Hogs, Rebels to battle for SEC West lead starting Thursday

OXFORD, Miss. — Arkansas heads into the final stretch of its eight-game road trip this week as it begins a three-game series with fourth-ranked Ole Miss on Thursday at Swayze Field.

First pitch on Thursday and Friday are set for 6:30 p.m. each day, while Saturday’s series finale will be at 1:30 p.m. All games can be viewed on SEC Network+.

Ole Miss will be Arkansas’ third-straight top-five opponent to begin SEC play (No. 4 Kentucky, No. 2 Florida) and it will also be a battle for early-season advantage in the Western Division.

Both the Rebels and Razorbacks have a 4-2 record after the first two weeks of the conference season and boast a couple of the best offenses in the SEC and the nation.

Arkansas and Ole Miss are two of three teams with a combined team batting average of .300 or higher. The Razorbacks currently sit second in the league at .311, while the Rebels are hitting an even .300, which is good for third.

The Razorbacks will look to curb that strong Ole Miss offense when it sends Blaine Knight to the mound for Thursday’s game one. Knight holds a 1.83 ERA after six starts, his best six-game start of his collegiate career.

Last week against No. 2 Florida, Knight struck out 10 over 6.2 innings to earn his fourth win of the year. His 10-strikeout performance was his first of the year and made him only the second pitcher to record 10 or more strikeouts against the defending national champions this season.

Arkansas is coming off an 8-7 victory over Memphis at AutoZone Park on Tuesday, snapping a two-game losing streak it had going in.

The Hogs scored all eight of its runs and recorded eight of its nine hits with two outs, winning its third one-run game this year.

Follow Live

All games will be streamed via SEC Network+, the online-only arm of the SEC Network on WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.

Richard Cross (PxP) and Brady Bramlett (Analyst) will have the call for all three games.

Phil Elson will call all three games on the radio for the Razorback Sports Network from IMG. That radio broadcasts are also available on the Razorback Gameday app.

Important Links (All times Central)

Thu, March 29 – Arkansas vs. Ole Miss – 6:30 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH
Fri, March 30 – Arkansas vs. Ole Miss – 6:30 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH
Sat, March 31 – Arkansas vs. Ole Miss – 1:30 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH

Probable Starters

THU: ARK RHP Blaine Knight (1.83 ERA, 4-0, 35 K, 9 BB) vs. OM LHP Ryan Rolison (2.88 ERA, 3-2, 46 K, 15 BB)

FRI: ARK LHP Evan Lee (5.19 ERA, 1-1, 7 K, 3 BB) vs. OM RHP Brady Feigl (2.08 ERA, 5-1, 38 K, 7 BB)

SAT: ARK LHP Kacey Murphy (2.28 ERA, 3-1, 22 K, 6 BB) vs. OM RHP James McArthur (1.93 ERA, 3-0, 23 K, 13 BB)

Razorback Prime 9

• Arkansas finishes off its eight-game roadtrip with a three-game series at No. 4 Ole Miss, starting on Thursday. The Hogs will have been on the road for 13-straight days after Saturday’s game three.

• Arkansas is coming off an 8-7 victory over Memphis on Tuesday at AutoZone Park. The Hogs scored all eight of their runs and tallied eight of nine hits with two outs in the game.

• Arkansas hit five home runs over the weekend at No. 2 Florida and one more at Memphis on Tuesday, upping its season total to 47, which still leads the SEC and is second most in the nation.

• Freshman Heston Kjerstad hit two home runs in the loss to Charlotte last week. He’s the fifth different Razorback to record a multi-home run game this season (C. Shaddy, G. Koch, C. Martin, J. McFarland, H. Kjerstad).

• Four of Arkansas’ five home runs against Florida came from the left side of the plate last week. 20 of the season’s 47 homers have been from left-handers, while 27 have come from right-handers.

• Last week, Heston Kjerstad went 9-for-16 (.563) at the plate leading all Razorbacks with six extra- base hits, including three home runs. He slugged a staggering 1.313 and struck out just two times. He upped his hit streak to nine games on Tuesday at Memphis, the longest-active streak on the team.

• Arkansas owns the advantage in the all-time series with Ole Miss, 46-42, but hasn’t won a series in Oxford since 2010.

• The Razorbacks won their third one-run game of 2018 on Tuesday after rallying to beat Memphis on Tuesday. Arkansas is 3-3 in games decided by one run this year including wins over Arizona and USC.

• The Razorbacks have hit at least one home run in 11-straight games dating back to the March 11th doubleheader against Kent State. Arkansas has only gone homerless in three games this year.

Knight Keeps Rolling

Junior Blaine Knight has clearly shown why he is the ace of the Arkansas pitching staff this year.

Knight currently leads all Razorback hurlers with a 1.83 ERA over six starts, good for a top-10 total in the SEC. He had a sub-1.00 ERA through his first four starts and has struck out four or more batters in all six of his appearances.

Last week against Florida, Knight outdueled Brady Singer, going 6.2 innings and holding the Gator offense to just three runs with 10 strikeouts.

It was Knight’s first 10-strikeout performance of the season and he’s the second pitcher to notch 10 K’s on the defending national champions this season.

The Silent Assassin With The Silent J

Freshman Heston Kjerstad has shown no growing pains in his first season at the collegiate level.

Kjerstad currently has the fourth-highest batting average in the SEC (.395) and is coming off a strong week where he turned in four-consecutive multi-hit games, including a multi-home run game against Charlotte.

Over his last 10 games, the Amarillo, Texas native has hit .444 (16-for-36) with four home runs and 13 RBIs.

He’s only gone hitless once during that span and has at least one hit in 17 of his last 19 games.

SEC Hitting Leaders

Call In The Baum Squad

In 2017, Arkansas crushed an SEC-best 83 home runs. It was the most home runs by a Razorback team since 2010.

The Hogs have picked up where they left off with 47 home runs after 25 games, 13 more than they had after 25 games last year.

Casey Martin leads the team with seven homers on the year, but four other Razorbacks have five or more on the year (Kjerstad, Shaddy, Cole, Koch).

78 of Arkansas’ 209 runs in 2018 have come from the home run ball, making 37 percent of the team’s total run production.

Most Home Runs Hit (NCAA)