Razorbacks get enough from ‘too excited’ Smith to get past Mississippi State

Arkansas won’t get swept in this weekend’s series with Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., with a 6-2 win in a quick game. The last time the Razorbacks hit the road for an SEC series in Georgia that’s exactly what happened.

Hagen Smith gave the Razorbacks five innings starting and allowing just a couple of runs on just two hits, but he also walked five Mississippi State hitters and kept having to work himself out of jams. Mostly he did it himself, striking out eight.

Now the adventure and questions about the pitching staff will start because Hogs coach Dave Van Horn hadn’t announced a starter for either Saturday or Sunday. You got the idea at his press conference Thursday he wanted to make sure he got at least one win and get it out of the way quickly, although Smith carried a little too much excitement into it.

“(Smith) was exerting way too much energy early for a starter,” Van Horn said, wanting to get six or seven out of him. “He was amped up. “We’ll get that right. If he had saved a little energy, he might have gotten there.”

The plan was to go to Gage Wood out of the bullpen in the seventh inning, which is what the Hogs did. He sat the Bulldogs down in order to justify sticking with the original plan to bring in Wood in the seventh.

“It was a good win for our team,” Van Horn said later.

He got what he was wanting out of Smith. Van Horn has injuries he’s trying to figure it out and Brady Tygart will get the start for Saturday’s game with a determination probably made after that for Sunday’s final game.

The Hogs got off to a quick 2-0 start in the first inning when leadoff batter drew a walk, then Jace Bohrofren hit a homer to right field. That was it for awhile, but Smith made it stand up.

The Bulldogs added a solo run in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Colton Ledbetter that scored Amani Larry.

Nobody else scored until Mississippi State got a one-out run in the fifth to tie the game as signs he was starting to fade a little began to show.

In the sixth inning, the Hogs took the lead back when Ben McLaughlin got a single and Brady Slavens crushed a two-RBI homer to right field for a 4-2 lead.

The Hogs stole an insurance run in the ninth inning with Caleb Cali getting a leadoff double, then going to third on a sacrifice by Mason Neville and scoring on a wild pitch that bounced off the catcher back towards the pitching mound for a 5-2 lead. It was Cali’s third opposite field hits.

They added another one after two straight walks to Parker Rowland and John Bolton set the stage for a one-out single by Kendall Diggs pushed Rowland across for a 6-2 lead headed to the bottom of the ninth

Gage Wood came on for the ninth and walked a hitter, but closed the game with a called third strike for the final out.

Saturday’s game will start at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.