FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn had watched his team lose too many close games.
So when the Razorbacks squeezed out a 6-5 win in 10 innings against Louisiana Tech in Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock on Tuesday night, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“If we had lost (Tuesday) it would’ve been tough,” Van Horn said as he looked ahead to the road trip to Tennessee. “Working out at Tennessee (Wednesday), waiting for (tonight’s) game. This will make the trip there more fun. Maybe we’ll relax a little bit.”
Arkansas (36-17, 13-14 in Southeastern Conference) hopes the success continues when it closes the regular season with a three-game series at Tennessee (24-28, 8-19), which begins at 5 p.m. tonight. The Razorbacks will send DJ Baxendale (6-3, 3.48 ERA) to the mound. The Vols will start Dalton Saberhagen (5-2, 3.12 ERA).
Arkansas enters the game with a less-than-impressive 6-9 mark in its previous 15 conference games. It includes two losses in three games at home against Auburn last weekend, a series that knocked the Razorbacks out of the Baseball America Top 25 poll and all but ended their hopes of hosting an NCAA Regional in two weeks.
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Arkansas already is out of contention for the SEC regular season championship and has clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament field. So there’s not much on the line at Tennessee. But the Razorbacks are viewing the weekend series as the final opportunity to gain some much-needed momentum before postseason play begins.
“Before the game we were talking about we needed a spark to spark us into the offseason,” Arkansas closer Barrett Astin said. “Hopefully we got it (Tuesday night). Our hitters did a great job. Our bullpen did a great job. Hopefully that will propel us into Tennessee this weekend and on into the SEC Tournament.”
The Razorbacks will face a Tennessee team that will wrap up its first season under new coach Dave Serrano this week.
Tennessee opened the season 20-10, 6-4 in the SEC. But the Volunteers have run into hard times since. Tennessee is 4-18 over its past 22 games, which includes a 2-15 mark in conference games.
The Volunteers — who have been eliminated from contention for the 10-team SEC Tournament — were swept in three of their previous four SEC series by Mississippi State, Auburn and Ole Miss.
But last week’s losses were proof anything can happen if Arkansas sputters on the mound and at the plate. Van Horn said his bullpen — which included a strong effort from Nolan Sanburn — made strides Tuesday after allowing a season-high in runs (12) and hits (18 in its last outing against Auburn. The offense did, too, even though the Razorbacks left the bases loaded three different times.
“The good thing is we got the runners on,” said Van Horn, whose team collected 14 hits Tuesday. “We just need to get a big hit. We got a couple, but we could’ve broken it open early if we got one of those. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.”
Van Horn won’t get to see if it happens tonight, though. The coach is missing the first game of his Arkansas career to attend his daughter’s high school graduation in Fayetteville. It was a pre-arranged absence Arkansas has been prepared for since the beginning of the season. Hitting coach Todd Butler and pitching coach Dave Jorn will lead the team during tonight’s game with Van Horn rejoining the team in time for Friday’s game.
But Arkansas is confident his absence won’t be felt, believing the Louisiana Tech win will help spark a late-season run.
“It feels good to get a close one on our side,” said third baseman Matt Reynolds, who went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs in the win and raised his batting average to .350. “We’ve lost a lot of one-run games. It feels good to win no matter what kind of win it was. We’re focused on Tennessee now and we’re ready to get after them.”