FAYETTEVILLE -- Coach Dave Van Horn said he knew the Arkansas Razorbacks were going to be a stronger baseball team in 2017.
Even the optimistic Van Horn might not have predicted a 22-6 start for the Razorbacks, with three SEC series victories to open conference play for the first time since 2009, following an 8-5 series clincher at Alabama on Sunday.
The Razorbacks have the SEC's best overall record and are tied for the best conference record at 7-2 with Auburn and Kentucky heading into tonight's 6:30 game against Grand Canyon and a big weekend set against LSU at Baum Stadium.
"Oh yeah, I thought we'd be a lot better," Van Horn said Monday after his monthly appearance at the Swatter's Club at the Hilton Garden Inn. "We thought we'd be maybe more mentally tough than last year's team and more motivated because of the season last year. Motivated players are a good thing, believe me."
Arkansas moved up five spots to No. 15 in the USA Today coaches poll on Monday. The Razorbacks are also No. 18 in the RPI ratings.
At what is roughly the halfway point of the regular season, Arkansas needs four victories to tie its victory total from its 26-29 record in 2016. The Razorbacks have already tied their SEC victory total from last season.
Despite losing projected Friday starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell, junior starter Keaton McKinney and reliever Cody Scroggins with arm injuries, the Razorbacks have a 3.87 earned-run average in SEC games, led by right-hander Blaine Knight (4-1, 2.23 ERA), who has a 1.71 ERA in league play.
"Right before the season started, we had those injuries and we just told the team, 'Hey, it is what it is. We've just got to fight through it. We're going to win with what we have,' " Van Horn said.
The Razorbacks have lost only once in Knight's Friday starts -- a 3-0 setback against Arizona ace J.C. Cloney in Frisco, Texas. Knight is 3-0 in SEC games, with 25 strikeouts and one walk.
Arkansas, which lost its final two Sunday games before the start of SEC play by a combined 11-3, has gone 3-0 in Sunday SEC games, all started by senior right-hander Josh Alberius.
Arkansas, which is tied for 12th nationally with 37 home runs, hit only one against Alabama -- Luke Bonfield's two-run shot on Friday -- but managed 16 runs and 36 hits, including 17 in Friday's 7-1 victory.
Sunday's victory over the Crimson Tide was typical of the grind-it-out games the Razorbacks have been winning. Arkansas let leads of 3-0 and 5-3 slip away, but with the top of the order coming up in the ninth inning of a 5-5 game, the Hogs were determined to win it before extra innings.
Jake Arledge hit the first pitch of the inning right through the box against Garrett Suchey. Chad Spanberger, who went 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI, worked a 2-2 count before dropping a flare into left-center field between three defenders. Then came the key at-bat of the inning.
Van Horn considered pinch-hitting for Bonfield, the three-hole batter, to execute a sacrifice bunt, but Bonfield promised he could lay one down. Suchey's first pitch was headed high and tight, but Bonfield got his bat on it and bunted perfectly toward third base as he fell down in the batter's box.
"Luke Bonfield, that ball would have hit him right between the eyes," Van Horn told the Swatter's Club. "First sacrifice bunt of his career."
Indeed, the junior's first sacrifice moved two runners into scoring position.
Van Horn expected the Crimson Tide to walk clean-up hitter Grant Koch to bring up freshman Dominique Fletcher and set up a double play, but Coach Greg Goff called on Davis Vainer, who struck out Koch. Alabama then chose to walk Fletcher, who was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, and pitch to junior Carson Shaddy with the bases loaded.
Shaddy, who had been 1 for 12 in the series, burned the Crimson Tide with an inside-out swing for a two-run single to right field.
"His approach was different from his other at-bats," Van Horn said. "He wasn't trying to drive the ball. He was just trying to square one up enough to get a line drive through the middle. He stayed back on that ball and kept his hands inside the ball and right when it left the bat, we knew it was a hit. It was a mature approach. ... He knew what he had to do, and he did it."
Sports on 04/04/2017