Cam Kozeal leads 'duck hunting' exhibition vs Missouri to earn Razorbacker of Week

Arkansas Razorback first baseman Cam Kozeal felt so at home in the rainy conditions this weekend at Baum-Walker Stadium against the visiting Missouri Tigers that he took to the pitching served up in Saturday's rain-delayed SEC series opener like a duck to water.

Cam Kozeal: Razorbacker of the Week

The Vanderbilt transfer continued his team-leading performances at the plate by going 9-for-12 with 13 runs batted, in this weekend's wash out of the Tigers to earn Razorbacker of the Week.

"It kind of felt more like duck hunting weather than it did baseball weather with the wind and it was just misting..." Kozeal said. "Coach (Dave) Van Horn actually was joking about it pregame that this is what it's like. In Nebraska Springs, it's misty. It's rainy. It's really windy. That's exactly how it is. Growing up in Omaha, you play in a lot of those type of games, and a lot of the teams there now have turf. So that's kind of nice. You can get all your games in."

The No. 2 ranked Razorbacks (28-3, 9-1 SEC) set a record for most runs scored against an SEC team since Van Horn left Nebraska to skipper the Arkansas baseball program 2003. The result was a seven inning run-rule win over the struggling Tigers (11-18, 0-10 SEC).

The rainy days for opposing pitchers have been common so far for Kozeal. He leads Arkansas with a .532 batting average and .957 slugging percentage against SEC competition while pacing the team overall with a .417 average. On the season, Kozeal has 24 runs scored, 29 rbi's and five home runs.

Kozeal will likely get more opportunities to stay hot with the two teams scheduled to close out the weekend series with a seven-inning doubleheader on Sunday.

"Just a good job up and down our lineup of battling and getting pitch counts up," Van Horn said. "And, you know, Cam Kozeal had a great game, four hits and five RBIs and used the whole field. It was really good to see, and good to see (Brent) Iredale have a nice day because we're hitting — but it's not like it's one through nine."

Van Horn added that Missouri's pitchers inability to find the strike zone helped Arkansas score so many runs and he would like to see more players in the rotation match Kozeal's and Iredale's ability to find hole in the opposing defense.

"I like the fact that he used the whole field," Van Horn said. "(He) got a really good backside double there and I think a couple of hits to right — one dead right, one in the right center field. (He's) just tough out."