The Arkansas Baseball team is just days away from kicking off the 2022 season and will do so with sky-high expectations from fans, peers and experts alike.
The Hogs will open up their season Feb. 18 when they host Illinois State for a three-game series at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
When they take the field, they’ll have a plethora of tools in their arsenal to get back to Omaha and compete for the College World Series.
Arkansas Baseball picked to win the SEC West by SEC coaches
It was revealed that coaches in the Southeastern Conference have picked the Razorbacks to finish first in their division, ahead of all other teams.
It shouldn’t be a surprise they were picked to win the division since they also boast the Preseason SEC Freshman of the Year, Peyton Stovall.
Baseball America picked the former top-prospect out of the state of Louisiana to be the best freshman in the conference this season.
👀👀 @peyton_stovall pic.twitter.com/YTqFi3D6GY
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) February 10, 2022
The Hogs expect Stovall to start the season playing first base. We’ll get our first glimpse of him Feb. 18 in the season opener.
Three other Razorback baseball players were named Preseason All-SEC: Robert Moore, Cayden Wallace and Brady Slavens.
Moore, a junior infielder, was named All-SEC First Team. The switch-hitting native of Kansas was formerly named a Baseball America Freshman All-American (Second Team). Moore had a team-high 16 homers and 59 runs scored for Arkansas.
Wallace, an infielder/outfielder was named All-SEC Second Team. The Greenbrier, Ark. native and sophomore, is coming off an impressive campaign in which he had a team-high 67 hits last season. Like Moore, Wallace was named a Baseball America Freshman All-American (Second Team).
Slavens, a senior from Kansas, was named All-SEC Second Team, joining his teammate Cayden Wallace for the same honors. Slavens led the Hogs in batting average (.284) and slugging percentage (.560) last season.
With four players being tapped as some of the most talented in the SEC, fans can expect big things from this Arkansas team during the upcoming season.
Head Coach Dave Van Horn and the Hogs have College World Series aspirations and rightfully so— this team is loaded with talent.