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Hogs about to Face Onslaught of Power from No. 5 Georgia

Key will be for Arkansas Razorbacks to avoid giving up home run No. 100 to SEC leading Bulldogs
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz throws against UT Arlington.
Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hunter Dietz throws against UT Arlington. | Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Images

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Georgia BulldogsArkansas Razorbacks

The number 100 is a pretty big deal for humans no matter where they are on the planet.

Earn a 100 on academic work and it's a job well done. Reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit and it's a dangerously hot day, unless it's 100 degrees Celsius, and then the water all around you is boiling.

Live 100 years of quality health and it's been a long life of almost absurd proportions. Even a president's term in office is unfairly judged by what he accomplishes his first 100 days.

However, this weekend, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn wants nothing to do with the number 100. He doesn't want his veteran players hitting in the .100s again after working so hard to shake slumps, and, as a matter of pride, he doesn't want No. 5 Georgia leaving Fayetteville with a startling 100 of its own.

Home runs. 

Currently the Bulldogs are stuck at 98 on the season, and even though it's very possible for the Hogs to win the SEC series while also being the answer to the trivia question in regard to the milestone, it's dramatically more difficult for Georgia to take the series if the Razorbacks' pitching staff passes that burden forward to the No. 2 Georgia Tech Yellowjackets where the Bulldogs can celebrate the mark in a more meaningful way against their rival in Atlanta.

After all, Florida, which has had its fair share of struggles this season, recently proved that stifling the Bulldogs' access to the long ball is a key ingredient to producing wins against the current SEC leader.

The Gators handed skipper Wes Johnson's team half its conference losses in a single weekend by only giving up 14 runs over three games to one of the nation's most explosive offenses as the Bulldogs were forced into the uniquely uncomfortable position of grinding out a single win at the plate.

"They didn't hit a home run against Florida all weekend," Van Horn said after the Hogs run-ruled UAPB on a heavily battered field at Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock. "They had 98 going in, they still got 98, [and] I hope they have 98 when they leave on Saturday night." 

It's a mark that currently leads the nation, a spot Arkansas often finds itself in. However, this hasn't been a typical season Van Horn has had to navigate his Hogs through.

The Razorbacks currently have a lackluster 53 home runs. Last year Arkansas finished with 127.

Last season, when Georgia managed to lead the nation in home runs as of May 22 with 132, the Bulldogs pulled off an April surprise by taking the final two games of the series with the Hogs in Athens, 7-6 each time, over an Arkansas team that finished with 50 wins. Of the 17 runs the Bulldogs scored in that series, nine came off home runs and each game featured at least one Georgia long ball, including the extra innings rubber match which included three.

Fortunately for the Hogs, even though they aren't hitting a lot of homers, they also aren't giving them up. Razorbacks pitchers have only surrendered 40 so far. That's almost exactly one per game, which is a slightly higher ratio than it should be at season's end considering Arkansas is just now beginning to figure out its best pitching rotation for SEC play.

Van Horn's shuffling of the pitching rotation has landed sophomore Hunter Dietz at the top of the rotation, which will force Georgia to face the SEC's strikeout king on a rare Thursday night appearance. 

He struck out 12 in 6 2/3 innings against South Carolina a few weeks ago, his second game with at least a dozen, before sitting down 11 at Auburn followed by nine strikeouts at Alabama.

Dietz also only gave up two runs while snapping the Crimson Tide's 18-game winning streak, but, in Georgia's favor, each was the result of a solo home run.

"Hunter Dietz is the best arm we've seen all year," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said after Game 1 against the Hogs last Friday. "And I knew that coming in, I knew he was going to be a bear, but man, the way he competed, the stuff, the execution."

The Bulldogs feature six hitters with double digit home runs, which means Arkansas pitchers will have little room for mistakes. Daniel Jackson leads the way with 16, followed closely by Tre Phillips with 14.

It should be noted that all of Jackson's home runs came early in the season. He has now gone 11 straight games without a home run.

First pitch will be shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday. It will be the lone truly televised game.

It broadcasts on ESPNU while the rest of the series will air on SEC Network+.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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