NOT A SUBSCRIBER? SIGN UP TODAY FOR ACCESS TO ALL OF HAWGBEAT’S PREMIUM CONTENT AND FEATURES
The No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2) will take on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (8-4) for a three-game series at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville starting on Friday.
Arkansas is coming off of a 7-5 comeback win over Army West Point on Tuesday where all seven of the Hogs’ runs came on home runs.
Louisiana Tech enters this weekend coming off of a sweep of Northwestern, winning two of those three games by seven or more runs, with the other win coming in 11 innings. The Bulldogs opted to not play a midweek game before coming to Fayetteville.
Getting the Friday start on the bump for Arkansas will be sophomore left-hander Hagen Smith, who will be making his fourth start of the season. The southpaw from Bullard, Texas, has a team-best 0.63 ERA among those with multiple outings and has allowed just two extra-base hits this season.
The Bulldogs’ Friday starter will be redshirt senior left-hander Jonathan Fincher, who will be making his third start of the season. Fincher has thrown 7.0 innings in each of his last two starts against Nicholls and Northwestern, allowing just three runs total in those outings.
As a reminder, Friday’s contest will not be broadcast due to conflicts with multiple on-campus events (softball and gymnastics) and SEC replay requirements.
All three games of the series can be heard on the Razorback Sports Network from Learfield, including locally in Fayetteville on 92.1 FM or through the Razorback app. A full list of radio affiliates is available here.
HawgBeat will have you covered with live updates, stats, commentary and much more throughout the game, and you can check out details on how to watch, starting pitchers, starting lineups when they’re posted, notes and more below:
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2) vs Louisiana Tech (8-4)
When: 3 p.m. CT Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Fayetteville, Arkansas — Baum-Walker Stadium
Stream/Online: SEC Network+ (Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund) *No TV for Friday game*
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter)
Friday: LA Tech LHP Jonathan Fincher (2-1, 2.84 ERA, 19.0 IP) vs. ARK LHP Hagen Smith (2-0, 0.63 ERA, 14.1 IP)
Saturday: LA Tech RHP Rawley Hector (1-1, 4.40 ERA, 14.1 IP) vs. ARK RHP Will McEntire (2-0, 6.17 ERA, 11.2 IP)
Sunday: LA Tech RHP Reed Smith (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 9.1 IP) vs. ARK LHP Hunter Hollan (1-0, 2.79 ERA, 9.2 IP)
~ Arkansas is ranked by all six major college baseball polls after the third weekend of play:
D1Baseball – No. 8
Perfect Game – No. 3
NCBWA – No. 7
USA Today Coaches – No. 8
Collegiate Baseball – No. 7
Baseball America – No. 9
~Former Razorback Ethan Bates plays for Louisiana Tech. He played in 17 games for Arkansas in 2021, batting .250 with 9 hits in 36 at bats and 6 RBIs. Bates spent 2022 at Navarro Junior College before transferring to Louisiana Tech.
~ Arkansas leads the all-time series against the Bulldogs 27-7, with the last three meetings coming in Ruston in 2021.
~ Arkansas is 97-37 all-time against teams from Conference USA, with 42 of their wins coming against Rice.
~ Louisiana Tech enters the weekend 53-127-1 all-time against SEC competition.
~ Louisiana Tech was picked to finish first out of 10 teams in the Conference USA preseason poll.
~Bulldogs head coach Lance Burroughs was an assistant coach to Dave Van Horn when they were both at Northwestern State in 1997.
~ Two Bulldogs were named to the preseason All-Horizon League team: left-handed pitcher Jonathan Fincher and catcher Jorge Corona.
Some notes courtesy of Arkansas Communications
Arkansas relief pitcher Koty Frank done for season
Dave Van Horn postgame – Arkansas 7, Army 5
Late longballs power Diamond Hogs to 7-5 win over Army
Arkansas Baseball Notebook: Pitcher injuries, early offensive success
**JOIN THE CONVERSATION WITH ARKANSAS FANS ON THE TROUGH, HAWGBEAT’S PREMIUM MESSAGE BOARD**
