HOOVER, Ala. - Arkansas will try to hand LSU sophomore right hander Aaron Nola his first loss of the season when the Razorbacks play the No. 2 Tigers at 4:30 p.m. today in the SEC Tournament.
The Razorbacks will go with junior right-hander Ryne Stanek (8-2, 1.54 ERA) against Nola (10-0, 1.99 ERA), who threw a complete game in the Tigers’ 6-2 victory at Arkansas on April 12.
“If you’re a fan of baseball - not even college baseball, just baseball - you’ll be looking forward to this match up,” LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said Wednesday after LSU beat Alabama 3-0.
“I like to think that Aaron is going to be a first-round pick next year, and we know Stanek is going to be this year. He’s outstanding. I know our hitters are looking forward to the challenge.”
Stanek, pitching the day after Nola beat Arkansas, held LSU scoreless on four hits in the Razorbacks’ 8-3 victory.
“He has two plus pitches with his fastball and his slider,” Tigers shortstop Alex Bregman said of Stanek. “I feel like as an offense we need to come out and attack and put pressure on him early in the game and score a few runs.
“If we can do that, I feel like we’ve got a good chance to win the game.”
LSU first baseman Mason Katz said the Tigers are glad they are facing Stanek.
“We like to see what we can do against guys like that,” Katz said. “We’re going to go out there swinging and do our best to give Aaron as many runs as possible.”
Katz said he has seen Stanek make a lot of improvement since his freshman season.
“I remember facing him two years ago and he mostly worked away, but the last time he was using both sides of the plate,” Katz said. “When you can locate a power fastball, that makes it tough.”
Nola should be well rested for today’s game after being held out of the rotation last weekend against Ole Miss.
Stanek threw 123 pitches while going 7 2/3 innings in the Razorbacks’ 1-0 victory at Auburn last Friday.
Not much offense
Arkansas starter Barrett Astin is getting used to pitching without run support.
It happened again Wednesday when Astin lowered his ERA to 1.87 and held Ole Miss to one run in eight innings but didn’t figure into the decision as the Razorbacks won 2-1 in 10 innings.
The Razorbacks gave Astin plenty of offense in his first SEC start when they won 15-3 at South Carolina, but in his nine starts since then Arkansas is averaging 2.4 runs.
In Astin’s 12 starts this season excluding South Carolina, the Razorbacks’ average is 2.8 runs. Arkansas has been shut out in two of his starts in 3-0 losses to Gonzaga and Auburn.
As a result of the lack of run support, Astin is 4-4with four no-decisions in his starts.
Arkansas Coach Dave Horn said he believes he has two No. 1 starters with Astin and junior Ryne Stanek, who has been starting the second game of SEC series with Astin going in the opener, often against opponents’ top starters.
“Barrett doesn’t complain,” Van Horn said.
“He wants to pitch. He wants the ball that first day.
“If he was pitching game two or three, he might have 10 wins, but people can see that he’s good. They don’t sign you professionally on your wins and losses. They can see what you’ve got.”
Astin said he’s not concerned about Arkansas’ offensive struggles when he pitches.
“The runs will come,” Astin said. “I’ve just got to make pitches and worry about myself.”
Van Horn said Astin, who threw 90 pitches Wednesday, could have pitched in the ninth inning.
“I didn’t want him to go back out,” Van Horn said.
“He’d given us everything he needed to do. I didn’t want it to get to the point where it might affect him down the road. It worked out.”
Ramirez fills in
Arkansas junior catcher Jake Wise, who has started 49 games this season, was out of the lineup Wednesday because of illness.
Freshman catcher Jean Ramirez played in his 13th game of the season and made his first start against an SEC team. Ramirez went 0 for 4 at the plate but filled in well for Wise defensively.
“I thought Ramirez did a very good job,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said.
“The reason I say that is, you didn’t notice him. That’s the sign of a catcher doing a good job.”
Van Horn said Wise is “iffy” for today’s game against LSU, so Ramirez may be back in the lineup.
Regional talk
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said beating LSU “would probably really help” the Razorbacks’ chances of hosting an NCAA regional next weekend.
“But who knows?” Van Horn said. “The only thing we can do is try to win games. If we win enough games, and they give us a regional, it would be great. I haven’t complained, I haven’t begged, and I’m not going to.
“Hopefully, we’ll play our way into it.”
Sweet 17
Mississippi State’s 2-1 victory over Missouri that lasted 17 innings and ended at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday matched the longest game in SEC Tournament history.
Arkansas and Auburn also played a 17-inning game in 1994, when the Tigers won 3-1 in Oxford, Miss.
Missouri’s first season in the SEC ended at 18-32 a year after the Tigers won the Big 12 Tournament title.
“I’m numb,” Missouri Coach Tim Jamieson told AL.com. “It’s one thing to lose a game like this, but to lose a game like this and your season ends, I feel bad for these guys.
“They know they competed with a lot of heart.
We played another opponent that’s a little bit better than we are, but we hung around with them.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 05/23/2013