Stanek, a sophomore right-hander who has been selected to the USA Collegiate National Team two consecutive years, missed the Razorbacks’ series against Auburn last weekend with a back injury suffered in his last start against South Carolina on May 4. Stanek pitched five-plus innings in that game, giving up five runs after Arkansas had taken a 6-0 lead.

“We talked to him and said, ‘Man, we know you really wanted to pitch and we appreciate it, but if we win that game, who knows what happens in that series?’” Van Horn said. “Then by him staying out there too long, we lost him for this last weekend. Hopefully we learned from that as a team and guys will understand how every game, inning and pitch is.

“He was out bouncing around and did a good job Monday. If he’s better than (Monday), then he has a shot. He said, ‘I’ll be ready to go on Friday.’”

In 12 starts this season, Stanek is 6-3 with a 2.99 earned run average. He ranks second on the team in innings pitched (69 1/3) and strikeouts (65).

Stanek is one of several Razorbacks who have nursed injuries in recent weeks. Starting center fielder Jacob Morris (broken finger) and relief pitcher Mark Reyes (Tommy John surgery) have both suffered season-ending injuries.

Van Horn said junior Matt Vinson will replace Morris in center field beginning with Tuesday’s game against Louisiana Tech in North Little Rock. Joe Serrano, who suffered a hamstring injury with a game-winning RBI single against Stephen F. Austin on April 17, is available again and could start in the outfield against Tennessee.

“I think we’ll put him in the lineup in left this weekend,” Van Horn said. “We need to get a little more offense from the end of the order.”

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

Van Horn will rejoin the team for the Friday and Saturday games in Knoxville, Tenn. The 10th-year head coach has never missed a game during his tenure with the Razorbacks.

A team spokesperson said the decision to miss the series opener was made prior to the season.

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Morris, a redshirt sophomore, suffered the injury while laying down a bunt during the fourth inning of the Razorbacks’ loss to Auburn on Sunday. He has played in all 52 games this season, starting 49 times.

The Coppell, Texas native is considered one of the team’s top defensive players. At the plate, he is batting .236 with three home runs and 23 RBIs.

Morris’ injury is the latest bit of bad news for the Razorbacks – a team reeling after losing four of its last five Southeastern Conference series. Arkansas (35-17, 13-14) began the season No. 4 nationally but fell out of the top 25 for the first time Monday.

In addition to Morris, Arkansas has had to deal with multiple injuries. Pitcher Ryne Stanek did not pitch against Auburn with back soreness, and catchers Jake Wise (ribs) and John Clay Reeves (arm) have played through injuries in recent weeks. Freshman outfielder Joe Serrano has also been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Pitchers Cade Lynch and Nolan Sanburn returned against Auburn after missing playing time with shoulder issues, while freshman pitcher Mark Reyes underwent Tommy John surgery Friday to repair a torn elbow ligament.

Arkansas will play Louisiana Tech in North Little Rock on Tuesday before finishing the regular season with a three-game series at Tennessee, beginning Thursday. The SEC Tournament begins next week in Hoover, Ala.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

With South Carolina and Auburn at home in back-to-back weeks followed by a trip to struggling Tennessee, many could envision at 40-win season entering the SEC Tournament.

Instead, the Razorbacks were inconsistent both at the plate and on the mound, dropping both home series and adding to a disappointing season for the nation’s preseason No. 4 team. After starting the SEC campaign 5-1, Arkansas enters the final conference series at Tennessee one game below .500.

Many of the Razorbacks’ troubles have come at home, where the team lost its final three weekend series this season and six of its final eight conference games. Rock bottom seemed to have been hit in the home finale Saturday when Arkansas dropped a 12-5 rubber match to Auburn, a team on the bubble for making the NCAA Tournament.

Making that tournament won’t be a problem for the Razorbacks, which still have a strong RPI and 35 wins.

Many expected the Razorbacks to play at Baum Stadium in the postseason, though, and doing so would have been a financial plus. The school sold a record 286,472 tickets this season, though more than 99,000 went unused.

Nearly half of those in attendance Saturday had flooded the exits by the seventh inning stretch, puzzled by the questions surrounding Arkansas’ team.

The Razorbacks have shown a knack for postseason resurgence in recent years and could still find the answers, but the team did itself no favors in its final weeks at home.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

The No. 20 Razorbacks failed to maintain leads in the sixth inning or later of each. As a result, Arkansas is 2-7 this season in SEC series openers.

Several have pointed to a on-again, off-again offense as the reason for the Razorbacks’ losses and those criticisms are warranted. Arkansas looked to have turned the corner offensively by recording 32 hits in the final two games against South Carolina, but were held to just four in Thursday’s opener.

In the openers against Florida and Auburn, Arkansas dropped 3-2 decisions. In last Friday’s loss to South Carolina, the Razorbacks jumped to a 6-0 third inning lead but never scored again.

Two of those losses have come at Baum Stadium, where the team was 23-2 this year before losing five of its last six SEC home games.

More surprising than the offense, though, has been the inability to hold late-inning leads for Arkansas’ heralded bullpen, which entered last week ranked No. 4 nationally in earned run average. South Carolina scored 24 runs in three games against the Razorbacks and Auburn came through with RBI hits in the eighth and 10th innings to rally.

With injuries to several key pitchers, Arkansas’ top arms are likely beginning to feel some wear as the regular season winds down. Relievers Cade Lynch and Nolan Sanburn are dealing with shoulder injuries, and starter Ryne Stanek’s status for the remainder of the Auburn series is unknown with back stiffness.

