By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - An SEC West title and probably a national seed for NCAA Regionals dangle out there for the Arkansas Razorbacks to grasp in their final regular season three-game SEC series starting tonight in Athens, Ga., against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Coach Dave Van Horn’s nationally No. 6 Razorbacks, 36-15 overall and holding a one-game lead over Ole Miss in the SEC West at 17-10, and coach Scott Stricklin’s nationally No. 16 Bulldogs, 35-16 overall and second in the SEC East at 16-11 behind SEC East champion Florida, clash at 6 p.m. CDT tonight, and 6 p.m. Friday at Foley Field with Internet viewing available on SEC Network +. The series concluded at 11 a.m. Saturday with the game to be televised on the SEC Network.
The Razorbacks have all that to play for and to prove they are more than the homebody Hogs, 29-3 at Baum Stadium, but still without winning a SEC road series, losing two of three at Florida, Ole Miss, and LSU and swept at Mississippi State.
Yet the old adage of one game at a time starting tonight never seems to have rung more true with these Hogs.
“We haven't talked one time with our team about it,” Van Horn said of the national seed guaranteeing a Super Regional if the Hogs win the Fayetteville Regional expected to be assigned for them to host after next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. “They know. If we just keep playing and win enough games, we'll be in the conversation, that's for sure. If we win a lot of games, it'll be easy. The strength of schedule is not going down. It's five or six now. Playing on the road at Georgia, it ought to go to two or three. Then you go to the SEC Tournament, play more teams. If we win some games, we're beating teams that are ranked, it's a neutral site. You know, it's there for us.”
But likely not if the Hogs put the cart before horse.
“It’s not our major concern,” Van Horn said.
From the seniors like four-year lettermen Carson Shaddy and Luke Bonfield to freshman phenom left fielder Heston Kjerstad, their priorities appear in order.
“It’s everywhere,” Kjerstad of hearing what’s at stake.
“You are going to hear it a little bit. You just have to kind of brush it off to the side and keep playing baseball and it will take care of itself."
And while of course they want to prove themselves victorious SEC road warriors, they “know,” Van Horn said, that a regional is coming to Baum.
“Let's go down there and win the first ball game and let's try to win this series and we'll go from there,” Van Horn said. “We're not stressing out about the road at all.”
Georgia provides enough stress by itself, Van Horn said of Stricklin’s Bulldogs, whom he touted this season before most did coming off 25-32, 14-17 SEC records for 2017.
Van Horn touted Stricklin because Stricklin was the pitching coach when Van Horn head coached Team USA and because Stricklin in 2012 coached Kent State to the College World Series against Arkansas.
“I made the comment that I picked Georgia a lot higher than a lot of the coaches did,” Van Horn said of the SEC Preseason coaches poll.
“I don't know where they were picked, but it was probably fourth or fifth in their division and I might have picked them second.
“I just know coach Stricklin and I know that when he was given the opportunity to take that team another year that they were going to be good.
“When they left here last year in mid-April, I felt like they had a lot of talent. There were a lot of young guys on the field that if they continued to develop — which they have obviously — they were going to be a handful this year.”
Georgia, hitting .286 as a team, is led by left fielder Keegan McGovern (.326, 14 home runs and 43 RBIs), designated hitter Michael Curry (.323, 8 home runs, 43 RBIs), first baseman Adam Sasser (.320, 8 home runs, 39 RBIs) and third baseman Aaron Schunk (.316).
Schunk, who doubles as the pitching staff’s closer, has eight saves.
For starters, the Bulldogs in SEC series has been pitching right-handers Chase Adkins (5-0, 4.46 ERA) and Emerson Hancock (6-4, 4.82 ERA) and lefty Ryan Wood (1-5, 4.25 ERA).
Arkansas counters with its regular all junior right-hander SEC rotation of Bryant’s Blaine Knight (8-0, 2.87 ERA) tonight, Kacey Murphy of Rogers, (6-4, 2.30 ERA) Friday and Isaiah Campbell (4-5, 4.29 ERA) on Saturday.
All won their starts in last weekend’s sweep over Texas A&M at Baum with relief provided by Barrett Loseke and Jake Reindl and on last Sunday’s return from mononucleosis by nine saves left-hander Matt Cronin.
The Razorbacks do start this series down two Preseason All-SEC players, catcher Grant Koch (sprained ankle last Sunday) and shortstop Jax Biggers (broken finger last Friday).
Van Horn doesn’t rule them out of playing by Saturday’s close of the series, but said freshman catcher Casey Opitz and sophomore Jack Kenley at shortstop should start tonight’s game.
Both played well, with Kenley starting the final two games against Texas A&M.