It sounds like more than sole possession of first place in the SEC will be on the line in Arkansas’ rubber match against Kentucky.
After the way Gage Wood pitched out of the bullpen Saturday, despite it coming in the No. 2 Razorbacks’ 11-3 loss to the No. 8 Wildcats, Mason Molina could be pitching for his job in the series finale at Kentucky Proud Park.
Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn spoke glowingly of the sophomore right-hander, who threw a career-high 4 1/3 innings and was a lot better than the three earned runs on his final line might indicate.
“That was just a huge plus,” Van Horn said. “I talked about that after the game. I mean, Gage didn’t just eat up innings, he’s getting ready to take somebody’s job. I loved what I saw.”
Inheriting a two-on, no-out situation in the fourth inning, Wood struggled initially. The first four batters he faced walked, hit a two-run double, squeeze bunted in another run and hit an RBI single. The latter two of those four runs were charged to him, but then he settled in.
Wood retired 11 of the next 13 Wildcats, including one who grounded into a double play. He notched six strikeouts and allowed only a one-out walk in the fifth and leadoff single in the sixth.
Not only did he do that against a dangerous Kentucky lineup, but Wood also did it with only one pitch really working for him. Struggling to land his breaking ball, he went almost exclusively to his fastball, which Van Horn said “had good carry on it.”
“He’s always going to fill the zone up,” catcher Hudson White said. “That’s the first and most important thing is that he throws everything for a strike. He’s not scared to throw his fastball in fastball counts. He gets ahead and he had a lot of life on his fastball today. He looked really good.”
Just three weeks earlier, Wood appeared to be on the receiving end of an intense exchange with his head coach as he left the mound. Asked about it afterward, Van Horn gave a one-word answer: “Private.”
When an 11-pitch at bat by Grant Smith ultimately ended with Wood plunking him, marking the end of his day, the veteran coach went out to the mound and gave him another lengthy talk before the right-hander walked off the field. This one, though, seemed much more encouraging.
Even after throwing 43 pitches across three scoreless innings in a start against Missouri State on Tuesday, the Batesville native managed to throw 79 pitches on Saturday.
It sounds like Wood is on the brink of breaking into the weekend rotation.
“He’s already a long reliever and he could close, too,” Van Horn said. “So he’s going to get his opportunity to start a game. He started on Tuesday and he started for a reason. And today we let him go about 75-80 pitches for a reason. So yeah, we’ll see how this turns out.”
That raises an obvious question: Who would he replace?
Van Horn declined to specify, but it’s safe to assume it’s not Hagen Smith because he’s the frontrunner for National Pitcher of the Year. The other two starters are Brady Tygart and Mason Molina, giving Arkansas what many believed to be the best rotation in the country.
That brings us back to Molina potentially pitching for his job in the Arkansas vs Kentucky finale. The left-hander missed his start last week because of a twisted ankle suffered in practice, but lasted just 3 1/3 innings and issued a whopping seven walks at South Carolina in his last appearance.
Molina is virtually unhittable when he throws the ball over the plate, but doing that consistently has been an issue for him this year. Despite opponents hitting just .182 against him, he’s averaging 5.4 walks per nine innings.
Tygart lasted only three innings on Saturday, but had back-to-back six-inning starts prior to this weekend and had seemed to be turning the corner. Perhaps the coaches would be more comfortable moving him back to the bullpen because he has so much experience there, but Molina – despite being the staff ace at Texas Tech last season – may need to prove he’s worthy of keeping his spot in the rotation with a strong outing Sunday.
“I think every time somebody goes out on the field, they’re pitching to keep their spot,” Van Horn said. “Guys are working in practice to keep their spot. Once you get established, you get some leeway, but we’ve got to go with the guys that are getting it done. It’s that time of year.
“On the mound, Smith has been lights out and Brady’s had two good weekends in a row. Today wasn’t a good day for him, but it’s good to know that we’ve got some other guys that can pick us up or grab a spot if they need to.”
