FAYETTEVILLE — Oklahoma will bring one of college baseball’s hottest hitters to Baum-Walker Stadium on Tuesday.
Junior first baseman Tyler Hardman is batting .492 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI through 15 games. Hardman has also walked 14 times and has an on-base percentage of .587.
Among hitters with at least 50 at-bats, Hardman’s on-base percentage is the best in college baseball and his batting average ranks third nationally.
During a 12-6 victory over Arkansas State on Monday, Hardman had an on-base streak end at 16 consecutive plate appearances, two shy of the NCAA record.
Hardman was 5 for 5 and drew a walk when he hit for the cycle during a game against Arkansas State on Sunday, and he came within a triple of hitting for the cycle again Monday.
During the three-game series against the Red Wolves, Hardman was 11 for 12 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 walks, 11 runs scored and 6 RBI. He was also hit by a pitch.
"Hopefully he stays hot," Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson said on the Sooners' postgame radio show. "He works extremely hard at it and it's paying off. I'm extremely proud of him for that."
Hardman leads a potent Oklahoma offense that brings a .306 team batting average to Fayetteville. The Sooners have five most-day position players batting .322 or better, including outfielders Diego Muniz (.364) and Tanner Tredaway (.356).
“Oklahoma can really hit,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Monday. “You look at their numbers, they’re hitting over .300 and they seem to walk a little bit and don’t strike out a whole lot. They are scoring a lot of runs.
“They are an offensive team and they have good talent, so it will be a battle tomorrow.”
Hardman was a .270 hitter with 3 home runs, 5 doubles and 12 RBI during the shortened 2020 season.
He went 2 for 4 with 1 RBI during the Sooners’ 6-3 victory over Arkansas at the Shriners College Classic last year. He hit a single and a double during Oklahoma’s fall exhibition against the Razorbacks in September 2019.
Playing again
Oklahoma will play a game at Arkansas for the first time since 2009.
Scheduled games between the Razorbacks and Sooners in Fayetteville were rained out in 2011 and 2013, and no games were scheduled again until last year.
The series was renewed after Johnson was hired as Oklahoma’s head coach in 2017. The teams were scheduled to play a fall exhibition game in Norman in September 2018, but it was rained out. They played a fall exhibition in Fayetteville the following year.
Oklahoma’s 6-3 victory over Arkansas in the Shriners College Classic last February was to be the first of two meetings between the programs in 2020, but the second game — scheduled for March 17 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City — was not played after the outbreak of covid-19.
Johnson said he hopes the series is extended to future years. The programs' campuses are separated by about 240 miles.
“You want to play teams like Arkansas, and Arkansas wants to play teams like the University of Oklahoma,” Johnson said. “The environment is a lot different and you get challenged, and it’s great for our athletes. It prepares those guys to move on in the future of playing professional baseball, because that environment is what it’s all about.
“We’ve talked about (playing games) year-to-year, so I think that process will continue to happen.”
Arkansas leads the all-time series against Oklahoma with a record of 14-12, but the Sooners have won three straight over the Razorbacks dating to 2010.
Arkansas’ last win over Oklahoma came during a 2009 NCAA regional in Norman when the Razorbacks won by sores of 17-6 and 11-0 en route to the College World Series. Arkansas also won its regular-season game against the Sooners in Fayetteville that year by a score of 8-7 in 10 innings.
Quick turnaround
Oklahoma will play its fourth game in three days Tuesday.
The Sooners split a doubleheader with Arkansas State on Sunday with a 9-1 victory that followed a 15-14 loss. Oklahoma defeated Arkansas State 12-6 on Monday.
“Twenty-seven innings in 24 hours is tough on anybody,” Johnson said. “I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do is play it one pitch at a time, one out at a time and do the best we can and just show effort. If we do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
Johnson said the Sooners will bus to Fayetteville on Tuesday morning, then make the drive back to Norman after the game.
Cowboy hat
Redshirt-sophomore left hander Braden Carmichael (2-0, 3.27 ERA) will start for Oklahoma at Arkansas. After that, it’s anyone’s guess who the Sooners will throw against the Razorbacks.
“I’ve got a cowboy hat that I put all their names in and draw one out,” Johnson said. “We’ll start Braden Carmichael tomorrow and then we’ll get that cowboy hat down and see about getting guys out of that cowboy hat.”
The Sooners have struggled on the mound this season after losing three pitchers and their starting catcher to the five-round MLB Draft last summer. Oklahoma’s team ERA is 6.43 through 15 games and the Sooners have allowed 8 or more runs 6 times.
Oklahoma allowed 32 runs over two games against Arizona earlier this month at the Frisco Classic.
JUCO days
Van Horn and Johnson have a professional relationship that goes back three decades to when both men were coaching junior college baseball in Texas.
Van Horn was head coach at Texarkana College from 1989-93 and Johnson was head coach at Navarro College from 1994-2006.
In 1992, Navarro and Texarkana met while Johnson was Navarro’s pitching coach.
“It was a 1-0 game with about 24 strikeouts,” Johnson said. “It was just a crazy game — Melvin Bunch vs. Chris Holt, both big leaguers.”
Several years later, Van Horn committed one of Johnson’s best pitchers to come out of Navarro, right hander Jess Todd. In 2007, Todd had 128 strikeouts and was an All-American in his only season pitching for the Razorbacks.
Baseball brothers
Twin brothers Braydon and Braxton Webb will be in opposing dugouts Tuesday.
Braydon Webb is a left fielder at Arkansas and Braxton Webb is a left-handed pitcher at Oklahoma. The Dallas-area natives previously played with each other at Grayson (Texas) College.
It is unclear whether either Webb will play Tuesday. Braydon Webb has started eight games in left field, but is batting just .042 (1 for 24). Braxton Webb has not pitched this season.
Okie Hogs
A pair of Arkansas freshmen were among the top recruits in the state of Oklahoma in the class of 2020.
Right-handed pitchers Nate Wohlgemuth (Owasso) and Jaxon Wiggins (Roland) ranked first and seventh, respectively, among Oklahoma prospects, according to Perfect Game.
Wohlgemuth committed to Arkansas over Oklahoma and TCU, according to Tulsa World. Wiggins received interest from Oklahoma State but was not recruited by the Sooners.
With a 98 mph fastball and good changeup, Wiggins has become a freshman closer and has two saves this season. He has not allowed a hit in four innings pitched.
Wohlgemuth battled a back injury during the preseason and has struggled with command. Wohlgemuth has walked four in two relief appearances that lasted 1/3 of an inning.
TV plans
Tuesday’s game will be the first of at least nine games for Arkansas on SEC Network this season. The game time was moved ahead by 90 minutes to 5 p.m. to accommodate the TV broadcast.
Dari Nowkhah (play-by-play) and Mike Rooney (analyst) will call the game remotely.