Now It's Up to Molina to Find Home Plate from Mound for Razorbacks

After struggling to stop giving Mississippi State a free ticket to first base, everybody baffled with mound performances

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Ben Bybee throws a pitch after relieving Brady Tygart on Saturday evening against Mississippi State in the second game of their series. / Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — You shouldn't feel alone in this sudden worry over the Arkansas Razorbacks' pitching staff. What everybody was thinking a few weeks ago this would carry the Hogs to Omaha and bringing home a trophy now are having to re-adjust those expectations.

Now the concern that's most immediate to the fans is the NCAA Regional, which will be held at Baum-Walker Stadium in about three weeks. We've seen before what happens when the pitching falls apart late in the season, even though they had done enough to host a first round. Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn also looks baffled at times.

in an 8-5 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday night, the game looked like a scramble almost from the start. Brady Tygart started on the mound and it became clear quickly he couldn't find home plate with a map most of the time it seemed. Don't ask Van Horn about it, either.

"I don’t know. I have no idea. You would probably have to talk to him about it," Van Horn said Saturday night because it looked like he had no idea where his fastball was going. "I didn’t see the fastball go over the plate much at all." Tygart wasn't anywhere near the press conference after that game. Ben Bybee came in to relieve him in the second inning and that was another adventure.

"Ben came out walked a few and he got a few outs," Van Horn said. "It was a little bit of a roller coaster for us."

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn probably sharing fans' concerns over problems with pitching staff in recent games. / Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

Now the ball will get handed to Mason Molina on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the rubber match of the three-game series on the SEC Network. The Hogs need to win to avoid blowing the SEC West in the final two weeks of the season when they travel to Texas A&M next week.

"Now it just comes down to a rubber game tomorrow," Van Horn said. "We’ll see if we can get off to a better start, pitch a little better and we’ll get into the game. Hopefully Molina will give us that, give us some good pitching. Hopefully Molina will give us some innings."

It didn't sound like he would have a particularly long leash, either. Relief pitchers will likely be standing close by when the game gets started, considering the way things have gone lately with this pitching staff.

"Molina walked a few the last couple of weeks and if it goes that way tomorrow he won’t be in there very long," Van Horn said. "We just want him to throw it over the plate. If they hit it, they hit it. We walked nine guys in the first three or four innings and we still had a chance to win the game, which is amazing, honestly, thanks to a couple of guys coming out of the pen and doing a really good job. But yeah, who’s to say what’s up there?"

Fans are looking farther down the road that Van Horn would ever admit to doing. The last several games haven't been pretty, for whatever reason. Even Hagen Smith got in trouble Friday night, walking guys in the first inning against the Bulldogs before settling down and managing to put up four innings.

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Brady Tygart visiting with catcher Hudson White and infielder Peyton Stovall during Saturday's game against Mississippi State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. / Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

Saturday night, Tygart and Bybee together barely stumbled through combining for four innings, but gave up eight runs, digging a deep hole. Smith at least got four innings and only allowed three runs, which is considerably past what fans saw earlier in the year.

That's the biggest problem. Razorback fans saw a solid pitching staff starting and coming out of the bullpen that basically could wait on the bats. Now they are getting to the end of the year and may not have the hitting to salvage pitchers not being able to find the plate.

No reason to start hitting the panic button, but there is some concern. It does sound like Van Horn is sharing that same concern.

HOGS FEED:

• Early hole dug by Razorbacks too deep for spotty hitting to find way out

• Taking a look at possible Razorbacks' lineup Calipari may put on the floor that will be short on experience

• Role reversal gives Razorbacks life moving forward

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