Cal Baseball Classic Preview

Razorbacks travel to play in Cal Baseball Classic

         No. 24 Arkansas takes a 7-2 record out west to compete in some much warmer weather than they have experienced in the last couple weeks.  They will be met Friday by the University of San Francisco and Saturday by Tulane before playing two Sunday against Cal.  After a series loss to South Alabama, Arkansas will be very ready to show that the double header loss last Saturday was just a bad day at the ball park.  They are hitting .285 now and boast a 2.00 ERA.  Their struggles come when they lose consistency in getting timely hits and making errors in the field.  The Hogs are getting on base at a .407 average, but after leaving 74 men on base coach Dave Van Horn may tweak the lineup some this weekend to get some more runs pushed across the plate.  With 13 errors on the season, Arkansas pitchers have to be frustrated with only 18 of the 27 runs allowed being earned.  The defense has given teams chance after chance to stay in ball games but the pitching staff has alleviated that some with 10 double plays so far.

Weekend Schedule

Friday, Mar 7  4:30 pm  Hi 68/Lo 48  mostly sunny

Saturday, Mar 8  3:30 pm  Hi 69/Lo 54  partly cloudy

Sunday, Mar 9  3:00 pm  Hi 69/Lo 54  cloudy 

  Weekend Probables

Arkansas                                                                      

Jr. LHP Jalen Beeks (3-0, 0.51)

So. LHP Colin Poche (0-0, 1.93)                                   

Jr. RHP Chris Oliver (1-1, 1.12)                                 

So. RHP Trey Killian (0-1, 13.50)

C   Sr. Jake Wise (.050, 0, 1)                                                         

1B  RJr. Eric Fisher (.156, 1, 3)                                                     

2B  Jr. Brian Anderson (.371, 1, 10)                                                

3B  So. Michael Bernal (.500, 0, 3)                                               

SS  Jr. Brett McAfee (.321, 0, 7)                                                   

LF  Jr. Joe Serrano (.389, 0, 10)                                                      

CF  Fr. Andrew Benintendi (.259, 1, 8)                                   

RF  RSo. Tyler Spoon (.278, 1, 12)                                               

DH Jr. Krisjon Wilkerson (.556, 1, 4)                                        

    Prediction

Arkansas will get a chance to look at Colin Poche as a starter and see how the rotation falls into play for the start of conference.  They will be playing 3 teams this weekend that have taken down some highly ranked opponents this year, so look out for the upsets.  I hope Arkansas gets a good challenge with close games and can come out on top in the majority of them.  Plus, it is always hard to win a double header, especially after already playing two games.  Arkansas comes out of the weekend 3-1.