Razorbacks adjust to playing 2 in SEC

Grounds crews push the water off the infield tarp Friday, April 29, 2016, before the start of Fridays game at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas is playing another SEC doubleheader.

The Razorbacks (25-16, 6-12 SEC) and No. 2 Texas A&M (33-8, 12-6) will play two nine-inning games today at Baum Stadium after Friday night's opener of the three-game series was postponed by rain and lightning.

Today's first game will start at 2 p.m. and be televised on ESPN2. The second game won't be televised. The series finale at 1 p.m Sunday will be televised on ESPNU.

It's the second consecutive SEC doubleheader for the Razorbacks, who split two seven-inning games at Kentucky on April 23, winning 2-0 and losing 5-4.

Today's games are nine innings because it's not the last day of the series.

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he prefers to play nine innings in a doubleheader.

"Nine innings is baseball," he said. "Seven innings is a little difficult.

"You have to manage a seven-inning game a lot differently. The fifth inning really becomes the seventh in your mind. You've got to get it going quick, and if you can get the lead in those short games, it's what you try to do."

Arkansas will start Dominic Taccolini (4-2, 4.50 ERA) and junior right-hander Zach Jackson (3-4, 4.12) today against Texas A&M sophomore right-handers Brigham Hill (5-0, 1.74) and Jace Vines (6-1, 4.05).

It will be the fourth consecutive start for Jackson, who previously was the Razorbacks' closer. He threw a career-best seven innings at Kentucky to win the first game of last weekend's doubleheader.

"I feel as the weeks go on, I've gotten in that comfortability level with the different preparation," Jackson said of moving from the bullpen to the rotation. "It's just building every week."

The Razorbacks are looking for strong starts again from Taccolini and Jackson after they combined for 17 shutout innings at Kentucky.

"Kentucky had a very good lineup," Van Horn said. "A&M's got a great lineup. Just look at the numbers."

The Aggies have a .328 team batting average, led by Boomer White (.432), Hunter Melton (.377) and J.B. Moss (.358).

"There's no easy outs throughout that lineup," Van Horn said. "I just want our guys to compete and throw strikes and try to work ahead in the count. You do that, you've got a shot."

The Razorbacks ended an eight-game SEC losing streak -- during which they never held a lead -- by taking two of three games at Kentucky.

"I think the pitchers and hitters are slowly starting to put games together as opposed to one playing well and the other not," Jackson said. "Hopefully, as we roll into these bigger conference games, we can keep doing that and pull out a series win this weekend."

Including midweek victories over Creighton and No. 22 Oklahoma State, the Razorbacks are 4-1 in their past five games after going through a 2-8 stretch.

"Honestly, no one was really in a panic," Arkansas left fielder Luke Bonfield said of the turnaround. "The coaches weren't. We weren't."

Center fielder Carson Shaddy said the Razorbacks have kept the same approach whether they're winning or losing.

"No one's really changed their mindset," he said. "It's just kind of happened. You just get that winning feeling back and start rolling."

Van Horn said playing a doubleheader last weekend should help the Razorbacks today.

"That was our first doubleheader of the year," he said. "We know we're in for a long day, and hopefully we'll play well."

Van Horn hasn't announced a starter for Sunday's game. Texas A&M's scheduled starter is senior right-hander Kyle Simmons (6-1, 2.96 ERA).

"They're all good," Van Horn said of the Aggies' starting pitchers. "They all have really good arms. They're going to pitch in the low 90s and give you a little more when they need to, and they have good secondary pitches."

All of Texas A&M's position players are juniors or seniors.

"They're a complete team," Van Horn said. "That's why they have only lost a handful of games all year and are sitting at the top of the SEC West.

"They've got a very experienced team, a very physical team and a very confident team."

Rob Childress, in his 11th season as Texas A&M's coach, was an assistant for Van Horn at Texarkana College, Northwestern (La.) State and Nebraska.

Van Horn's Arkansas teams are 7-4 against Childress' Aggies since 2008. The two are such close friends that when Van Horn was head coach of Team USA in 2014, Childress was his pitching coach.

"I don't like playing his teams," Van Horn said. "I like watching his teams because they're so good and so well coached. But as far as just the competition, this is our job and we're trying to win games."

Sports on 04/30/2016