FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' baseball team might be heating up in time to turn its season around after winning three of its past four games, but the Razorbacks face another difficult midweek game tonight against Missouri State.
Arkansas (14-13), which won its first SEC series by taking two of three from Ole Miss last weekend, will host the hot Bears at 6:35 p.m. at Baum Stadium.
The Razorbacks are 3-6 in the SEC, but five of their SEC losses came against highly regarded Vanderbilt and LSU.
"I think you see a team that is starting to figure it out offensively, pitching and defense, so I feel really good about the way we're going and the way we're playing right now," said Arkansas outfielder Tyler Spoon, whose third home run provided the final run of the Razorbacks' 5-2 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday.
"We are feeling good, and I think we're getting ready to go on a roll, absolutely," said third baseman Bobby Wernes, who will take a seven-game hitting streak into tonight's game.
Arkansas will play just one midweek game in advance of its weekend series at Auburn after playing games on five consecutive days each of the past two weeks.
"We needed a little bit of a break," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "I think the more we play, the better we're getting. Mix in some wins and maybe a couple of close losses, our confidence is getting better.
"Guys are starting to relax a little bit and not dwell on winning or how they're doing personally but just playing the game, getting better. If we play the game, get better, we're going to win our share."
Arkansas' lack of pitching depth has made midweek games an adventure. The Razorbacks are 2-4 in regularly scheduled midweek games.
Missouri State (17-7) has won five games in a row and eight of its past nine. Coach Keith Guttin's Bears have scored six or more runs in eight of their past 10 games.
"It seems like they're scoring a lot of runs," Van Horn said. "I know I always seem to pick up their games when they've scored 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 runs it seems like. "
Arkansas was sparked over the weekend by Wernes, who is batting .429 (12 of 28) during his hitting streak, including four consecutive games with two hits. Wernes stole home after Ole Miss failed to call timeout in the fifth inning of Saturday's series finale.
"That's just how Bobby plays the game," said Arkansas pitcher Zach Jackson, who allowed no runs in two appearances totaling 4 2/3 innings against Ole Miss, including a save Saturday.
"He saw that he [the Ole Miss player] hadn't called time and, even though I guess the pitcher thought it was a given, you have got to call time in that situation, and Bobby took what was given to him."
Tonight, Arkansas is expected to start either sophomore right-hander James Teague (1-1, 5.79 ERA) or freshman right-hander Keaton McKinney (1-1, 4.40), with most of the rest of the bullpen, excluding Jackson, available. Teague worked a career-best fiving innings and picked up the victory as Arkansas beat Memphis 7-3 last week. McKinney has allowed one earned run in his last two outings combined, covering seven innings.
Jackson had nine strikeouts and allowed three hits in his two outings against Ole Miss, which lowered his ERA to a team-best 1.33.
"That's the best he's looked after coming off one day's rest," Van Horn said.
The Bears are expected to start junior left-hander Andy Cheray (2-2, 5.74), who worked early in last week's 15-9 victory over Kansas.
Missouri State is hitting .298 as a team, led by Blake Graham (.355), Dylan Becker (.312), Joey Hawkins (.306) and Jake Burger (.303). In the Bears' balanced lineup, eight players have between 13 and 19 RBI.
"They've got an offensive team, and I know they've got some really good weekend pitchers," Van Horn said.
The Bears rank second in the Missouri Valley Conference in batting average, second in pitching (3.27 ERA) and fourth in fielding (.973 percentage).
The Razorbacks rank sixth in SEC hitting (.291), 14th in pitching (4.60 ERA) and third in fielding (.975 percentage).
Sports on 03/31/2015