Peyton Holt responds big after knowing he’s starting in Hogs’ win

Arkansas second baseman Peyton Holt found out earlier in the week he’ll be starting the rest of the season and responded big-time in a 8-2win over Vanderbilt to start a three-game series Thursday night.

Holt had played well while they tried to get normal starter Peyton Stovall back, had a 3-for-4 night and made some big-time plays in the field, taking some extra bases away from the Commodores and killing any hopes before they could get going. One of those came while Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn was doing the mid-game interview in the SEC Network broadcast of the game.

He also made plays on the bases, advancing, getting some key hits at the right time in a solid start to the final regular-season series of the year before starting the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., next week.

Hagen Smith had what is becoming a traditional start to a series this year. He scattered five hits over five innings, walked just two and single runs in the fourth and fifth inning before giving way to Will McEntire, who went the rest of the way and he gave up a hit and hit a batter but nothing else to get the convincing win.

The Hogs put up four runs in the first, a single run in the second, two more in the fifth and the last run in seventh. Brady Slavens hit a homer in the first inning, but they just got the rest in their usual small-ball manner against a Vandy pitching staff that was struggling from the start.

The Hogs are now 39-13 on the season (20-8 in the SEC) and will go for two straight on Friday night at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.