FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks scored the most runs for any Southeastern Conference series coached by Dave Van Horn in this weekend's three-game sweep of of the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats.
The Razorbacks (16-4) won, 9-4, on Friday before completing the sweep with a 14-2 victory and a 16-9 success in a doubleheader on Saturday at Baum Stadium. Arkansas hit 13 home runs and 49 hits in the three games, but Van Horn was first to point out the team's prominent pitching during the weekend.
"You start with Isaiah Campbell," Van Horn said Saturday night.
Third-year sophomore right-hander Campbell threw a three-hitter through eight complete innings and handed off a 14-1 lead for reliever Zebulon Vermillion to mop up the ninth of Saturday's first game.
Junior left-hander Casey Murphy reportedly had been throwing up before throwing out Wildcats from the second through the seventh innings of winning relief in Saturday's second game.
Friday night ace Blaine Knight of Bryant (3-0) now has an ERA of 1.30 and apparently shrugged off a line drive that bruised his shin. Van Horn said Arkansas starts a formidable rotation ahead of their next SEC series Friday through Sunday in Gainesville, Fla., against the reigning national champion No. 2 Florida (18-4). Arkansas must first deal with Charlotte (11-8) in a two-game road series Tuesday and Wednesday in North Carolina.
Campbell was a promising freshman in 2016, along with Knight and Murphy, despite a 26-29 finish and a 7-23 record in the SEC. He received a medical hardship last season after suffering an elbow injury, only able to pitch one brief outing for an Arkansas team that finished 45-19, 18-11 in the SEC.
The 6-5, 235 fireballer previously pitched timidly in Van Horn and pitching coach Wes Johnson's view in a 10-4 loss on March 9 against Kent State.
"Last week it looked like he was just trying not to get hit," Van Horn said. "He was nibbling. He wasn't throwing real hard. He got behind early in the game and threw an 88-mile an hour fastball.
"Well, he doesn't throw 88 miles an hour. He throws 92-plus. And that 88 mile an hour fastball went all the way out to the wall and drove in two runs. Coach Johnson wasn't happy and felt like he wasn't going out there and taking it to them."
Van Horn previously started Knight and Campbell in every three-game weekend series, but the coach said publicly he did not know who would start against Kentucky beyond Knight on Friday. The Wildcats were the SEC's best offensive team until they were outslugged by the Hogs.
"We challenged him all week," Van Horn said. "We told him we didn't know if we were going to start him. He worked hard all week and he came out and gave us just a great outing against a really good offensive team. He held them down and gave us a chance to save our bullpen as best we could for the second game. He's the one who got us off to a good start when you really look at it. We swung the bats well, but he slowed them down. He gave us everything we needed knowing we had two games in one day."
Arkansas' hitters said they appreciated their second ace pitching like one.
"That's the Isaiah Campbell we know," said Arkansas senior designated hitter Luke Bonfield. "That kind of set the pace for the whole day."
Murphy pitched six victorious innings in a Tuesday start over Texas (12-9). He had one day's less rest with Arkansas and Kentucky deferring to a forecast of a rainy Sunday and playing two on Saturday.
A queasy stomach, not a tired arm, most vexed Murphy before Van Horn summoned him during the second inning to replace freshman starter Kole Ramage.
Kentucky scored four second-inning runs after Arkansas' seven-run salvo in the first.
"Murphy was really sick today," Van Horn said. "I didn't think he was going to pitch. He would probably have started the second game if he would have acted like he could do it. A couple of innings into the game he said, 'I'm OK.' And we said, 'All right, you are the one we wanted to pitch and he did enough."
"Murphy was throwing up before or during the game and he really gutted it out for us," Bonfield said. "That's not a fun (Kentucky) lineup to face over there.
"That's one of the best lineups in the country. Our pitching staff did a great job to hold them to minimal runs and keep us in the game."
Sports on 03/19/2018