Tons of baseball nuggets in here...
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is playing in the Round Rock Classic this season, but will return to Arlington for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown each of the next two years, head coach Dave Van Horn announced to the Swatter’s Club on Monday.
After participating in the event’s debut in 2021, the Razorbacks will face a trio of Big 12 opponents - Texas, TCU and Oklahoma State - there next season and a more national field of Michigan, Oklahoma State and Oregon State in 2024.
The headliner in that group is likely the matchup with Oregon State in 2024, as it will be a rematch of the 2018 College World Series finals that Arkansas lost in heartbreaking fashion.
If it’s up to Van Horn, playing in this event - which is hosted at Globe Life Field, the home of the Texas Rangers - will become an annual tradition for the Razorbacks.
“I just think that’s a good trip for us,” Van Horn said. “It’s not too far, our fans can get there, we have a lot of fans in the great state of Texas down there that follow us. Last year, I think we played in front of 13,000 and 18,000 pretty much every day in those three games and there was limited crowds.
“It’ll be something that if I have a choice, I would like to take the team to Arlington every year and I know they want us.”
Last season, the Showdown featured six top-10 teams, all of which went on to be top-12 national seeds in the NCAA Tournament: No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Texas, No. 6 TCU, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 12 Ole Miss.
Here are several other tidbits from Van Horn’s virtual meeting with the Swatter’s Club earlier this week…
2022 Home Schedule
After facing them on the road last season, Arkansas will welcome SEC West foes Mississippi State (April 1-3), LSU (April 14-16) and Ole Miss (April 29-May 1) to Baum-Walker Stadium in 2022.
The Razorbacks’ other two home conference series are against Kentucky (March 18-20) to open up SEC play and Vanderbilt (May 13-15) in the regular-season’s penultimate series.
Four of those squads - all but the Wildcats - are ranked in the top eight of the Rivals Preseason Composite Poll.
“I think that we could definitely have some record crowds,” Van Horn said. “Obviously we’ve got to play well and back it up, but I think it’s a great schedule for our fans here this year.”
NIL Thoughts
College baseball - and the rest of college sports - saw a massive change last summer when student-athletes were granted the ability to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL).
In less than a year, several players across multiple sports have capitalized on that policy shift and made a lot of money.
Star football players receive the most publicity, but a few of Arkansas’ baseball players have also taken advantage of it and Van Horn said he thinks it’s great for the sport.
With teams limited to only 11.7 scholarships to split up amongst a large roster, none of the Razorbacks - and likely very few players anywhere - are on a full scholarship to play college baseball. Many of them deserve one, Van Horn said, so that’s where NIL can come in.
“When I see what some of our guys are doing and they’re representing some good organizations, we have to have it,” Van Horn said. “Because if not, there’s a lot of other schools in our league and division that are big-time going after it right now.
“They’re going to have a lot of money to pull for their student-athletes, so to speak, so we need to have the same thing if we’re going to be able to maintain where we’re at with these other places.”
Battles is Back
After missing all of the fall because of offseason shoulder surgery, Jalen Battles is back in action for Arkansas as it prepares for the upcoming season.
Van Horn said his star shortstop doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat and is actually way ahead of schedule on his recovery, but there is still work to be done.
“He slid head-first the other day in a scrimmage and I think once you do that, you get through that mentally,” Van Horn said. “I’m not saying he’s full-speed with the bat, because he missed out on about 70 or 80 at bats in the fall, but he’s already better just from watching and learning.
“Really going the other way a lot better. He’s got more power. He’s gotten stronger. He’s close, but he’s going to have to catch up a little bit with the bat.”
Top Priority
Arkansas is scheduled to open the 2022 season with a three-game series against Illinois State beginning Friday, Feb. 18.
That will kick off four straight weekends of non-conference play, with a trip to Texas for the Round Rock Classic on deck and then home series against Southeastern Louisiana and Illinois-Chicago.
The series against UIC is four games, plus the Razorbacks host midweek games against Omaha and Grambling (x2), giving them 16 non-conference games before welcoming Kentucky to town for the start of SEC play.
Over that stretch, Van Horn said his most urgent, pressing thing to figure out is the pitching staff.
“I think the early season is going to be big for the coaching staff to try to figure out how to use our pitchers,” Van Horn said. “You can scrimmage and scrimmaging is great, you can kind of see things, it gives you a little bit of a head start, but when we start playing a team with a different uniform on, you can kind of figure out really quick on who can do what, who’s ready and who’s not, who needs to start, who needs to come out of the pen, you can handle the crowds and who can’t.”
