Getty Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Kevin Kopps.
The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team will visit the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs for a three-game series from Friday to Sunday.
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The three-game series won’t be on TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch every Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech game live on ESPN+ right here:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech Preview
The Razorbacks are coming off a three-game home sweep of the Murray State Racers that pushed their record to 10-0.
They’re the No. 1 team in the country, per D1Baseball.com. Arkansas has also swept a four-game set against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks and taken one-off victories against three teams presently ranked in the top 20: the No. 9 Texas Tech Red Raiders, the No. 19 Texas Longhorns and the No. 11 TCU Horned Frogs
“It’s not like we just sat here and played a bunch of mid-majors and got after them. We had to fight for wins,” Arkansas manager Dave Van Horn said Sunday following the team’s third victory over the Racers, according to WholeHogSports. “You win 10 in a row, you don’t expect to do that. You look at what’s going on around the country, mid-majors are beating the big schools all the time, so to speak. To beat who we’ve beaten, I’m real proud of the guys — I told them that — for showing up every day and getting after it.
“I’m happy to be 10-0. I truly believe this year, with the schedule we have, where we play our conference games and on the road, we need to get all the wins we can get because there’s not going to be any easy games where we’re just going to go, ‘OK, there’s a win or two.’ We’re going to have to earn them.”
In the series finale, Lael Lockhart tossed 5 scoreless innings, finishing with 6 strikeouts and lowering his ERA to 2.77. Five relievers kept the shutout going en route to a 6-0 victory.
Kevin Kopps pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out the side on 11 pitches, 10 of them strikes, while leaning on his cutter.
“When Kevin gets ahead of you, he can put you away because he’s got a couple of pitches that look real good and they just kind of disappear,” Van Horn said, per WholeHogSports. “You can watch the video board after a pitch and they show it, you can see how that ball sinks and dives and cuts; very deceptive. He’s done a fantastic job throwing the ball over the plate, making other teams swing the bat.”
Louisiana Tech pounded the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks 10-3 on Tuesday to take their fourth straight and improve to 8-3 on the year. They trailed 3-1 before erupting for 7 runs in the top of the seventh. The frame included a bases-loaded triple from left fielder Philip Matulia.
“We know we have some good hitters and the ability to strike fast, so we just stayed with it and didn’t fold,” Louisiana Tech manager Lane Burroughs said, according The News-Star.
“What makes me the most proud as a coach is we stayed with our plan and put failure behind us and moved forward.”