FAYETTEVILLE — Impending weather Friday has thrown a wrench into the No. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks weekend baseball series against McNeese State at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Because thunderstorms and showers are in the forecast for most of the day, the teams have agreed to play a doubleheader with two nine-inning games starting at noon Saturday. The second game will follow 45 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.
More from WholeHogSports: What to know about McNeese State
Left-handed ace Hagen Smith (1-0, 2.77 ERA) is scheduled to start the opener against McNeese State right-hander Zach Voss (0-2, 10.03).
Arkansas has announced right-hander Brady Tygart (2-0, 1.12) for its Game 2 starter, while McNeese State has not committed to a starter.
The Cowboys (8-5) of the Southland Conference won their first game of the week by a 6-5 score in 10 innings at Louisiana Christian on Wednesday night.
Arkansas (10-2) has won six consecutive games since a 2-1 walk-off loss in 14 innings against Oklahoma State on Feb. 24. Razorback starting pitchers had allowed 1 earned run or less in 8 consecutive games before freshman Colin Fisher was dinged for 2 runs in 3 innings during Tuesday’s 9-7 win over the University of Central Arkansas.
Smith has been a big part of that dominating stretch with 29 strikeouts over 12 innings since Feb. 23. He has allowed one run in that span, a solo home run by Murray State shortstop Drew Vogel last Saturday.
“If you look at his numbers, they’re not even video game, they’re cheat code video game stats,” McNeese State Coach Justin Hill said of Smith’s 31 strikeouts in 13 innings, .114 batting average against and 0.69 WHIP.
“It’s special. The guy is probably as big-league ready as anybody. Just looking at his numbers and his stuff, we’re going to have a fight on our hands. The best chance to win the game is to get a good start from our pitching staff and keep the game close. Hopefully we will start to create some traffic, but the game has got to be within reach.”
In nonconference, Arkansas has won 29 consecutive weekend series at home dating to a 1-2 weekend against South Alabama in 2014.
Arkansas’ starting trio of Smith, Tygart and lefty Mason Molina have given up 18 hits in 42 2/3 innings and have a combined WHIP of 0.75.
Arkansas bats have run hot and cold thus far, but they have been heating up since a sluggish showing at the College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas, two weekends ago.
Jared Sprague-Lott (.417, 1 home run, 6 RBI) leads the Hogs in hitting, and veterans Kendall Diggs (.357, 1 HR, 8 RBI) and Ben McLaughlin (.333, 1 HR, 12 RBI) have reached base in all 12 games.
Infielders Nolan Souza (.333, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and Peyton Holt (.306, 4 RBI), outfielders Ross Lovich (.471, 4 RBI) and Will Edmundson (.300, 3 RBI), and designated hitters Jack Wagner (.308, 2 RBI) and Hudson Polk (.300, 1 HR, 5 RBI) are all at .300 or better.
Jayson Jones (.206) leads with two home runs and is tied with McLaughlin for the RBI lead with 12.
The Cowboys, with more than 30 newcomers on the roster, are hitting .282 as a team, led by Braden Duhon (.388, 3 RBI), Conner Westenburg (.377, 5 HR, 15 RBI) and Chase Keeton (.340, 4 RBI).
“We’ve got a very new team this year, even though there’s a lot of older guys on it,” Hill said. “It’s an older group, whether it’s guys who transferred in from junior college, portal or guys who’ve been here.
“I think we’ve got two returners who are in their normal spot they were in last year, and that’s the right fielder [Duhon] and left fielder [Cooper Hext]. So we’re just very new. We knew there would be some growing pains with this team. We’re just trying to figure out how this team wins baseball games.”
The Cowboys dropped a three-game set at Texas A&M to open the season by scores of 15-0, 6-1 and 10-0 in seven innings.
Arkansas has won 6 of 9 games in the all-time series, with the last set of games being played 13 years ago in 2011 when the teams split a pair of games in Fayetteville. The Cowboys won 8-6 and the Hogs won 8-3.
Matt Jones of Hawgs Sports Network contributed information for this article.