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Arkansas has thrown a wrench into the SEC title race.
A five-game lead has been trimmed to just two, but other teams stand to benefit from the Razorbacks' series sweep of Texas where the Hogs outscored Texas 28-9 across the three games.
LSU came into the weekend tied with Arkansas in the standings but dropped two out of three against the Texas A&M Aggies and now finds themselves four behind Texas.
Now Arkansas will have the roles reversed, LSU comes into the weekend needing a sweep to make up meaningful ground on the Hogs and Longhorns.
Arkansas was perhaps the beneficiary of Texas coming off its most emotional series of the year against Texas A&M in the intrastate rivalry.
The Razorbacks are tasked with rebounding emotionally from playing the No.1 team in the country and a heated rival.
The cherry on top pic.twitter.com/QWBHYfZtBR
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 4, 2025
Coach Dave Van Horn is confident that the environment of Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge will provide the team with enough adrenaline to get through the weekend.
"You got all week and now you got to travel and get in their ballpark in front of 13-14,000 people," Van Horn said, I don’t think we’ll have any problem with being excited about playing. Emotionally we should be ready to go."
LSU will get the same benefit that Arkansas got a week ago against Texas when the Razorbacks did not have to go to Springfield Mo. for a Tuesday game.
LSU's midweek game against Grambling State originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday has been canceled due to inclement weather.
Tonight’s game vs. Grambling State has been cancelled due to the forecast of inclement weather in the area pic.twitter.com/UdDmKy9RTx
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 6, 2025
Both teams should be well rested, Arkansas did not have a midweek game on the schedule because of finals week at the university, Van Horn promised to never schedule a midweek game during exam week.
Arkansas will still get the benefit of playing a Thursday-Saturday series and having an extra day of rest. LSU was rained out on Friday and had to play a doubleheader against A&M on Sunday.
This means that Kade Anderson, LSU's probable game 1 starter will be pitching on two days fewer rest compared to Root.
Anderson has been a rubber arm of sorts for Jay Johnson's Tigers. He has the only nine-inning complete game in SEC play this year, a shutout against Oklahoma on April 3 on 134 pitches.
Anderson has thrown over 100 pitches in a start four other times, including 115 and 114 in back-to-back starts.
For comparison, Arkansas has had just one pitcher hit the century mark in pitches. Root threw exactly 100 pitches March 28 at Vanderbilt.
Van Horn knows just how volatile things can be in the SEC this season. The Razorbacks experienced both sides of the coin, losing three straight series before reeling in Texas with a dominant sweep.
The Razorbacks went from No. 5 down to No. 11 before jumping back up to No. 7.
"Everybody's just beating each other," Van Horn said. "The polls [are] all over the place. I don't think in the past few years, I've seen teams move so much: you're number two and you go to eight."
First pitch of the series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday and will be streamed on SEC+.
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