Sky-high Hogs getting back into their SEC routine

Tyler Spoon of Arkansas heads to third against Mississippi Valley State during the third inning Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Tyler Spoon of Arkansas heads to third against Mississippi Valley State during the third inning Wednesday, April 8, 2015, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' baseball team, which earlier this season played five games in five days during back-to-back weeks, has enjoyed a break going into this weekend's series against Mississippi State at Baum Stadium.

Coach Dave Van Horn gave the Razorbacks Monday and Tuesday off after they took 2 of 3 games at No. 1 Texas A&M over the weekend, getting both victories Sunday.

UP NEXT

MISSISSIPPI STATE AT NO. 25 ARKANSAS

WHEN 6:35 p.m. Friday

WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville

RADIO Razorbacks Sports Network

INTERNET SEC Network-Plus

"Honestly, we deserved this," Arkansas senior left fielder Joe Serrano said before Wednesday's practice. "After having those rain delays at Texas A&M and only getting limited sleep and playing essentially two games Sunday, we definitely needed these two days off."

After Texas A&M beat Arkansas 13-6 last Friday to open the series, the Aggies led 8-3 Saturday night through six innings of the second game, which was pushed into Sunday because of a rain delay. The Razorbacks (24-17, 9-9 SEC) rallied to win the suspended game 9-8, then beat the Aggies 8-2 in the series finale after another rain delay.

"We just took it to them that first game Sunday and came out and kept going the next game," Arkansas junior right fielder Tyler Spoon said.

Sophomore center fielder Andrew Benintendi said the Razorbacks did a good job of staying loose Sunday during the rain delay.

"Once we won that first game, we were on house money," Benintendi said. "So we might as well go out there and have fun, and we did."

Over the series' final 10 innings, the Razorbacks outscored the Aggies 14-2 in dropping Texas A&M's record to 35-6 overall and 12-5 in the SEC.

"That weekend was the most fun I've ever had playing baseball by far," Arkansas freshman designed hitter Luke Bonfield said.

Serrano said Arkansas and Texas A&M were different teams Sunday when play resumed during the suspended game.

"It seemed like they were flat and we had a bunch of energy," said Serrano, who hit a three-run triple in the eighth inning to help fuel the 9-8 victory. "We knew we were going to give them a run for their money in the second game Sunday, but the first game, there really are no words to describe it.

"We were just a team that couldn't be stopped."

Van Horn said he could tell by the looks on the players' faces Sunday night when he told them they had Monday and Tuesday off how appreciative they were.

"It's not like they don't want to practice," Van Horn said. "These guys work hard. We have to kick them out of here half the time, but I think the break was good for them."

While Arkansas has won 13 of its past 18 games, Mississippi State (22-19, 6-12) is 9-19 in its past 28 games and was swept at home by Florida in a three-game series last weekend.

"As you saw on Sunday, any team can be beat," Serrano said. "It didn't matter if it was the No. 1-ranked Aggies. We came out and played better than they did.

"Mississippi State could come out and play better than us and we could get beat. It happens in the SEC all the time. We're not going to take any opponent lightly."

All four of the Razorbacks' remaining SEC opponents have losing conference records, including Alabama (7-11), Tennessee (5-13) and Georgia (6-11).

"This league can beat you down, beat you up and make you not feel good about yourself, but you're a pretty good team," Van Horn said. "It just takes one weekend to turn it around or one bad weekend to put you right back where you were."

Van Horn said some people probably were talking about Arkansas being one of the SEC's worst teams when the Razorbacks started 1-5 in conference play.

"Anything can happen," Van Horn said. "It's just baseball."

The Razorbacks have won four consecutive SEC series since going 0-3 at Vanderbilt and 1-2 against LSU.

"We knew we were better than our record," Van Horn said. "We just needed to get a big win here or there. We got a couple of those."

Van Horn said he has concern about the Razorbacks coming down from the high of beating Texas A&M.

"I worry about it, but it's not to the point where I don't get any sleep over it," he said. "I think you kind of condition yourself to enjoy it for a while, then you get back to reality and start thinking Mississippi State's coming in."

Sports on 04/23/2015

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