Arkansas' offense is not in high gear, but the Hogs are still winning. That's encouraging.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn knows his baseball team has room to improve on offense, but winning baseball teams manage to scratch out wins even when the bats aren't clicking. That's what UA did on Friday in a 5-2 win over Xavier.
Cam Kozeal hit a three-run homer in the first inning. After that, the Hogs were contained by Musketeer pitching. Arkansas had only five at-bats for the whole game with runners in scoring position, Kozeal's homer being one of them. There was not constant traffic on the bases. Arkansas managed just five hits to Xavier's nine. There's a lot of room for improvement from this offense ... but it's not mattering yet because the pitching has held the fort.
Gabe Gaeckle pitched five innings and Cole Gibler pitched the remaining four. The two men combined to allow just two runs on two total walks, exhibiting control and precision and forcing Xavier to get extra-base hits in order to score runs. Those hits never came, so X never got off the ground against the Hogs in the home opener at Baum-Walker Stadium. A crowd of 10,388 was jumping for the weekday afternoon game, a sign of how hungry and excited Hog fans are for this team and for another run at Omaha this year.
If there was one particularly encouraging development at the plate for Arkansas, it was Nolan Souza -- who struggled in the opening four games in Arlington, Texas -- coming alive with two doubles. Overall, though, Arkansas has been tamed on offense since the 12-run season opener against Oklahoma State. Hitters aren't getting on base with relentless consistency. While home runs are important -- and have helped UA win games -- it's necessary for teams to find many ways to score runs. Arkansas has a lot of room to grow in that regard.
Perhaps the three-run first and the early lead created a certain degree of relaxation which took away from the intensity of midgame at-bats, but that might be nitpicking after a 5-2 win. What is more reasonable to say is that it's early in the season. Hitters often need time to get into a rhythm and learn how they are being pitched to. The main thing is that at least one or two hitters -- Ryder Helfrick, Kozeal, and on Friday, Souza -- are providing enough offense to get the job done on the given day.
In time, though, Arkansas will need a full batting order to show up, especially on days when the pitching staff doesn't hold things down -- and there will be some of those days. It's simply the nature of the game.
There are flaws on this team, but they haven't yet come back to hurt UA. The pitching is carrying the hitting, which is the opposite of how this season was largely expected to go. That's not a problem. The main thing is for the hitting to come around and for the Hogs to continue to do enough to win most days.