FAYETTEVILLE — Cayden Wallace was batting .077 when Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn shook up the lineup for a Feb. 26 game against Southeast Missouri State.
Van Horn moved Wallace from the bottom third of the batting order to the middle of it as the clean-up hitter.
“He probably thought I was nuts when I put him in the four hole,” Van Horn said this week during an interview on ESPNU Radio. “All he did was respond with a couple of home runs, and his batting average has jumped up.”
On the night he moved up in the order, Wallace hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie, the first of two homers that weekend for the freshman from Greenbrier.
Since then he has been one of Arkansas’ most consistent hitters. He enters the No. 2 Razorbacks’ series at No. 4 Mississippi State this weekend with a .294 batting average and .395 on-base percentage.
Nine of his 20 hits have been for extra bases — 4 doubles and 5 home runs — and he has had a knack for coming through in important situations.
He hit a leadoff double to spark a three-run second inning after the Razorbacks had fallen behind 4-0 to Murray State on March 6. Arkansas came back to win the game 11-6.
During another comeback victory at Louisiana Tech on March 12, Wallace hit a solo home run with one out in the sixth inning to tie the game after Louisiana Tech had taken the lead with four runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Later in the game, Wallace drew a leadoff walk to spark a three-run eighth inning that tied the game again. Arkansas won 9-7 in 10 innings.
During the first two games of the series at Louisiana Tech, Wallace was 5 for 7, reached base in 8 of 10 plate appearances and scored 5 runs.
“His at-bats have been good, he’s fouling off pitches, getting deep into counts,” Van Horn said on ESPNU Radio. “You can tell if a guy can hit; don’t look at the batting average all the time.
“I really like his approach mentally. He’s a tough kid and he’s the future here, and we’re going to build our lineup around him down the road.”
The night before he moved up in the batting order, Wallace had one of the Razorbacks’ best at-bats of the season in the 10th inning of a 6-5 comeback victory over SEMO.
Wallace fouled off nine pitches during a 14-pitch at-bat to give Arkansas two base runners with one out. Jalen Battles hit a bases-loaded infield single to win the game two at-bats later.
“It was really a tough at-bat in a really tough situation,” Van Horn said of Wallace’s performance in the 10th.
Wallace had been robbed of a hit — probably a double — an inning earlier when SEMO third baseman Peyton Leeper made a diving stop to his right and forced out a base runner at second base.
“He didn’t let it bother him,” Van Horn said, “and when he got another opportunity to try to win the game, he fought and fought and fought.”
Wallace is Arkansas’ only freshman to start most games this season. He has started 16 games in right field, plus one game apiece at third base and as a designated hitter.
As an infielder, Wallace was the state's top recruit in his class and chose the Razorbacks while also being recruited by Vanderbilt and TCU. Van Horn said Wallace might move to third base in the future.
Mike Rooney, a former college coach who is an analyst for ESPN and D1Baseball, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Wallace in SEC player of the year discussion in future years.
“I got to see him in some amateur stuff, and he’s got those star qualities,” Rooney said on the WholeHog Baseball Podcast earlier this month. “He’s got a really cool demeanor to him, a very confident look to him.
“The swing works, he’s physical and he’s athletic enough to play all those different spots. Dave Van Horn and (assistant coach) Nate Thompson are on that field every day, and for them to play him every day based on what he did in the fall, that speaks volumes.”
Wallace has had his best stretch at the plate during Arkansas’ four-game winning streak. During that time he is 8 for 15, has walked 3 times and scored 2 runs.
He had 3 RBI during the Razorbacks’ 14-1 victory over Memphis on Tuesday.
"I feel like I'm seeing the ball pretty well,” Wallace said this week. “I’m just glad they keep giving me opportunities, and I'm trying to do everything I can to help this team win."
Van Horn said Wallace made an adjustment to his swing early in the season that has helped. He adjusted his bat grip to about an inch higher and is not chasing as many balls away in the zone.
“It just gives him a little bit…of leverage and control of the barrel,” Van Horn said. “I just feel like he’s confident right now. He’s doing a great job of not trying to do too much.”