Hogs coach has game face ready

Arkansas assistant coach Tony Vitello sits in the dugout during a game against Missouri State on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas third base coach Tony Vitello expects to hear from the fans tonight when the Razorbacks open a three-game SEC series against No. 15 LSU at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.

Vitello isn't counting on the Tigers' notoriously raucous fans to take it easy on him just because he's wearing bandages on his face.

Today’s game

ARKANSAS AT NO. 15 LSU

WHEN 7 p.m.

WHERE Alex Box Stadium, Baton Rouge

RECORDS Arkansas 26-19, 7-14 SEC; LSU 28-16, 11-10.

SERIES LSU leads 64-30

RADIO Razorback Sports Network statewide network. Not all games will be carried by all affiliates. Check local listings.

TELEVISION None

INTERNET SEC Network-Plus

PITCHING MATCHUP Arkansas: RHP Dominic Taccolini (5-2, 4.81 ERA). LSU: RHP Alex Lange (5-3, 4.05 ERA).

SHORT HOPS Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. game will be televised on ESPNU. … Arkansas’ Zach Jackson (3-4, 5.11 ERA) will start Saturday night against LSU’s Jared Poche (5-4, 3.62 ERA). Keaton McKinney (1-3, 5.84 ERA) will for Arkansas on Sunday. LSU hasn’t announced a Sunday starter. …Arkansas has won one series at LSU, in 2004 when the Razorbacks swept three games.

THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY at LSU 7 p.m.

SATURDAY at LSU 6:30 p.m.

SUNDAY at LSU 1 p.m.

MONDAY Off

TUESDAY Off

WEDNESDAY Off

THURSDAY Off

"I'm sure they'll have something for me," Vitello said. "There's also probably some people that don't like me, thinking I got what I deserve and got a punch to the nose.

"The fans will get on me a little bit, but I'd rather them get on me than our players."

Vitello took a line drive to the face April 21 in Kentucky's batting cages -- where he was working on a front toss drill with Arkansas left fielder Luke Bonfield -- and broke his nose.

"We weren't doing anything foolish," Vitello said. "You couldn't see the slit between the bar and the net."

A part of the safety netting was loose, Vitello said, and the ball off Bonfield's bat found the hole.

"I was about 12 feet from Luke -- who might have our best hand speed -- and he smoked one through there," Vitello said. "It's something that never should have happened with the proper equipment.

"But where I got hit was probably the ideal spot. No teeth, no eye. If it had hit me in the middle of the nose, it probably would blown the whole thing up."

The ball hit Vitello on the right side of his nose and pushed his septum -- the bone and cartilage which separates the nostrils -- to the left.

"I was pretty lucky," Vitello said. "It could have been a lot worse."

After having to wait because of some scheduling conflicts, Vitello underwent surgery on his nose Tuesday.

Rather than sound bitter, Vitello took the opportunity to lobby for better baseball equipment for Kentucky Coach Gary Henderson, who he called "a great guy and phenomenal coach."

Vitello also made a joke about John Calipari's $6.5 million annual salary as Kentucky's basketball coach.

"Their batting cages are pretty ratty to be honest with you," Vitello said. "I think they put all their money into John Calipari."

Being hit in the face by a line drive hasn't caused Vitello to take a leave from his coaching duties over the past two weeks.

"When the ball hit him, he threw batting practice 10 minutes later," Bonfield said. "That truly speaks to how much he loves this team and loves this program and wants to win and wants the best for his players."

Vitello, in his third season as the Razorbacks' recruiting coordinator and hitting coach, drove with director of baseball operations Clay Goodwin to Springfield, Mo., for Arkansas' game at Missouri State Tuesday night despite undergoing surgery that morning.

"Clay was good enough to come pick me up and drive me, because I was a little groggy after the surgery," Vitello said. "He got me my meds, a couple smoothies to eat because I couldn't really chew and drove me back home after the game."

Arkansas Dave Coach Van Horn told Vitello he shouldn't make the trip, but Vitello didn't want to miss the game.

Van Horn took over in the third coaching base box for Vitello, who watched from the dugout as the Bears beat the Razorbacks 14-6.

"It was a big game and I wanted to be there," Vitello said. "It could have given us some good momentum going into LSU. It didn't, but now we're looking forward to going to Baton Rouge."

After the game, Van Horn talked to his players about being tougher and used Vitello as an example.

"It got brought up that maybe we need to take a page out of Coach Vitello's book and realize toughness goes a long way," Arkansas senior shortstop Michael Bernal said. "He's been really tough about dealing with what happened to him and still showing up every day and working hard to help the team in every way he can.

"That's definitely something we could use and try to emulate with whatever we've got going on, to be tough about every situation."

Vitello, who was an infielder at Missouri, played the final few games of his college career in 2002 with a broken bone in his left hand after being hit by a pitch against Nebraska -- when Van Horn was the Cornhuskers' coach.

"As a player, I wasn't good enough to miss days or I'd get passed up, so I wasn't going to sit out," Vitello said. "I just had to finish my career playing that way."

Vitello said he probably won't be cleared to throwing batting practice again until next weekend's home series against Alabama, but he's excited about resuming his third base coaching duties tonight.

"I'm supposed to be fairly inactive for about two weeks after the surgery, but the hell with that," Vitello said. "Let's see if we go can win down in Baton Rouge and give the fans something to cheer about against Alabama."

Sports on 05/06/2016