FAYETTEVILLE - If you seek a silver lining for the baseball Razorbacks' lead balloon Tuesday night in Springfield, Mo., here's one.
The three freshman relievers that coach Dave Van Horn praised when Arkansas lost two of three Southeastern Conference games to Texas A&M last weekend at Baum Stadium emerged unscathed from Tuesday's 14-6 loss, in which the Razorbacks trailed 12-0.
They didn't pitch.
So rookie right-handers Blaine Knight, Isaiah Campbell and Barrett Loseke ought to be fresh of arm and psychologically intact as the likely first men out of the pen should starters Dominic Taccolini, Zach Jackson and Keaton McKinney need relief in this weekend's series at LSU.
Arkansas, 26-19 overall and 7-14 in the SEC, and LSU, 28-16 and 11-10, meet at Alex Box Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday, 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday Saturday's game will be televised on ESPNU and the Friday and Sunday games on the Internet via SEC+.
"Knight should be fresh," Van Horn said before the Hogs practiced Wednesday at Baum Stadium. "He'll have had four or five good, solid days off with a light bullpen. Loseke, he can do it. And Campbell, they all throw strikes. They compete well. So those will be guys that will come in maybe in more crucial situations than they have in the past because those are the guys that have been getting it done a little bit better than the older guys."
Against the second-ranked Aggies, Knight pitched a scoreless ninth closing Saturday's 9-5 victory in the first game of a doubleheader and got recycled in Saturday's 11-inning second game. Knight, following Loseke's three scoreless innings, pitched a scoreless 10th before tagged by Hunter Melton's game-winning two-run home run in the 11th.
Campbell yielded only a run in the final 3 1-3 innings of Sunday's 6-2 loss to the Aggies.
"Blaine hung that one that landed in the pond," Van Horn said of Melton's home run. "But Blaine has done a good job. He just needs to get bigger and stronger.
"Isaiah Campbell has got a good arm. His curve ball is getting better and he's up to 94 miles an hour every now and then. He throws on a downhill angle. He did a pretty good job. Barrett Loseke did a good job and threw one pitch 95 miles an hour."
Taccolini, brilliant the previous weekend with a 10-inning shutout against Kentucky, didn't approach that brilliance against A&M but did last six innings to log the series opening victory.
Jackson, also brilliant with a 7-inning shutout at Kentucky, was chased by a grand slam in the fifth losing Saturday's second game.
Pitching into the sixth, McKinney pitched the best he's best all season, Van Horn said, but was charged with Sunday's lost.
Juniors Jackson, a preseason All-American this year off his success as a closer last year, and Taccolini and sophomore McKinney all consistently pitched better last year for a College World Series team than this one that's seven games below .500 in the SEC.
However Taccolini (blood clots) and McKinney (hip) came off major surgeries shutting down their summer ball and affecting their fall and spring preparation. Their struggles forced Jackson to be a starter instead of the closer and now brings three freshmen to the front of the bullpen.
"It's hard to plan for older guys' struggling," Van Horn said.
Football: Arkansas coach Bret Bielema will hold his spring-football wrapup press conference today and presumably address senior receiver Keon Hatcher's latest foot injury.
Just two games into the season, Hatcher missed the remainder of 2015 with a broken foot.
Hatcher returned to practice this spring but according to his own post on social media has foot problems again.
"So I has surgery on my foot," Hatcher is reported to have posted with a video of his left foot in a walking boot.
Senior running back Kody Walker broke his foot during spring drills.
Jonathan Williams, since turned pro, missed the entire 2015 season with a broken foot and current senior receiver Cody Hollister, though returning, missed five of Arkansas' 13 games with a broken foot.
Sports on 05/05/2016