Taccolini fans 10 as Diamond Hogs cruise past ULM

Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini delivers a pitch against Louisiana-Monroe Tuesday, March 7, 2017, during the first inning at Baum Stadium.
Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini delivers a pitch against Louisiana-Monroe Tuesday, March 7, 2017, during the first inning at Baum Stadium.

— With injuries mounting to his pitching staff, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn turned to his most experienced pitcher Tuesday.

Senior right-hander Dominic Taccolini tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts in the Razorbacks' 12-3 win over ULM in front of 1,453 at Baum Stadium. Taccolini scattered 7 hits and 2 walks across a 6-inning performance in his first start of the year.

"It's good for his confidence," Van Horn said. "...I'm proud of him. He came out and competed and gave us what we needed and that was six innings, and gave us a chance to get the bats rolling.

"That's where it all started. He had a good outing."

Taccolini's most effective pitch was his breaking ball, which he relied on heavily during a 100-pitch outing. He didn't allow a hit in his first three innings.

"It seemed like he could go to his breaking ball just about any time and throw it for a strike," Van Horn said.

Taccolini bounced back well from a disappointing appearance last Wednesday at Louisiana Tech. He gave up seven runs in the second inning of that game, which the Razorbacks came back to win after trailing by nine runs.

Van Horn said he will consider starting Taccolini in next weekend's SEC-opening series against Mississippi State. The Razorbacks have left their Sunday starter to be determined in each of the first three weekends this season.

"I'd have no problem starting him," Van Horn said of Taccolini, who improved to 3-0 this season and recorded his 16th career win. "We've started him plenty of times in his career here....We may bring him out of the bullpen late this weekend and figure out if we'll start him that first (SEC) weekend or not. It's nice knowing it's there if we need it."

Arkansas (9-3) gave Taccolini plenty of run support. The Razorbacks scored a run in the first inning, two runs in the second and five in the third to take an 8-0 lead.

Grant Koch and Carson Shaddy each hit two-run home runs during the third. Koch's SEC-leading fifth home run chased ULM starter Cole Hendrix, who allowed five runs on seven hits.

"We put together a big inning and had five hits in a row," Van Horn said. "We had some innings here and there where we just kept scoring runs. We just kind of kept it going."

Arkansas finished with 16 hits, including three each by Shaddy and Jax Biggers, and two apiece from Chad Spanberger, Luke Bonfield and Alex Gosser.

Van Horn said Monday he was looking for more production from his older hitters, including Spanberger and Bonfield, who hit second and third in the batting order against the Warhawks (4-9).

"Our better hitters have been lining out a lot," said Gosser, a senior catcher who scored a career-high three runs in his first start after suffering a preseason hand injury. "To see them get hits builds confidence."

SHORT HOPS

Arkansas jumped to No. 17 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index rankings this week. The Razorbacks have played two teams rated in the top 10 — No. 1 Arizona and No. 7 Louisiana Tech. …Freshman right-hander Brenden Heiss made his first career appearance Tuesday. Heiss, a 31st round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs last summer, allowed one run and struck out a batter in a two-inning relief appearance. … Starter Dominic Taccolini became the first Arkansas pitcher since Drew Smyly to record multiple 10-strikeout performances in a career. Smyly had 12 strikeouts in an NCAA regional at Oklahoma in 2009, 11 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and 10 against Florida in 2010.

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