Ark vs Fla Preview

Hogs open conference in Gainesville

         Arkansas comes off a 1-3 west coast finish in the Cal Baseball Classic with a bad taste in its mouth and much to prove.  They continue their road test to start the conference schedule at SEC east opponent Florida.  They have had much success against the Gators in Gainesville of late, winning 5 of their last 6 in The Swamp, but they will not be relying on past records to win this series.  Instead the Hogs will be trying to revitalize their bats, especially with runners on base, while changing their weekend rotation a little.  Jalen Beeks will continue to pitch the opener but coach Dave Van Horn has decided to move Trey Killian into the Saturday slot after an impressive 7 inning performance against Cal.  Chris Oliver will move to Sunday in an attempt to salvage his starting spot but could also be used in relief in one of the first two games which would allow Colin Poche to start Sunday.  Van Horn has mentioned he would like to see Poche be able to get into a starting role going forward to sandwich his and Beeks’ left arms around righty Killian.  Arkansas has been getting plenty of hits to win games but they are not coming with runners in scoring position.  They will have to get runners on base with less than two outs to have success against this pitching staff.

Weekend Schedule

Friday, Mar 14  6:00 pm  Hi 71/Lo 50  mostly sunny

Saturday, Mar 15  6:00 pm  Hi 76/Lo 56  mostly sunny

Sunday, Mar 16  12:00 pm  Hi 75/Lo 63  cloudy, 10% chance of rain 

  Weekend Probables

Arkansas                                                                      

Jr. LHP Jalen Beeks (3-1, 0.68)

So. RHP Trey Killian (0-2, 4.66)

Jr. RHP Chris Oliver (1-2, 2.45)                                 

C    Sr. Jake Wise (.107, 0, 1)                                                         

1B  RJr. Eric Fisher (.174, 2, 5)                                                     

2B  Jr. Brian Anderson (.353, 1, 10)                                                

3B  So. Michael Bernal (.360, 0, 3)                                               

SS  Jr. Brett McAfee (.302, 0, 9)                                                   

LF  Jr. Joe Serrano (.288, 0, 13)                                                      

CF  Fr. Andrew Benintendi (.214, 1, 8)                                   

RF  RSo. Tyler Spoon (.308, 1, 12)                                               

DH Jr. Krisjon Wilkerson (.424, 1, 5)

Florida

Fr. RHP Logan Shore (0-1, 0.45)

So. RHP Eric Hanhold (2-1, 2.63)

Fr. RHP A.J. Puk (1-1, 3.75)

C    Jr. Taylor Gushue (.306, 2, 15)

1B  Fr. Peter Alonso (.281, 0, 4)

2B  Jr. Casey Turgeon (.297, 1, 12)

3B  Jr. Josh Tobias (.256, 0, 1)

SS  So. Richie Martin (.347, 0, 7)

LF  Jr. Justin Shafer (.178, 0, 3)

CF  Fr. Buddy Reed (.176, 0, 2)                                         

RF  Jr. Braden Mattson (.296, 1, 11)

DH  Fr. A.J. Puk (.211, 0, 2)

        Prediction

            The Diamond Hogs need a series win in a bad way.  I look for them to come out this weekend with evident determination to leave it all out in The Swamp and get after this young pitching staff.  They are too experienced and talented not to have success against these young, average arms.  I also expect another dominant performance from the starting pitching, and the bullpen could throw up another goose egg in the late innings.  Arkansas wins the series 2-1 by a combined margin of 6 runs.