Arkansas is this weekend’s conference opponent. The Razorbacks are 12-12 in conference which puts them in solid position for Hoover. They are coming off a big weekend win over Florida and should carry that momentum forward. The Razorbacks are similar to South Carolina in that their pitching is the strength of their team, especially their Friday night starter.
The Razorbacks are averaging almost 8,000 attendance at home, so playing in front of a crowd shouldn’t affect them much. They are on the cusp of hosting a regional, and a win at South Carolina would go a long way for them if they could also knock off Ole Miss next weekend. The Gamecocks are looking for a national seed in the tourney and need to keep winning to secure that.
Arkansas should be very well rested. They played a Thursday through Saturday series at home last weekend and played no midweek games this week. Carolina, on the other hand, traveled to Oxford, Mississippi last weekend and has played two midweek games this week. Here are some of the Razorbacks you’ll be getting to know this weekend.
Batting: Several names should be familiar to Gamecock fans from last year: Bo Bigham, James McCann and Collin Kuhn. Bigham is a junior second baseman and often bats lead off. He is batting .296 on the year and walks fairly infrequently for a lead off batter. Collin Kuhn is a junior centerfielder who is batting .263 with 4 home runs and 31 RBIs. Don’t let the low batting average fool you; he’s a good hitter who hit .336 with 16 home runs last year. Junior catcher James McCann is batting .318 with 6 home runs and 27 RBI. McCann may be the most dangerous bat in the line up, but if he isn’t, it’s freshman first baseman Dominic Fiocello. Fiocello is leading the team in average, RBIs and slugging percentage at .345, 43 RBI and .521 respectively.
Those four batters are likely to be the first four in the order, and there is some drop off further down the line up. Two guys to remember down the line are senior left fielder Kyle Robinson who leads the team with 7 home runs and sophomore third baseman Matt Reynolds who has 20 RBI.
Pitching: Arkansas has a dominant Friday night pitcher in D.J. Baxendale. Baxendale is a right handed sophomore who has been excellent this year. He is 7-1 with a 1.58 ERA. He pitched a complete game against Florida on Friday night. It will be a tall order for the Gamecocks to put up many runs against him. On Saturday expect to see left handed Sophomore Randall Fant on the mound. Fant is only 2-3 but he has an ERA of 3.09, and opponents are only hitting .236 against him. He doesn’t strike out as many people as Baxendale, but he is a steady Saturday starter. The Sunday spot hasn’t been as settled as the other weekend slots. Left hander Cade Lynch has pitched the last two Sundays, and the Gamecocks could see him this weekend. When Lynch is on, he strikes out his share, and he has a 2.62 ERA and a .218 opponents’ batting average.
The Razorbacks want Baxendale and Fant to go deep into games because the pitching staff isn’t as intimidating behind them. Right handed freshman Barrett Astin is usually the first reliever of the weekend. Astin has a 2.79 ERA and more strikeouts (46) than innings pitched (42). Nolan Sanburn, another right handed freshman, leads the team with 8 saves, but he has had some rough outings the last 3 weeks.
What South Carolina needs from the Weekend: A series win would help solidify the Gamecocks’ resume for a national seed. If they lose the series, they are probably still in line for one, but they don’t want to limp to the finish line with mounting losses. The Gamecocks have been strong at home and should continue to play well. They’ll need to because Arkansas is not a bad team.
