With Weatherford In, The Lights Go Out

Quietly, Mississippi State has one of the most dominant closers in college baseball this season. But because of the Bulldogs' poor record, few outside of Starkville know just how good Aaron Weatherford is.

In 17 appearances this year, the 6-foot junior has been almost unhittable for Mississippi State. Pitching 30 2/3 innings, Weatherford has given up just eight hits and allowed only one earned run while picking up seven saves and three wins out of the bullpen.

That comes out to a 0.29 earned run average.

"You can see he's got electric stuff," Bulldogs coach Ron Polk said. "Thankfully there were some scouts here and we're talking about cross checkers and scouting directors and that poor kid has been facing that all year long."

Where They Now Stand

Despite Thursday's loss, Arkansas remained in eighth place in the Southeastern Conference standings. Thanks to South Carolina's 13-2 loss against Tennessee, the Razorbacks are still one half game ahead of the Gamecocks for the eighth and final spot in the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas is also now one-half game behind Ole Miss for seventh place after the Rebels lost at Kentucky on Thursday and a full game behind Alabama for sixth place after the Crimson Tide's game with Georgia was postponed due to rain.

With two games remaining, Arkansas' magic number to clinch a spot in the SEC Tournament is now two. The Razorbacks could actually lock up a berth today if they were to beat Misssissippi State and have Tennessee again beat South Carolina.

"You know that's good (that South Carolina lost)," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "But we need to take care of business here and get some W's."

Quick Hits

Arkansas freshman Brett Eibner hit his first home run since April 26 in the second inning Thursday... The Razorbacks dropped to 14-9 this season in games where they scored first... Mississippi State improved to 11-5 against Arkansas teams coached by Van Horn... Two of Arkansas' six hits came off the bat of senior Aaron Murphree... Razorbacks starting pitcher Justin Wells struck out nine batters and now leads the team with 73 Ks on the year.