Dave Van Horn Didn't Expect Opening Series to Be Very Easy

Arkansas coach warned his team Illinois State was going to be a battle, which is what happened

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Dave Van Horn warned his team.

"It’s good to win the series after losing the opening game," he said after a 4-2 win Sunday to clinch the opening series.. "I told the team before Illinois State arrived down here that we were playing a veteran team that had three veteran pitchers who were going to fill up the zone and they weren’t going to beat themselves. We were going to have to beat them.

"We didn’t beat them on Friday and the last two days we had to go get them."

The result is the first series of the year belongs to the Razorbacks.

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Arkansas freshman pitcher Jaxon Wiggins will be looking to get back to his solid start to the SEC season Sunday when he will start on the mound to close out the series with Auburn. (Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images)

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Led by Jaxon Wiggins and Kole Ramage’s 11 combined strikeouts on the mound that almost wasn't enough.

The Redbirds touched Wiggins for a run in the top of the second, but it was all zeroes against him after that. The sophomore starter struck out five over five innings of one-run ball, turning in a career-long outing in his first start of the 2022 season.

Wiggins’ run support came in the bottom half of the fourth and fifth innings. Robert Moore led off the fourth with a double before coming around to score on Zack Gregory’s two-out single to tie the ballgame at one.

In the following inning, Chris Lanzilli and Brady Slavens each came through with run-scoring singles to extend Arkansas’ lead to 3-1 entering the sixth.

Ramage took over for Wiggins in the top of the sixth and mowed down the first three batters he faced on strikeouts. The right-hander from Southlake, Texas, suffocated Illinois State’s hitters for most of the afternoon, fanning six over four innings of two-hit, one-run ball.

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images

After the Redbirds added a run in the top of the eighth to cut their deficit to one, Jalen Battles’ RBI double in the bottom half of the frame stretched the Hogs’ advantage back to two. Ramage locked down his four-inning save in the top of the ninth to secure Arkansas’ first series win of the year.

Since Van Horn’s first season in 2003, the Razorbacks have won 17 consecutive season-opening weekend series when facing a single opponent for all three games.

The Razorbacks (2-1) are on the road next week, trekking to Round Rock, Texas, to participate in the Round Rock Classic at Dell Diamond.

Arkansas gets started against Indiana (0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday on FloBaseball.

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