FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn plans to switch up his starting pitching rotation for the Razorbacks’ weekend series against Georgia.
Van Horn said after the Swatter’s Club meeting on Monday sophomore Ryne Stanek will likely move into the Friday night role in place of struggling junior DJ Baxendale.
“It’s not set in stone, but we’re going to mix it up a little bit,” Van Horn said. “Sometimes that’s a good thing.”
The change comes after Baxendale surrendered five runs in 2 1/3 innings during last Friday’s loss at LSU (22-6, 6-3 in Southeastern Conference). It was the start of the Tigers’ weekend sweep of Arkansas (22-6, 5-4 in SEC). It also was the second straight SEC start in which Baxendale has struggled, surrendering 13 runs.
Van Horn believes the issue remains a mechanical one, noting Baxendale’s command has struggled because his arm slot dropped too low. But Van Horn isn’t planning to move Baxendale out of a weekend starting role.
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“DJ will probably be in that rotation,” Van Horn said. “Just flip his days a little bit and let him watch and he’ll be fine. … Hopefully he can get it worked out this week and have a good outing this weekend.”
Stanek, meanwhile, has been dominant. He won his first six starts before Saturday’s no-decision at LSU, which Arkansas lost 2-1. Stanek recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in the start and his 1.26 earned run average leads the Southeastern Conference.
Van Horn did not specify starters for Saturday or Sunday, although Baxendale is expected to start one game. He said sophomore Brandon Moore could figure into the starting rotation after performing well in relief.
Moore worked four scoreless innings in place of starter Nolan Sanburn during Sunday’s game.
“Brandon’s kind of that middle guy,” Van Horn said. “You can bring him in the second and he could get you into the eighth. But he’s definitely a guy that we could start. But I don’t know if we’ll start him this weekend. I just really like him out of that bullpen.”
Arkansas Falls
The Razorbacks’ three losses at LSU knocked them out of the top 10 in the Baseball America poll. Arkansas fell 10 spots to No. 13. LSU moved up three to No. 12.
Georgia, Arkansas’ next opponent, is not ranked after losing two of three games to Kentucky last weekend.
“I think we’ve got their full attention,” Van Horn said of his team after LSU’s sweep. “They understand we’ve got to get a lot better this week.”
Show To Debut
The 30-minute show “Razorback baseball with Dave Van Horn” is scheduled to debut on April 11 at 6 p.m. on Cox Sports Television. Arkansas announced the show will air for six weeks on the regional network and also will be available online at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Chuck Barrett will host the show, which will include highlights of the previous week’s games, a breakdown segment with Van Horn and features on the program.