Ahead of a Top 10-ranked weekend road series at Kentucky, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn was brief in assess the starting trio of pitchers. All told, though, it appears it will be the usual suspects for the Razorbacks.
While Van Horn was non-committal about a Sunday starter as Mason Molina continues to come back from a twisted ankle in practice, he indicated Hagen Smith and Brady Tygart would start the first two games of the key SEC series. And Van Horn seemed hopeful that Molina could return to the starting rotation.
“I would say right now we’ll probably go with a guy named Smith on Friday,” Van Horn said, “then on Saturday probably Tygart and we’ll leave it TBA right now, just to make sure that Molina’s good to go.”
So far this season, Smith boasts a perfect 8-0 record and a 1.35 ERA across 60 innings in 11 starts. His ERA currently ranks No. 2 in the entire nation among qualified pitchers. Tygart is 4-1 across 11 starts, and sits at No. 34 nationally with a 2.68 ERA.
Molina trails both in ERA but is still strong at 3.47. He holds a 3-1 record in 10 starts.
Van Horn has been pleased with how Arkansas has performed in midweek games
With a two game sweep over Missouri State this week, Van Horn saw his team go unbeaten during mid-week games for the 2024 season.
Following the game, Van Horn praised the Razorbacks for their ability to stay focused and play well during those mid-week games.
“That’s what I’ve told the team, that they’ve done a great job showing up in the middle of the week,” Dave Van Horn said. “Maybe coming off a big series, getting ready to play another one, you can say want, it’s the way the mind works. A lot of times, you’re not all there. They’re looking for the next one, and maybe the one coming up.”
During the conference slate, mid-week games are often seen as easier games for SEC schools. However, they’re easy games to lose focus during. That hasn’t happened to Arkansas, though.
“We’ve done a good job of showing up and playing every day. Really, this month or I guess it was last month in April, where we’ve had three, four, five weeks in a row. Maybe we had one off in there, but it’s just a lot of games and for them to come out Tuesday and then win again on a Wednesday, both days, is a real credit to them as a team and then individually showing up getting it done.”
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