Alabama Baseball Travels to Arkansas to Face No. 7 Razorbacks

The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team is heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for a weekend series against the seventh-ranked Razorbacks.

Alabama (23-20) is coming off a midweek victory over the Troy Trojans, largely thanks to Chandler Avant's three-run home run in the first inning. The Crimson Tide will hope to pile up the wins this weekend in Arkansas, but the Razorbacks have been one of the nation's top teams all season long. The Tide will need to be better at the plate as only two of the team's qualified batters currently have averages north of .270 (Avant and Cobie Vance). But of course, it all starts on the mound as Alabama will need quality outings from its starters in order to corral Arkansas' high-powered offense. The Crimson Tide's two top-of-the-rotation starters (Walters and Finnerty) are a combined 2-6 across 12 starts in SEC play this season with individual ERAs over 4.00. Granted, the SEC has been absolutely jam-packed with talent this season all across the conference.

The Arkansas Razorbacks (29-13) last saw action in a 5-1 victory over No. 4 Texas Tech on Tuesday, but before that were swept by the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville. Home-field advantage has been key for the Razorbacks all year as they currently boast a 24-3 record when playing at Baum Stadium. The team also seems to have an affinity for the long ball as four Razorbacks have hit eight or more home runs this year, compared to just one for Alabama (Chandler Taylor).

While you may think that means they have a penchant for striking out, you would be wrong. Of Arkansas' four leading home run hitters, all of them are hitting over .325 on the year. The standout of the group has to be freshman outfielder Heston Kjerstad who has started every game for Arkansas this season and leads the team with a .365 average, nine home runs, and 37 RBIs.

Arkansas also has a Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List player on the mound in starting pitcher Blaine Knight. Knight currently has a 6-0 record to go along with a 2.24 ERA and 57 strikeouts. He will likely take the mound during Friday night's series opener.

This will be the first meeting between the Crimson Tide and Razorbacks this season. In 2017 the two teams met for one series, which Arkansas took two games to one. Arkansas is currently tied for first in the SEC West with a 10-8 record in conference play. Alabama, on the other hand, is in last place in the SEC West with a 5-13 record.

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Arkansas Razorbacks will kick off their series on Friday night at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday's matchup is currently scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, followed by Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m.

All three games of the series can be watched live via SEC Network+ or you can catch all of the action by streaming the Crimson Tide Sports Network broadcast on Tide 102.9/100.9 or the Tide 102.9 app.