FAYETTEVILLE — Back-to-back losses happen to college baseball programs all the time.
Not so much for the Arkansas Razorbacks of recent vintage under 22nd-year Coach Dave Van Horn.
Even single losses have been rare this season for the University of Arkansas, which was ranked No. 1 and off to the best start in school history at 30-3 after its 5-3 win over then-No. 17 Alabama last Friday.
Then the Crimson Tide rallied to win the next two games by scores of 4-3 in 10 innings Saturday and 5-0 on Sunday.
It marked the first back-to-back losses for the Razorbacks in nearly 11 months, since 10-8 and 7-6 setbacks at Vanderbilt to conclude the 2023 regular season.
The Razorbacks (30-5), who dropped to No. 2 in this week’s USA Today coaches poll behind Texas A&M (32-4), are facing their first big dose of adversity heading into a two-game set with Texas Tech starting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas 6-6 right-hander Ben Bybee (2-0, 1.00 ERA) is slated to make his third start tonight against Texas Tech left-hander Zach Erdman (0-0, 7.24).
“I just want to play good,” Van Horn said after the Sunday shutout at Alabama, the program’s first since the 2022 College World Series. “I think it’s great that we’re playing a good team, a Power 5 team, big name, lot of tradition.
“I think it’s probably the best thing that could happen to us after losing two straight. We’ve got to play good or we’ll get beat again. I think it’s good for this team. They need to play good.”
Alabama’s pitchers did things to the Razorbacks that Van Horn and his staff had not seen much this season. After posting 5 runs in the first 3 innings Friday, Arkansas scored just 3 runs the final 24 innings, all on solo home runs from Peyton Stovall, Jared Sprague-Lott and Peyton Holt.
The Razorbacks went 16 for 102 (.157) at the plate against Alabama, including 2 for 14 (.143) with runners in scoring position and 4 for 29 (.138) with runners on base. One of those hits did not score a run.
Arkansas leadoff batters were 5 for 28 (.179), and the Hogs went all weekend without having a runner on third base with less than two outs.
“We struggled this weekend obviously really from about mid-game on Friday, but we still had a chance to win yesterday,” Van Horn said Sunday. “Today, not so much. Had a chance to win when guys aren’t really producing. This weekend was more about timely hitting.”
The Red Raiders (26-11), under 12th-year Coach Tim Tadlock, have been one of the hottest hitting and highest run-producing teams in Division I. Texas Tech has scored in double figures in 17 games and was averaging better than 10 runs per game before losing 2 of 3 over the weekend at TCU.
The Red Raiders, who are 9-9 in Big 12 play, are led by outfielder Damian Bravo (.420, 4 home runs 40 RBI), second baseman TJ Pompey (.346, 8 HR, 45 RBI), outfielder Austin Greene (.313, 4 HR, 30 RBI), first baseman Gavin Kash (.308, 10 HR, 35 RBI) and designated hitter Owen Washburn (.305, 5 HR, 19 RBI).
Senior Peyton Holt from Greenwood (.349) assumed the Hogs’ top batting average with a solid weekend while playing in left field, followed by Peyton Stovall (.341, 5 HR, 22 RBI), Jared Sprague-Lott (.319, 5 HR, 16 RBI), Nolan Souza (.314, 6 HR, 22 RBI) and Ben McLaughlin (.298, 6 HR, 28 RBI). Sprague-Lott was the only Razorback with a hit in all three games at Alabama.
Van Horn lamented the lack of production from his outfielders after Saturday’s loss, with right fielder Kendall Diggs (.264, 6 HR, 22 RBI) hitting 14 for 72 (.194) since the start of SEC play, and Ty Wilmsmeyer (.209, 1 HR, 12 RBI) also struggling with one hit in his past 20 at-bats.
Van Horn moved Diggs to the leadoff spot Sunday for the first time since Feb. 24 against Oklahoma State, giving Stovall a turn at the No. 2 spot.
“Just trying to shake it up a little bit,” Van Horn said. “Just trying to find a way to score some runs. I thought Peyton swung the bat pretty good on Friday and Saturday. He looked like a guy who could drive in some runs and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll move him down a little bit,’ just to kind of stagger the lineup. … Didn’t really work, did it?”
Will Edmunson (.292, 1 HR, 9 RBI), Ross Lovich (.276, 2 HR, 15 RBI) and Jayson Jones (.209, 3 HR, 13 RBI) have all had opportunities in left field, but Holt’s play over the weekend led Van Horn to say, “Right now I’d say it’s his spot.”
Van Horn said this two-game series arose because Texas Tech was seeking road games and that there is not a return-game provision for the Razorbacks.