The No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks are sitting atop the SEC Western Division standings following a three-game sweep of the Kentucky Wildcats to open conference play last weekend at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks played all three aspects well. The hot sticks that Arkansas’ lineup has been swinging lately remained constant, pitching limited Wildcats runs, and the fieldwork was nearly flawless. Because of that, they were able to win all three games against Kentucky by outscoring the Wildcats, 18-6.
Starting pitching played a key role in the conference-opening series, and the Razorbacks look to keep using what has been working.
Arkansas plans to use the trio of Connor Noland, Hagen Smith, and Jaxon Wiggins on the mound this weekend as they plan to travel across the border to face the Missouri Tigers, head coach Dave Van Horn announced Thursday.
The Razorbacks will call on Connor Noland to begin the series on the bump. After a strong outing against UIC on March 10, where he tied his career-high in strikeouts with 11, Noland followed that performance with a 6.1 inning game where he struck out seven batters and allowed just one earned run.
Freshman left hander Hagen Smith continues to show consistency on the mound. In his five starts this season, Smith has allowed no more than three earned runs, and has not issued more than three walks.
Sunday’s starter Jaxon Wiggins is coming off his strongest start of the season. In Sunday’s finale against the Wildcats, Wiggins struck out eight batters while walking four and allowing zero runs to score in the 3-1 victory.
The Razorbacks begin their three game series with Missouri on Friday at 6 p.m. CDT in Columbia, Mo.