Arkansas Makes Statement With Series-Opening Win At Mississippi State

Image credit: Arkansas' Christian Franklin and Brady Slavens (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty)

In its biggest series of the young season, Arkansas wasted no time making a statement. The top-ranked Razorbacks this weekend traveled to No. 2 Mississippi State for an SEC West showdown and on Friday came out swinging against the Bulldogs.

After a strikeout to leadoff the game, Matt Goodheart and Brady Slavens hit back-to-back home runs off Bulldogs ace Christian Macleod. One batter later, Christian Franklin made it a trifecta and the Razorbacks had an early 3-0 lead.

Arkansas (17-3, 3-1) didn’t look back the rest of the night. It went on to win 8-2, a dominating effort that left no doubt Friday night.

“It was our first SEC series on the road, and we wanted to make a statement,” Franklin said. “We knew what environment we would get into. We wanted to come out with a chip on our shoulder and we did that tonight.”

Mississippi State (17-4, 2-2) has perhaps the best pitching staff in the country and came into the weekend with a 2.30 team ERA. Arkansas wasn’t intimidated. The Razorbacks hit MacLeod like no other team has in his college career, knocking him out in the fourth inning. They homered as many times as they struck out against the lefthander (four).

While they didn’t need any insurance, the Razorbacks kept tacking on runs throughout the night. They finished with 10 hits and five walks. Franklin led the way, going 2-for-5 with two home runs and is now hitting .297/.422/.608 with six home runs.

Franklin, a Preseason All-American, is 4-for-10 with a double and two home runs in his last two games and said part of the improvement has come from a change he made in his swing after working with assistant coach Nate Thompson. Franklin modified his toe tap and is now standing up taller in the box.

“I hit from there last couple days, it felt good, and I took it into the game tonight, so I’ll do that the rest of the year,” Franklin said.

Coach Dave Van Horn said Franklin’s performance Friday was a continuation of the impressive show he put on in practice Thursday night. The same could be said for Arkansas’ lineup as a whole. It also was coming off a pair of wins Tuesday and Wednesday against Memphis in which the Razorbacks scored 23 runs. They were Arkansas’ first midweek games of the season and gave Van Horn an opportunity to work in some new players and give the regulars a breather.

That impressive midweek performance combined with a strong game plan from Thompson had the Razorbacks in a good spot.

“We had a really good vibe (Thursday) night in practice,” Van Horn said. “Getting out on the field last night you could tell they were ready to go. Coach Thompson had them ready to go.”

It wasn’t just about the offense, either. Lefthander Patrick Wicklander (1-0, 2.33) and righthander Peyton Pallette (1-1, 3.47, 1 SV) worked in tandem to stifle the Mississippi State offense. Wicklander went five innings, holding the Bulldogs to one run while scattering four walks and two hits. Pallette, who had drawn the Friday start the last few weeks, came on in relief and threw four strong innings, holding the Bulldogs to one run on two hits and a walk.

Arkansas’ defense behind that duo was again excellent. Franklin laid out for a Superman-esque catch in center field and shortstop Jalen Battles and second baseman Robert Moore helped Wicklander with an excellent double-play turn.

 

It was a consummate team effort for the Razorbacks.

“Our defense was really good,” Franklin said. “We were clicking on all cylinders tonight. We did a good job on the offensive end, the defensive end. We showed we’re well-rounded.”

That kind of performance to begin a weekend had so far eluded Arkansas in 2021. While it piled up wins and rose to No. 1 in the Top 25, it struggled in weekend openers. In each of the first four weeks of the season, the Razorbacks required late comebacks to start the weekend with a win. Last week, in the SEC opener against Alabama, Arkansas finally dug itself a hole it couldn’t come back from and lost, 16-1.

Now, Arkansas has positioned itself well to claim a statement series victory. It will come back Saturday with righthander Zebulon Vermillion, its most consistent starter, on the mound and its whole bullpen at its disposal.

Arkansas entered the weekend with the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country already. Playing three games against No. 2 Mississippi State at Dudy-Noble Field will only add to its degree of difficulty. A series win – which would be its second against an SEC West opponent to open conference play – would be another strong point on its resume.

But the Razorbacks don’t need to get ahead of themselves. They on Friday picked up one of the most impressive wins of the season, a fact that isn’t lost on them.

“You just try to grab a win when you can,” Van Horn said. “We had the opportunity to watch them three times down in Arlington. We knew what we were going to get.”