll have their opportunity to earn it. Arkansas is joined in the Fayetteville (regional) by Louisiana, Kennesaw State and Saint Louis.”

The Razorbacks are scheduled to resume conference play Friday when they welcome Florida to Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

Baltimore promotes outfielder Heston Kjerstad to majors

Kjerstad is back in The Show. Can he stay this time with the Os?

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad made his MLB debut Tuesday after Baltimore promoted the former Arkansas star from Triple-A Norfolk.

Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick from Arkansas by the Orioles in 2020, made his big-league debut last year, playing in 11 games for the Birds. He started the 2024 season with the Tides and has slashed .349/.431/.744 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI in just 102 plate appearances.

On Tuesday in his debut against the Angels, Kjerstad went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in the Orioles’ 7-4 loss.

The spot in the majors opened when Baltimore outfield Austin Hays was placed on IL with a calf injury. Hays was an All-Star for the Orioles in 2023, but was hitting just .111 with zero extra-base hits at the time of his injury.

Kjerstad entered the year as the No. 29 prospect in all of baseball and the fourth highest-rated prospect in the Orioles system. Despite being drafted in 2020, Kjerstad didn’t truly start his career until 2022 after a heart condition knocked him out of the entire 2021 season. A hamstring injury delayed his beginning in 2022, even, as well.

Kjerstad joins Dominic Fletcher and Andrew Benintendi as former Arkansas outfielders now in the Major Leagues.

How Arkansas fares in new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll

Arkansas Baseball: Here’s a look at where the Arkansas Razorbacks are ranked in this week’s USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll for the week of April 22.

Arkansas stayed at No. 2 in the new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, April 22.

The Razorbacks (34-6 overall, 14-4 SEC) won two of three from No. 21 South Carolina in Columbia over the weekend for their fifth SEC series win in six tries this season. The Diamond Hogs are 7-3 against current Top 25 opponents this season.

Arkansas also stayed at No. 2 in both D1Baseball’s new Top 25 poll and Baseball America’s weekly Top 25 rankings.

Texas A&M (35-5) was No. 1 in the coaches poll for the second straight week. The Aggies defeated Air Force in non-conference play and won two of three games at No. 18 Alabama.

Tennessee stayed at No. 3 in the coaches poll after taking two of three from Kentucky in a battle of top five teams in the Bluegrass State over the weekend.

Clemson (32-7) moved up two spots to No. 4 after a series win against Pitt. No. 5 Kentucky (32-7) rounded out the top five.

The SEC had the most schools ranked per conference with eight teams total, including Vanderbilt (No. 8) and Georgia (No. 17).

Arkansas returns to the diamond Tuesday when the Razorbacks face Arkansas-Pine Bluff in non-conference play at Dickey-Stephens Field in North Little Rock. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network+.

South Carolina takes Game 1 of doubleheader with Arkansas

A ninth-inning rally came up short for the Arkansas Razorbacks, who fell 6-3 in Game 1 of a doubleheader Saturday at South Carolina.

No. 21 South Carolina used two big innings at the plate, including a four-run sixth, to take down No. 2 Arkansas, 6-3, in Game 1 of a doubleheader in SEC play Saturday at Founders Park.

South Carolina struck first with a sharp two-run single from Talmadge LeCroy off Arkansas starter Mason Molina in the second inning for an early 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, the Gamecocks got run-scoring hits from Austin Brinling and Parker Noland to help build a 6-1 lead. All four sixth-inning runs came against Arkansas relievers Parker Coil and Koty Frank.

The Razorbacks threatened a half-inning later by loading the bases with one away against South Carolina reliever Matthew Becker. But the Hogs could only settle for one run, an RBI fielder’s choice from Kendall Diggs. Left-hander Garrett Gainey got Jack Wagner on a routine fly to right to avoid further damage, keeping the score at 6-2.

Arkansas attempted a ninth inning rally with a leadoff home run from Peyton Stovall. Three singles later, the Razorbacks had the bases loaded with one away for Peyton Holt, who already had two hits in the game.

Holt tapped a pitch back to the mound, allowing Connor McCreery to go home for a force play for the second out. Jayson Jones then struck out chasing a pitch out of the strike zone for the final out to give South Carolina the victory.

Arkansas finished with 12 hits but stranded 13 runners on base. Stovall (3-for-5) had three hits, and Holt (2-5) and Ross Lovich (2-2) each had two hits apiece.

Molina (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season for Arkansas. He left in the fourth after walking two batters that inning and throwing 70 pitches in just 3 1/3 innings — his shortest start of the season. Molina issued seven walks and surrendered two runs.

Becker (5-2) earned the win in relief for South Carolina, holding Arkansas to one run in 2 1/3 innings.

Arkansas wins pitchers duel with South Carolina in series opener

Arkansas scratched across the only runs they would need in the sixth inning to down South Carolina, 2-1, in SEC play Friday night at Founders Park.

No. 2 Arkansas scratched across two runs in the sixth inning, and Razorbacks pitchers totaled 16 strikeouts in a 2-1 series-opening victory over No. 21 South Carolina Friday night at Founders Park.

Arkansas (33-5 overall, 13-3 SEC) and South Carolina (26-12, 8-8) had just four hits apiece in Friday’s pitcher’s duel. The two teams combined to strand 24 runners on base.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when South Carolina loaded the bases without a ball leaving the infield on two walks and an infield single.

Parker Noland then drove in the game’s first run with an RBI groundout to score Talmadge LeCroy for a brief 1-0 Gamecocks lead.

