Dave Van Horn shares what Zack Morris has shown him

Arkansas relief pitcher Zack Morris has not had the senior season he would have hoped for on the mound. The southpaw, who gave up 19 earned runs over his first three college seasons, has an astronomical 8.49 ERA in 14 games this season. That’s because of 22 earned runs in 23.1 innings.

But Morris might have turned a corner last week. For the first time all season, Morris went two games in a row without giving up a run.

They weren’t in easy games, either. He went two scoreless inning at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Ark., against Lipscomb during a mid-week game. Then he went three scoreless in an 11-6 victory over Mississippi State over the week.

Razorbacks manager Dave Van Horn said during a mid-week availability that it was good to see Morris back in his old form.

“It really started on Tuesday night in Little Rock,” Van Horn said. “We felt like he threw really well. He threw a lot of strikes. He just looked more like he did when he’s throwing well and then gave us the confidence to put him in the game in a tight situation. You get to Sunday. You’re a little low on pitching. You use five or six guys. He’s a guy that we want to put out there anytime in the series. He did a great job, held them down for three innings and gave us an opportunity to get to the ninth and win that game and get out of there. It was really good to see Zach pitch and like we know we can.”

Morris was such a key part to Arkansas last season, throwing in 22 games with a 2.31 ERA and 6-1 record.

The team obviously hopes his recent success is a sign that he’s back on the right track. But even while he has been struggling, Morris has been a great teammate.

“I think the team has recognized that he isn’t pouting around and poor ol’ me and feeling sorry for himself,” Van Horn said. “It’s more about team success. When he goes out and it didn’t go good — a lot of those outings early — he didn’t just go sit in the corner. He was still pulling for his teammates and body language is good, too. Zack doesn’t doesn’t say a whole lot. He just works hard and I guarantee that the team recognized that. I know the coaches did.”