Hogs’ bullpen stingy with runs

FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas’ core of regular starting pitchers has compiled a 14-5 record and a sparkling 2.21 earned run average.

The Hogs’ bullpen has been even better.

The Razorbacks, ranked No. 14 in the Baseball America poll, will take one of the nation’s finest bullpens into its high-profile series at Alabama (19-11, 7-2 SEC), which starts with tonight’s 7 p.m. game that will be shown on ESPNU.

Arkansas (21-8, 6-3) leads the country with a team ERA of 1.68 and its relievers have combined for just a 1.09 ERA.

Razorbacks pitching coach Dave Jorn, who said he doesn’t keep track of the staff’s ERA, knows the bullpen has been producing, but he thinks the group can be better.

“I know what they’re doing, and I know what we need to do to get better and more consistent,” Jorn said. “We could throw more first-pitch strikes. We could get the ball out of the strike zone, get some guys to chase the ball up and down a little bit more with two strikes. We could get a little bit more consistent with our secondary pitches to be able to pitch backward when behind in the count when we’re not locating fastballs.

“We could do just a little bit better in all those things.”

The Hogs’ bullpen has been a key to Arkansas winning 14 of its past 17 games and bouncing back from a four game losing streak in Arizona.

The return to full health of junior closer Colby Suggs a couple of weeks ago and Barrett Astin’s return to the starting rotation have helped define roles for the relievers, such as for left-handed set-up man Jalen Beeks.

“I knew that Suggs would be our closer when he got it together,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “It’s just been great knowing that Beeks could get it done. We’ve seen some guys that we have confidence in now.”

Beeks, 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA, is one of six Razorbacks who is allowing less than one earned run per nine innings. Three Razorbacks - Michael Gunn, Chris Oliver and Tyler Wright - have yet to allow an earned run, and each has appeared in at least five games and thrown at least 91/ 3 innings.

Alabama, whose statistics have improved in conference play, knows that scoring runs against the Razorbacks will be at a premium.

“They’ve got a guy in the back of the game named Suggs who’s going to pitch in the mid- to upper-90s,” Alabama Coach Mitch Gaspard said. “They’ve got some left-handers that have done a nice job for them. They have a lot of pieces. They’re deep. They give you a lot of combinations.

“Really, their starters have taken them fairly deep into ballgames to where they’ve been able to hand it right to Suggs or one of the lefties with a good match up for them.”

Arkansas midweek starter Colin Poche (3-0, 0.53), a freshman left-hander, and versatile right-hander Landon Simpson (1-0, 0.64), another freshman, have ERAs under 1.00, while right-hander Brandon Moore (1-2, 1.73) has worked the most innings (26) out of the pen.

Suggs had control issues early in the season and allowed some runs while walking 13 in his first nine innings, but he’s lowered his ERA to 3.00, which is tied for last on the team with freshman Trey Killian, who joined the bullpen a couple of weeks ago after making four starts.

In the combined 138 innings worked by pitchers who are now primarily in the bullpen, the Razorbacks have given up just 87 hits and 49 walks.

“We have a lot of depth,” Beeks said. “Coach Jorn stresses just coming in and throwing strikes. I think that’s where we have a lot of success.”

While the pitching match ups this weekend seem to favor Arkansas - the Crimson Tide has a team ERA of 3.16 - Alabama has been solid lately with 10 victories in its past 13 games, including a sweep at Georgia two weeks ago.