Mark Reyes, a freshman left-hander, will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday after tearing an elbow ligament on April 17. While Reyes didn’t pitch much this season, his ability to eat up some innings in midweek games had value. Without him available, several of Arkansas’ more experienced pitchers have been used more in recent midweek games against Oral Roberts and Missouri.

The close losses have hurt Arkansas’ chances to host a NCAA regional next month. The Razorbacks are 1-4 in series against teams ranked in the RPI top 20.

Though Arkansas ranks No. 11 in the latest RPI, the team would likely need series wins each of the next two weekends and a very strong showing at the SEC Tournament to keep from hitting the road for the second consecutive postseason.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

While Arkansas’ quarterback stole the show in scrimmages this spring, the Razorbacks’ other top offensive player patiently waited his turn.

After breaking his ankle in a preseason scrimmage last August, Knile Davis has had his sights set on the 2012 season. Davis, who led all SEC running backs with 1,322 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2010, was able to go through most positional drills, but wasn’t allowed to contact.

The other half of Arkansas’ Heisman hopefuls spoke last week about no contact and his expectations for the coming season.

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In the most memorable spring ever for an Arkansas quarterback, Tyler Wilson completed 77 percent of his passes without throwing an interception in four scrimmages for the Razorbacks.

Wilson showed more than just poise on the field, however. With an unexpected coaching change in April, Wilson established himself as the face and voice of Arkansas’ football program, displaying the leadership expected from a fifth-year senior quarterback.

Last week, the Greenwood native sat down to talk about the spring, the coaching change and the final offseason of his collegiate career.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

Stanek left his start against South Carolina last Friday with a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning, struggling with back pains coaches were unaware of beforehand. The Razorbacks led the Gamecocks 6-0 at one point in the game, but eventually lost 8-6 in 10 innings.

A sophomore, Stanek might be ready to pitch by Saturday’s series finale against the Tigers, Van Horn said. Stanek leads Arkansas this season with 65 strikeouts and 69 1/3 innings pitched, and has a 2.99 earned run average.

Baxendale pitched seven innings Sunday against South Carolina, picking up the loss despite holding the Gamecocks to one hit and no runs through the first six innings. In his last 26 innings on the mound, Baxendale has given up just eight runs but is 0-2.

Van Horn said Baxendale asked to be the Thursday starter despite only having three days’ rest. Junior left-hander Randall Fant will likely start Friday’s game against Auburn.

The Razorbacks and Tigers will play Thursday through Saturday this week because ESPNU picked up the series opener for its weekly Thursday night game of the week.

Arkansas enters the series with a 34-15 overall record and 12-12 in the SEC. The No. 20 Razorbacks are tied for second place in the SEC’s western division and currently appear unlikely to host a NCAA regional next month.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

Reyes, a freshman, injured his throwing elbow during a 1 1/3-inning outing on April 17 against Stephen F. Austin and hasn’t pitched since.

In six appearances this season, Reyes has a 7.39 earned run average and has struck out eight batters in 7 2/3 innings on the mound. The Jessieville native was a 46th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles last summer.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.

When NCAA officials met to determine the 16 host sites, Baum Stadium made the initial list. However, when they met again on Memorial Day to finalize the regional locations, Fayetteville was passed over for a city on the west coast.

Instead of staying home, the Razorbacks – winners of a weaker-than-normal SEC western division – were sent to the Arizona desert, where their season ended four games later.

“I told our team we can’t let someone else decide for us this year,” Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn said prior to the 2012 season. “We have to take care of it on the field.”

The Razorbacks get that chance this weekend with the highest-profile series to come through Fayetteville in a few years. Arkansas, ranked No. 13 in the coaches’ poll, hosts No. 3 South Carolina beginning tonight (7:05 p.m., ESPNU).

Arkansas (33-13, 11-10 SEC) is coming off its biggest series win of the season, overcoming a Friday night loss to take two of three at Florida last weekend. The Razorbacks entered the series winning just seven of their previous 16 games, but are now 6-1 in their last seven and appear in good shape moving forward.

Following the South Carolina series, Arkansas finishes with a home series against unranked Auburn, a nonconference game against Louisiana Tech in North Little Rock and travels to unranked Tennessee. Winning the final three series and nonconference game would give Arkansas 40 wins heading into the SEC Tournament later this month.

“They’re not a team just good enough to get to the College World Series, but they’re a team good enough to win it,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “They have all the right ingredients to do that.

“They are 26-4 at home this year, and we know from past experience they are very, very difficult to beat at Baum Stadium.”

Arkansas moved up four spots to No. 12 in the NCAA’s official RPI – the ranking most important for tournament selections – following last weekend’s series win at Florida, and the Razorbacks are currently No. 7 in unofficial RPI following a midweek sweep of Missouri.

Beating two-time defending national champion South Carolina, ranked No. 9 in the NCAA RPI, would only help bolster the postseason bio. The Gamecocks (34-11, 14-7) are tied for the SEC lead by winning their last 11 conference games.

“I don’t want the players worrying about it; I just want them to play,” Van Horn said. “But if we could beat South Carolina, it would definitely propel us maybe in front of a few people if you’re talking about down the road.”

“We’ve got six conference games in a row at home. A week from Sunday, we’ll have a real good idea of where we are.”

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.