A half-inning later, it was Arkansas’ turn to load the bases without a ball leaving the diamond. With one away, Gamecocks reliever Chris Veach uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Ben McLaughlin to score the Razorbacks’ first run and tie the game at 1-1.

Jack Wagner then put the Hogs in front with an RBI sac fly to left-center that scored Nolan Souza for a 2-1 lead that would last the rest of the way thanks to clutch pitching from Arkansas ace Hagen Smith and two key Razorbacks relievers.

Freshman Gabe Gaeckle tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Gaeckle retired eight batters in a row, finishing with five strikeouts and allowing one hit.

With South Carolina threatening in the ninth following a two-out Blake Jackson double off Gaeckle, left-hander Stone Hewlett came on to close out the game by retiring Noland on a grounder to first. Hewlett notched his fourth save of the season and his second in as many games after previously closing out Wednesday’s 5-4 Razorbacks victory over Texas Tech.

South Carolina had just two hits over the final four innings.

Smith earned the win to run his record to 8-0 in 10 starts. Despite allowing a season-high five walks, he yielded just two hits and struck out 11 in six complete innings. Arkansas has won all 10 games that Smith has started.

Ty Good (4-1) suffered the loss for South Carolina. Good took over for Gamecocks starter Roman Kimball, who faced 10 batters and threw just 48 pitches in 2 1/3 innings. Kimball exited the game after surrendering back to back walks in the third inning.

SCHEDULING CHANGE

Before Friday’s game, South Carolina announced that the series would conclude with a doubleheader Saturday due to inclement weather forecast in the region for Sunday.

First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 12 p.m. CDT with an hour break in the action before the start of Game 2. Both games can be seen on SEC Network+.

Where Arkansas ranks in new Field of 64 projections

Arkansas Baseball: the Arkansas Razorbacks are high atop the latest Field of 64 projections from D1Baseball.

Coach Dave Van Horn’s Arkansas baseball team is having arguably the best season of any team in the country.

The Diamond Hogs are 32-5 overall after their midweek sweep of Texas Tech and recently spent five weeks at No. 1 before dropping their first series of the season last Sunday at No. 14 Alabama. It wasn’t exactly a long fall from the top; Arkansas dropped only one spot to land at No. 2 in every major poll this week.

Because of that, the staff at D1Baseball lists the Razorbacks as the No. 2 national seed and host site in it latest Field of 64 projections for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Arkansas joins Texas A&M, the overall No. 1 seed, followed by Kentucky, Tennessee, Oregon State, Clemson, Duke and Florida State as projected top eight national seeds.

Securing a top eight seed would ensure that Baum-Walker Stadium hosts a Super Regional, provided the Razorbacks advance past the Regional round of the tournament.

In D1Baseball’s projections, the Hogs would host Oklahoma, Lamar, and Arkansas-Little Rock in a Fayetteville Regional.

Arkansas will travel to Columbia to face No. 21 South Carolina for a scheduled three-game series this weekend as conference play continues. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network+.

No. 2 Arkansas rallies past Texas Tech for midweek sweep

Arkansas Baseball: The Arkansas Razorbacks mixed timely hitting with clutch pitching and defense to earn a two-game series sweep of Texas Tech Wednesday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

One day after a thrilling 9-8 come-from-behind victory that featured a combined 23 hits, No. 2 Arkansas mixed timely hitting with clutch pitching and defense to earn a 5-4 victory over Texas Tech Wednesday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Razorbacks (32-5 overall) tallied only four hits in Wednesday’s game but made the most of them.

Arkansas got on the board right away when Peyton Stovall led off the bottom of the first with a 406-foot home run to right off Hudson Parker.

Nolan Souza led off the second inning with a solo shot, a 376-foot blast over the left field bullpen that allowed the Razorbacks to reclaim the lead at 2-1 after Texas Tech had tied it.

The Red Raiders (26-12) grabbed their first lead of the day on a two-run ground-rule double to right field from Kevin Bazzell in the third inning.

Things stayed quiet until the sixth inning when Arkansas reclaimed the lead. Ben McLaughlin singled down the right field line to put runners at the corners with one away for Wehiwa Aloy, who smacked an RBI single to left to tie the game.

Two batters later, Jack Wagner gave the Hogs the lead with an RBI sac fly to deep center, scoring McLaughlin for a 4-3 lead.

In the eighth, Arkansas loaded the bases without a hit off Texas Tech reliever Max Huffling. With two outs, Jayson Jones was hit by a pitch to force in a run to extend the Razorbacks’ lead to 5-3.

Stone Hewlett allowed a long two-out solo home run to Cade McGee that trimmed the lead to 5-4 in the ninth. Hewlett then rallied to strike out pitch-hitter Garet Boehm on three pitches to nail down his third save and finish off the two-game series sweep.

Cooper Dossett earned the win in relief for Arkansas with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Dossett (2-0) struck out two and retired eight of the nine batters he faced. Razorbacks pitchers combined for five innings of one-run ball in relief. They surrendered just one hit, McGee’s ninth-inning home run.

Derek Bridges (0-1) suffered the loss in relief for Texas Tech.

Colin Fisher received a no-decision after making his seventh start of the season and his third straight in a midweek game. The freshman left-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in four innings.

NEXT UP

Arkansas travels to South Carolina for a weekend series in SEC play. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 20 in the latest D1Baseball poll. Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT and game be seen on SEC Network+.