Tygart Chased Early
Speaking of Brady Tygart, he was chased before recording an out in the fourth inning and was charged with a career-high five earned runs. A little bit of bad luck – more on that below – went into his rough start, but he was flirting with danger from the jump.
Kentucky tagged him for a career-high six hits, going 6 for 14 (.429) when opponents had been hitting just .197 against him this season.
One of those, plus a HBP and walk, helped the Wildcats load the bases in the first inning before he got out of the jam unscathed. Tygart wasn’t so lucky in the second, giving up back-to-back doubles that drove in three total runs.
He gave up a leadoff double in the third, but caught a break when the next batter lined into an unassisted double play by Wehiwa Aloy. When Tygart put the first two runners on in the fourth, Van Horn had seen enough and went to the bullpen.
“When you talk about Brady today, the issue would have been he just didn’t throw his fastball for a strike,” Van Horn said. “Didn’t throw it where he wanted it and it made it very difficult to pitch, because they just started sitting on off-speed pitches. That’s how that went.”
Lovich Mistake Proves Costly
It’s worth noting that the first three runs Kentucky scored against Brady Tygart probably shouldn’t have happened.
With runners on second and third and two outs, the right-hander got Emilien Pitre to hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to left that would have ended the inning.
However, the ball kept carrying and left fielder Ross Lovich lost track of the wall, eventually backing into it just before he was set to make the catch. That allowed the ball to hit off the wall for a two-run double.
The mistake tied the game at 2-2 and then Devin Burkes put Kentucky on top for good with an RBI double. Had Lovich known where the wall was and caught the ball, Arkansas would have still been up 2-0 and who knows how things would have unfolded – both for Tygart and the Razorbacks.
“I just think that he thought the ball wasn’t going to go as far as it did,” Van Horn said. “The wind was blowing to left field, especially early in the game… The ball got up in the air and it was hit a little better than you think on the swing. He just drifted back and back. About the time he was about ready to catch the ball he hit the fence. It ended up being a mistake and it was a tough one.”
It wasn’t the first mistake by Lovich in left field, either. He also dropped a fly ball just in front of the wall against Auburn, extending what proved to be Hagen Smith’s sixth and final inning.
That play – which was actually scored an error – didn’t cost the Razorbacks a run, but it did force Smith to throw an extra nine pitches, likely costing him a chance to pitch the seventh inning.
Up Next for Arkansas Baseball
The Razorbacks and Wildcats are scheduled to play a decisive Game 3 at noon CT Sunday. It’ll be just the third rubber match in seven SEC weekends for Arkansas, which lost to Alabama and beat South Carolina in its first two.
A pair of Masons are slated to start: Left-hander Mason Molina (3-1, 3.47 ERA) will be on the mound for the Razorbacks, while Kentucky will counter with right-hander Mason Moore (7-1, 5.08 ERA).
Like the first two games, Sunday’s matchup will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus.
Other Arkansas Baseball Tidbits
- With Saturday’s result, Arkansas and Kentucky now have matching 17-6 records in SEC play. They lead their respective divisions and are tied for the overall lead in the conference.
- The Razorbacks’ two runs came on one swing of the bat — a second-inning blast by catcher Hudson White. His second home run of the season left the bat with a 104 mph exit velocity and 26.9 degree launch angle, resulting in it traveling 431 feet to left field.
- Peyton Stovall was the only Arkansas baseball player with two hits Saturday afternoon. He notched his third straight multi-hit game by going 2 for 5 with an RBI, making him 9 for 15 over that stretch. That’s raised his batting average to a team-high .354.
- A bunt single in the seventh inning extended Jared Sprague-Lott’s on-base streak to 19 games, the longest such active streak on the team. He also walked in the ninth.
- Gage Wood’s 4 1/3 innings against Kentucky were a full inning more than his previous career high. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless against South Carolina on May 12 last year.
Arkansas vs Kentucky Highlights (Game 2)
Postgame Interviews
Arkansas vs Kentucky Box Score (Game 2)
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