FAYETTEVILLE -- Keaton McKinney was feeling down about his recent pitching performances early last week. The sophomore reached out to Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn with a text to ask for a conversation, and a phone call ensued.
"We could've met in person, but he said it was OK over the phone," Van Horn said Monday. "He just felt bad because he felt like he wasn't helping the team. I felt bad for him, and I appreciated him saying that -- about his mechanics and this and that."
Up next
ARKANSAS AT NO. 15 LSU
WHEN 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE Alex Box Stadium, Baton Rouge
RADIO Razorback Sports Network statewide network. Not all games will be carried by all affiliates. Check local listings.
TELEVISION None
INTERNET SEC Network-Plus
Van Horn and pitching coach Dave Jorn considered giving McKinney a weekend free from pitching. The right-hander had not lasted more than 4 innings in his previous 4 appearances -- when he allowed 14 earned runs on 19 hits and 11 walks in a combined 13 innings -- since firing 6 shutout innings in a victory over Auburn on March 26.
Instead, McKinney and Jorn got to work on mechanics, which he is still refining in his recovery from offseason hip surgery. McKinney was in a good enough place after the sessions with Jorn to pitch Arkansas' series finale against No. 2 Texas A&M on Sunday.
The 6-5, 230-pounder allowed 1 earned run in 5 2/3 innings, but a critical error led to 4 unearned runs in the fourth inning of a 6-2 loss to the Aggies. The outing marked progress for McKinney.
"Just mentally, I felt a lot better about everything," McKinney said. "Getting my velo[city] up on a few helped a lot. It helps when you get that velo up because the misses aren't hit as hard.
"I actually felt pretty good. My hip didn't stiffen up at all, but it's definitely just day by day it gets better. I'm just working through that mentally, mechanically, all that stuff."
Said Van Horn, "He showed me something the other day. For a couple of innings, he looked good. His change-up didn't have a hump in it, and it looked like a fastball. It just looked better."
McKinney's up-and-down season is symbolic of Arkansas' starting pitching this spring. McKinney (1-3, 5.84 ERA) and junior right-hander Dominic Taccolini (5-2, 4.81 ERA) have vacillated among good, mediocre and bad starts. Taccolini, who had surgery for a blood clot under his right shoulder last summer, was 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA through 4 starts before a rough outing in the Hogs' SEC opener at South Carolina.
Would-be closer Zach Jackson (3-4, 5.11) moved into the starting rotation four weeks ago as the Razorbacks continued to search for consistent starting pitching.
James Teague (3-3, 6.58), a quality spot starter on last season's College World Series club, has not been as effective in SEC play after posting a 1.08 ERA in five nonconference appearances. Freshman Barrett Loseke (1-2, 2.89) earned starts on five consecutive weekends, but he never pitched more than four innings in a game.
With three weekends remaining in the regular season, starting Friday at LSU, the Razorbacks (26-19, 7-14 SEC) are in a battle to make the 12-team tournament. Getting better starting pitching is a must.
"It's hard to recruit or plan for older guys struggling," Van Horn said. "Usually older guys come back and it's a little easier for them. It looked that way early, especially in Taccolini's case. The first three or four outings he was pretty good. Then we get to league play and that first inning, it messed him up a little bit. Then he slowly recovered. I think his last two outings have been good.
"McKinney didn't get to play all summer, all fall, and he just wasn't right. He'll be right next year."
Van Horn pointed out that Jackson, a preseason All-American, did not get off to a great start, and Teague did not pitch in the summer and only sparingly in the fall as he recovered from a stress reaction in his throwing arm.
The Razorbacks enter the LSU series with a 6.19 ERA in league games, easily the worst in the SEC behind Georgia's 5.81.
"You know, if the season would have started two months later, we might have been in good shape," Van Horn said. "But it didn't. So ... to answer your question, no we didn't see this [starting pitching issues] coming. We're starting to recover a little bit there, but it's awful late in the season."
Sports on 05/05/2016