Diamond Hogs look to slow power bats
Harold McIlvain II
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Sports
Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn admitted it was a tough last week for the No. 12 Arkansas Razorback baseball team.
Van Horn said the Razorbacks (27-11, 11-6 Southeastern Conference) played well enough to win all five games but only pulled away with one conference and one non-conference win.
"All I know is we've played five one-run games and a two-run game," Van Horn said. "And we had to earn everything we got. We could have easily won all five or lost all five. I thought we played good all weekend."
But now Arkansas will hope to turn some of those close loses into wins against Tennessee (19-23, 5-13) on the road this weekend.
The Razorbacks will look to keep the pitching staff going strong after only allowing eight runs during three conference games last weekend - the lowest total in a series this season.
"It was almost like a Super Regional feel with outstanding pitching," Van Horn said.
After Van Horn said the Sunday starting pitcher was undetermined last series, sophomore Brett Eibner filled the position, tossing a one-hit shutout while striking out a career high 12 batters in a 2-0 win.
"He just threw strikes," Van Horn said. "That's a scary lineup. They've got speed at the top, speed at the end and pop through the middle. (Eibner) pitched pretty well, obviously."
Pitch location was an issue late in the game, but Van Horn said it would have been Eibner the whole game regardless of the situation.
"His control took off there in maybe the fourth, fifth and sixth," Van Horn said. "In the ninth, he was getting a little tired, but I told him after the game, 'If you'd have walked the bases loaded and there was less than two outs I still wasn't pulling you. It was your game.' He deserved it."
Arkansas picked up a midweek 9-6 win Tuesday over Oral Roberts with the help of freshman Zack Cox, who went 4-for-5 with a run and 3 RBIs.
Eibner hit a three-run home run in the third inning that put Arkansas up by seven. But he didn't know how important the runs were to winning the game at the time.
Van Horn said the Razorbacks (27-11, 11-6 Southeastern Conference) played well enough to win all five games but only pulled away with one conference and one non-conference win.
"All I know is we've played five one-run games and a two-run game," Van Horn said. "And we had to earn everything we got. We could have easily won all five or lost all five. I thought we played good all weekend."
But now Arkansas will hope to turn some of those close loses into wins against Tennessee (19-23, 5-13) on the road this weekend.
The Razorbacks will look to keep the pitching staff going strong after only allowing eight runs during three conference games last weekend - the lowest total in a series this season.
"It was almost like a Super Regional feel with outstanding pitching," Van Horn said.
After Van Horn said the Sunday starting pitcher was undetermined last series, sophomore Brett Eibner filled the position, tossing a one-hit shutout while striking out a career high 12 batters in a 2-0 win.
"He just threw strikes," Van Horn said. "That's a scary lineup. They've got speed at the top, speed at the end and pop through the middle. (Eibner) pitched pretty well, obviously."
Pitch location was an issue late in the game, but Van Horn said it would have been Eibner the whole game regardless of the situation.
"His control took off there in maybe the fourth, fifth and sixth," Van Horn said. "In the ninth, he was getting a little tired, but I told him after the game, 'If you'd have walked the bases loaded and there was less than two outs I still wasn't pulling you. It was your game.' He deserved it."
Arkansas picked up a midweek 9-6 win Tuesday over Oral Roberts with the help of freshman Zack Cox, who went 4-for-5 with a run and 3 RBIs.
Eibner hit a three-run home run in the third inning that put Arkansas up by seven. But he didn't know how important the runs were to winning the game at the time.
Be the first to comment on this story