Arkansas’ streak as the consensus No. 1 team in college baseball reached six weeks Monday, and there appears to be no stopping the Razorbacks as they close in on their first SEC regular-season title since 2004.
The Razorbacks (39-10, 19-8) are 9-0 in conference series, including 6-0 in deciding third games, after winning two of three at Tennessee over the weekend.
They would join 2013 Vanderbilt as the only teams in conference history to go 10-0 in SEC series if they win at least two of three at home against Florida this week.
“They show up every day and they play hard and they think they can win,” coach Dave Van Horn said. “Somebody usually steps up and gets it done, whether it’s a hitter or a pitcher or somebody who’s been struggling all of a sudden has a great game. We don’t get too uptight.”
Arkansas went 13-5 in SEC road games, which illustrates a point assistant coach Nate Thompson made to the team about its talent and potential.
“We thrive in different atmospheres and we embrace the challenge,” second baseman and leadoff man Robert Moore said. “Like coach Thompson said, we don’t always have to have everything go our way. We’re better than that. We don’t need all the breaks, we don’t need all the calls, we don’t need the ball to bounce our way all the time because we’re better than that.”
FILE – Arkansas pitcher Kevin Kopps throws a pitch against Mississippi during the sixth inning of Game 2 at the NCAA college baseball super regional tournament in Fayetteville, Ark., in this Sunday, June 9, 2019, file photo. Top-ranked Arkansas is closing in on its first SEC championship in baseball since 2004 after winning two of three one-run games at Tennessee. (AP Photo/Michael Woods, File)Moore, son of Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore, is among five Arkansas players with at least 10 home runs. The Hogs have gone deep 83 times, tied for second most in the nation, and their average of 7.8 runs per game leads the SEC.
They also have one of the best pitchers in the nation in reliever Kevin Kopps, who has an NCAA-best 0.80 ERA in 56 1/3 innings and before Sunday hadn’t given up a run in 28 innings since April 17.
Arkansas came out of the weekend with a one-game lead over Tennessee in the overall SEC race and a two-game lead over Mississippi State in the West.
IN THE POLLS
Texas (38-12) is No. 2 and Vanderbilt (36-12) is No. 3 behind Arkansas in the D1Baseball.com poll. Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball newspaper rate Vanderbilt second.
Baseball America has Notre Dame (26-10) third; Collegiate Baseball has Mississippi State (36-13) No. 3.
NO-HITTERS RECORD
Virginia and Kansas pitched no-hitters Friday, increasing the Division I season total to an NCAA-record 24.
Virginia’s Andrew Abbott, Jake Berry and Griff McGarry held Wake Forest hitless in a 17-0 win. Kansas’ Eli Davis threw a seven-inning no-hitter in a 10-0 win over Kansas State.
Of the 24 no-hitters, 13 have come in games of at least nine innings. Starting pitchers have gone the distance in six of the nine-inning no-hitters.
The previous record was 23 no-hitters in 2018.