Baseball Set to Host Missouri State Tuesday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas baseball team (14-13) welcomes Missouri State (17-7) to town for a Tuesday evening midweek contest at Baum Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

Tickets
Single game tickets to the series can be purchased by clicking here.

Follow Live
Tuesday’s game will be broadcasted live on SEC Network Plus and the WatchESPN App with Alex Perlman (PXP) and Troy Eklund (Analyst), while Phil Elson and Rick Schaeffer will have the call on the IMG Razorback Sports Network.

Probable Starters
Tue | 6:35p | (ARK) RHP James Teague or RHP Keaton McKinney vs. (MSU) LHP Andy Cheray

Tuesday’s Possible Starters
James Teague is coming off the longest outing of his career last week, tossing 5.0 innings and giving up five hits and one run to earn the second win of his collegiate career. He threw just 50 pitches and struck out one in the victory. Teague has allowed just two extra base hits on the year in 18.2 innings of work.

Keaton McKinney is starting to settle in on the mound and has allowed just one earned run over his last two outings and 7.0 innings of work. He tossed 3.0 innings against Ole Miss and allowed just one hit and no earned runs, while striking out a career-high tying four batters. He has allowed three earned runs or less in seven of his nine appearances this season.

Leading Off

• Arkansas welcomes Missouri State to town Tuesday night as the Razorbacks and Bears meet for the 70th time in the history of the two programs.

• The Razorbacks rank third in the SEC with 25 home runs on the year, including multiple home runs in a game seven different times.

• The Arkansas pitching staff recorded a 3.00 ERA in a series win over Ole Miss last week, including 35 strikeouts in 27.0 innings of work.

• The Razorbacks are 9-1 on the year when holding opponents to two runs or less and 13-1 when leading after six innings.

• Arkansas has struck out 226 batters on the year, including double-digit strikeouts in 10 games this season.

• The Razorbacks have recorded double-digit hits in a game 13 times this season, including seven or more hits in each of the last 10 games.

• Bobby Wernes has four consecutive multi-hit games and is riding a career-long seven-game hitting streak.

• Andrew Benintendi ranks second in the SEC with seven home runs on the year, while his 27 runs batted in is tied for fourth in the league.

• Zach Jackson tossed 4.2 scoreless innings in the Ole Miss series, with nine of his 14 outs recorded coming from strikeouts. He ranks second in the SEC with a 1.33 ERA.

• Dominic Taccolini has won five of his seven starts this season, including back-to-back victories against LSU and Ole Miss. He has allowed three earned runs or less in all of his seven starts.

Series History
Arkansas is 49-20 all-time against Missouri State, including a 32-8 record in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks have won 10 straight against the Bears, including a 4-1 victory in Springfield, Missouri last year where Michael Bernal reached base three times and launched a two-run homer in the second inning. Dominic Taccolini earned the win in 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

Underclassmen Doing Work
The freshmen and sophomores on the pitching staff have combined to throw 167.1 of a possible 238.2 innings this season for 70.2 percent. The trio of Dominic Taccolini, Zach Jackson and Keaton McKinney have thrown 97.0 of the 167.1 innings by the underclassmen. Jackson’s 1.33 ERA and 1.37 strikeouts per inning leads the team.

March Madness
Tuesday caps off the busiest month of the year for the Razorbacks, playing 22 games during March, including a stretch of eight games in eight days from March 14-21. Arkansas opened the month winning five straight games and has currently won three of four. Arkansas’ last stretch of 22 games during a single month came during March of 2003, posting a 17-5 record.

RPI Outlook
Arkansas is set to play a pair of top-30 RPI teams this week with Missouri State checking in at No. 14 and Auburn at No. 30 according to BoydsWorld.com. The Razorbacks will then turn around and play back-to-back SEC series against No. 16 RPI Kentucky and No. 4 RPI Texas A&M.

Coming Up
Arkansas travels to Auburn for a three-game series against the Tigers April 3-5 at Plainsman Park. Game two of the series against Auburn will be televised nationally on SEC Network.

For more information on Arkansas baseball, follow @RazorbackBSB on Twitter.