The Southeastern Conference opened the weekend of conference play with a planned pair of Thursday night tilts. Unfortunately a gusher of a rain storm washed out the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide (13-10, 3-3) and the No. 2 Florida Gators (21-5, 3-3) and it will be made up as part of a double-header on Friday.
Suddenly, the SEC slate was paired down to a single matchup on the night with a pair of teams that appear to be heading opposite directions as conference play kicks off would face off as the Ole Miss Rebels (13-13, 3-4) traveled to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (13-12, 2-5).
Arkansas Hits Trent Early And Often
Arkansas has a strange knack for playing tough in SEC series openers. The Hogs led the Vanderbilt Commodores 7-3 headed to the bottom of the ninth in the series opener.
When the dust settled, the Razorbacks had dropped an 8-7 extra-inning game and then went on to be swept. Last weekend, the Hogs took a Thursday night opener over the No. 1 LSU Tigers only to be dominated in the remaining games of the set.
It looks like Arkansas will try to reverse that trend again this weekend after taking the opener over Ole Miss 10-3.
Fans didn’t get the expected duel between Hogs starter Dominic Taccolini (So., RHP) and Rebels’ ace Christian Trent (Jr., LHP) but were in for an interesting game nonetheless.
Trent was hit frequently by the Hogs’ lineup, allowing 11 hits and five earned runs over 5.2 innings. Razorbacks Joe Serrano (Sr., LF) and Brett McAfee (Jr., SS) led with three hits while the senior scored twice and the junior scored one and drove in another.
Junior right fielder Tyler Spoon drove in three runs on a pair of sac flies and a double.
However, Taccolini allowed three earned runs over the same period with seven strike outs. The sophomore has put together two solid starts following a disappointing performance in game two against the Commodores.
