A strong showing last week at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, was enough to restore the confidence of most folks in the Razorbacks' baseball team. Three straight series defeats to close the season surely had even the most devout Hogs' believers a little bit on edge, but all appears right again---for now---in the land of Pig Sooie. Amazing how easy it all looks when your starting pitching is on its game though, isn't it? In consecutive fashion, Arkansas' Nick Schmidt (9 IP, 2 H, 0 R), Jess Todd (8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 17K) and Duke Welker (7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER) were dominant against SEC foes and the Diamond Hogs got back to their winning ways in Alabama.
A loss to Vanderbilt in the title game wasn't enough to diminish the important strides made by the Razorbacks during the week. In addition to tremendous pitching, Arkansas' offense hit its way out of the doldrums. CF Jake Dugger, LF Casey Coon, 3B Logan Forsythe and 1B Danny Hamblin are clearly the four key hitters on this team, and all found the stroke in Alabama. If the Razorbacks' starting pitching is even ordinary in the next couple of weeks, all this team needs is some consistent life out of its premier bats to make a deep run.
Now the honus is on skipper Dave Van Horn, who's made some adjustments to both the staff and the lineup. Pitchingwise, he'll go with third starter Duke Welker in the first regional game against Albany. Clearly, the fourth-seeded Great Danes are the weakest of the four clubs in a Baum Stadium Regional that also includes #2 Creighton and #3 Oklahoma State. Starting Welker gives Arkansas a chance to have staff aces Schmidt and Todd on the ready for the semifinal and championship games. But it also presents Arkansas with the risk of not even using Schmidt if the Hogs don't advance to Sunday. It's a risk that Van Horn has calculated and I think he's chosen correctly: even a halfway decent start from Welker should be enough to start the weekend with a win against Albany.
The lineup shuffling is a bit more confusing. Why choose now to dump season-long leadoff man Jake Dugger all the way down to #9 in the lineup? Just a hunch? Or is there something more to it that we don't know about yet? Whatever the case, Dugger swung a good bat in the SEC Tournament, and I thought more than justified keeping his spot in the order. Instead, it will be 2B Ben Tschepikow leading off, with Forsythe moving up from five to two in the order. Coon and Walker will stay at three and four, while Hamblin finally gets moved back to the five hole. (Batting him at seven was a bit of a waste, as most teams had the option of pitching around him whenever he came up.) Answers to the shuffling don't easily present themselves, but sometimes keen managerial maneuvers can make all the difference. We'll just have to trust that Dave Van Horn knows several things we don't.
Ultimately, the Diamond Hogs have all the makings of a team that could not only get to Omaha this year, but win there as well. The College World Series has been a goal for this squad all year long, and now is the time to go and get it. With a national #7 seed in hand and an opportunity to host a Super Regional staring them right in the face, the Razorbacks' have got as nice a set-up as they could've realistically hoped for before the year. And there's no doubt the success of this team in the postseason has emerged as the main sports storyline to follow for Arkansas fans this June.
The fact remains, this baseball team is as well-balanced as a good Division I college club should be. As long as the Hogs collectively swing the bats, I have no doubt they'll play through to the end of the month.
-JAB
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