FAYETTEVILLE — Before Saturday’s game, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn made a prediction about Brady Slavens on the Razorbacks’ pregame radio show.
“I think he’s about ready to break out,” Van Horn said.
Slavens backed up his coach’s words with a big performance during the Razorbacks’ 12-5 series-clinching victory over Mississippi State. Batting seventh as Arkansas’ designated hitter, Slavens had two RBI hits, including a two-run home run in the Razorbacks’ four-run third inning that helped break open the game.
The homer gave Arkansas a 6-1 lead, which grew up to 8-1 when Cayden Wallace added a two-run double.
Slavens, who was batting .187 entering the game, finished 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and drew a walk.
“He kept a good attitude and just kind of realized, ‘I’m down here, I’m as low as I’ve been in a long time as a hitter, I’m going to build myself back up,’ and the coaches worked with him,” Van Horn said. “He came in early, stayed late hitting, working on things. We just decided not to start him yesterday to kind of let him really watch, more than anything.”
Slavens’ one-out walk in the second inning loaded the bases and set the table for a four-run inning that turned the Razorbacks' 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead. Van Horn said Slavens laid off two sliders during the four-pitch at-bat in the second inning — pitches he was swinging at previously.
“It’s just about realizing you can only get one hit an at-bat; can’t get two,” Van Horn said, “and you’ve got to let the game come to you sometimes. If the pitches aren’t good, can’t hit them, can’t handle them, don’t swing.
"I thought his approach was really good tonight.”
Slavens’ two-run home run in the fourth inning came against left-handed reliever Cam Tullar and bounced off the window of hitting coach Nate Thompson’s office in right field. He added a two-out, opposite-field double to the gap in left-center field in the sixth to score Robert Moore from first base.
Van Horn noted that Slavens had hit well to the opposite field in his pregame batting practices.
“His batting practice yesterday was really good,” Van Horn said. “Then today was good going the other way.”
Slavens sat out the Razorbacks’ previous three games — the series finale at Missouri last weekend, a nonconference game against Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday and the series opener against the Bulldogs on Friday. It is common for Van Horn to sit a player who is slumping at the plate. On multiple occasions he has said it helps hitters slow down the game.
Slavens was hitless in the five games before he was benched and struck out 10 times in 17 at-bats. Van Horn said Slavens “only over-swung once” Saturday, in the fourth inning following a pitching change from Tullar to KC Hunt.
Getting Slavens back on track is a priority for the Razorbacks. He was the team’s top every-day hitter a year ago when he batted .284 with an OPS of .907, hit 14 home runs and had 63 RBI.
“I’ve been trying to find that edge here for a while now, and this week I just put my nose down, working hard and felt really good, really comfortable going into it,” Slavens said. “I kind of felt like I had gotten back to what I know and what I'm used to.”
Wallace, who was 2 for 5 with 4 RBI, said it was good to see Slavens return to form.
“We all knew he had it in him," Wallace said. "He had a great year last year, so we know what we’re getting with him.”
CORRECTION: Slavens sat out three games. A previous version misstated that figure.