FAYETTEVILLE — Reviewing a 7-2 SEC start, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn revealed a stat that may have been lost on some after the first three weekends of league baseball.
The Razorbacks have already equaled their conference win total from last season.
The Hogs finished a dismal 7-23 in SEC play in 2016. They swept Mississippi State in their only home series, then took their two road series at Missouri and Alabama with Sunday wins. Arkansas is 22-6 overall, including 5-3 in away games this year.
“I thought we were better,” Van Horn said following his monthly speech at Swatter's Club on Monday. “I knew we were motivated. If you have guys who have a great want to, then you've got a chance.”
Arkansas has been on the road for its last six games, winning four. The Hogs begin a five-game home stand with two midweek games against Grand Canyon on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. LSU comes to town for a three-game series starting Friday.
The Hogs won the Alabama series after blowing two leads in the series finale. They scored three in the ninth inning to break a tie on the way to an 8-5 victory.
Carson Shaddy's two-run single with two outs was the big blow in the ninth. It was Shaddy's only hit in 12 official at-bats during the weekend. He did have an RBI fly out earlier in the game, but he'd been called out in his last at-bat.
“They walked Dominic Fletcher to get to Shaddy,” Van Horn said of Alabama's decision to load the bases. “That previous at-bat, I felt for him because he was called out on a pitch that was about two balls low. If it had been one ball low, I'd have told him you have to protect. But it was low.
“So he was having a bad day. But he stayed square on that at bat, got a line drive. He kept the hands inside and had a very mature approach.”
That followed a sacrifice bunt by Luke Bonfield, probably his first of his college career.
“We had a meeting with my other coaches on what to do,” Van Horn said. “Are you going to (sacrifice) bunt with your No. 3 hitter on the road? He'd never done it before. But he does in batting practice. I will say that what he did was just stick the bat up on a ball that was thrown right at his head. It was a perfect bunt.”
Things went right earlier in the inning when an infielder and an outfielder called each other off on Chad Spanberger's bloop single to left field. Spanberger had been struggling earlier in the season, but he's been red hot of late.
“We decided about a month ago to move Chad to the two hole in the lineup, ahead of Bonfield,” Van Horn said. “We knew they were going to pitch to him with Luke behind him.”
Spanberger's approach has improved, with the ability to spoil two-strike pitches and take the outside pitch the other way. The 6-3, 235-pound lefty has raised his average 50 points since the start of conference play.
“He hit two home runs foul, two line drives the other way over the shortstop,” Van Horn said.
Asked about Spanberger's work in the offseason with hitting coach Tony Vitello, Van Horn said there was also some help from volunteer coach Josh Elander.
“Coach Vitello worked hard with all of our hitters,” Van Horn said, “along with Coach Elander.
“Chad had a great summer, a great fall and then a bad start. But his at bats the last two to three weeks have been good. He can hit singles, too. He can go the other way. You make a mistake, he can hit it out and he doesn't even have to get all of it.
“The main focus, he's staying through the ball. He hits it to center field in batting practice, working on just that. He hit two good low strikes for singles yesterday, down and away. It's the evolution of a hitter.”
The Hogs got four hits from Jared Gates on the weekend, his first of the season. The JUCO transfer has battled back from hand surgery in February.
“You could see the confidence return in the last week,” Van Horn said. “He had a great batting practice on Thursday night at Alabama and he exploded for three hits on Friday night. And, he hit one off the top of the fence, opposite field against the wind on yesterday.”
Gates is likely to play more. He was scheduled to play first base after leading the team in hitting in early February. The Wichita, Kan., product will likely play third base with Spanberger playing well already at first.
“He played second in junior college,” Van Horn said. “If he gets to it, he fields it, but his range isn't as good as some others. He just doesn't have the foot speed.”
Gates is a natural hitter.
“I'd say he has natural pull power, but he doesn't just do that,” Van Horn said. “He'll go up the middle and the other way. He's got sneaky power.”
Gates has never used batting gloves, but he tried them while making his comeback after recovering from the broken hamate bone in his right hand.
“He was using the gloves because he thought it might protect that hand a little bit,” Van Horn said. “But he threw them away about two weeks away.
“Our players really like him. He's really quiet. You could see our dugout just erupt Friday night when he got that first hit. I know he looked like a different player Thursday in batting practice. He just said, 'Coach, I'm 100 percent.' And he is now.
“Like I said, everyone likes him. He isn't going to say much, but if he does talk, everyone is going to listen because he's a winner.
“We signed him because he was a pretty good JC bat. But he's a better defender than we thought.”
The Hogs have gotten good starting pitching of late.
“We've lowered our starting ERA by quite a bit,” Van Horn said. “We just need one more to step up.”
That's in reference to struggles the past two weekends by Trevor Stephan, the Saturday man all year.
“It's a concern,” Van Horn said. “He's got the electric fast ball. But if you aren't throwing it where you want it, they are going to hit it. You have to remember, he's only pitched for a couple of years. Going on the road, I just think it was a learning experience.”
The Hogs have gotten top end pitching on Friday nights from Blaine Knight.
“You couldn't ask for better,” Van Horn said. “The first three (SEC starts) have been lights out. He hits his spots, mixes his pitches. He's at a much different level than last year. You have to be at a notch higher on Friday night in the SEC and he's been that.”
Van Horn said reserve infielder Hunter Wilson is still recovering from a shin bruise. He's missed the first three SEC weekends.
“I don't think he'll be ready this weekend, maybe next weekend,” Van Horn said. “He took some ground balls this weekend. He's better, but he's not ready yet.”
Van Horn would not commit to starting pitching for the two games against Grand Canyon. The options center around Weston Rogers, Barrett Loseke, Evan Lee and Kacey Murphy.
“Either way, we probably are going to use five pitchers each game,” Van Horn said of the midweek games against the Antelopes.