(Story continues in post below)
Around the Diamond: Hogs returning to Arlington, DVH on NIL, more
HawgBeat brings you several baseball notes on various topics.
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is playing in the Round Rock Classic this season, but will return to Arlington for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown each of the next two years, head coach Dave Van Horn announced to the Swatter’s Club on Monday.
After participating in the event’s debut in 2021, the Razorbacks will face a trio of Big 12 opponents - Texas, TCU and Oklahoma State - there next season and a more national field of Michigan, Oklahoma State and Oregon State in 2024.
The headliner in that group is likely the matchup with Oregon State in 2024, as it will be a rematch of the 2018 College World Series finals that Arkansas lost in heartbreaking fashion.
If it’s up to Van Horn, playing in this event - which is hosted at Globe Life Field, the home of the Texas Rangers - will become an annual tradition for the Razorbacks.
“I just think that’s a good trip for us,” Van Horn said. “It’s not too far, our fans can get there, we have a lot of fans in the great state of Texas down there that follow us. Last year, I think we played in front of 13,000 and 18,000 pretty much every day in those three games and there was limited crowds.
“It’ll be something that if I have a choice, I would like to take the team to Arlington every year and I know they want us.”
Last season, the Showdown featured six top-10 teams, all of which went on to be top-12 national seeds in the NCAA Tournament: No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Texas, No. 6 TCU, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 12 Ole Miss.
Here are several other tidbits from Van Horn’s virtual meeting with the Swatter’s Club earlier this week…
2022 Home Schedule
After facing them on the road last season, Arkansas will welcome SEC West foes Mississippi State (April 1-3), LSU (April 14-16) and Ole Miss (April 29-May 1) to Baum-Walker Stadium in 2022.
The Razorbacks’ other two home conference series are against Kentucky (March 18-20) to open up SEC play and Vanderbilt (May 13-15) in the regular-season’s penultimate series.
Four of those squads - all but the Wildcats - are ranked in the top eight of the Rivals Preseason Composite Poll.
“I think that we could definitely have some record crowds,” Van Horn said. “Obviously we’ve got to play well and back it up, but I think it’s a great schedule for our fans here this year.”
NIL Thoughts
College baseball - and the rest of college sports - saw a massive change last summer when student-athletes were granted the ability to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL).
In less than a year, several players across multiple sports have capitalized on that policy shift and made a lot of money.
Star football players receive the most publicity, but a few of Arkansas’ baseball players have also taken advantage of it and Van Horn said he thinks it’s great for the sport.
With teams limited to only 11.7 scholarships to split up amongst a large roster, none of the Razorbacks - and likely very few players anywhere - are on a full scholarship to play college baseball. Many of them deserve one, Van Horn said, so that’s where NIL can come in.
“When I see what some of our guys are doing and they’re representing some good organizations, we have to have it,” Van Horn said. “Because if not, there’s a lot of other schools in our league and division that are big-time going after it right now.
“They’re going to have a lot of money to pull for their student-athletes, so to speak, so we need to have the same thing if we’re going to be able to maintain where we’re at with these other places.”
Battles is Back
After missing all of the fall because of offseason shoulder surgery, Jalen Battles is back in action for Arkansas as it prepares for the upcoming season.
Van Horn said his star shortstop doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat and is actually way ahead of schedule on his recovery, but there is still work to be done.
“He slid head-first the other day in a scrimmage and I think once you do that, you get through that mentally,” Van Horn said. “I’m not saying he’s full-speed with the bat, because he missed out on about 70 or 80 at bats in the fall, but he’s already better just from watching and learning.
“Really going the other way a lot better. He’s got more power. He’s gotten stronger. He’s close, but he’s going to have to catch up a little bit with the bat.”
Top Priority
Arkansas is scheduled to open the 2022 season with a three-game series against Illinois State beginning Friday, Feb. 18.
That will kick off four straight weekends of non-conference play, with a trip to Texas for the Round Rock Classic on deck and then home series against Southeastern Louisiana and Illinois-Chicago.
The series against UIC is four games, plus the Razorbacks host midweek games against Omaha and Grambling (x2), giving them 16 non-conference games before welcoming Kentucky to town for the start of SEC play.
Over that stretch, Van Horn said his most urgent, pressing thing to figure out is the pitching staff.
“I think the early season is going to be big for the coaching staff to try to figure out how to use our pitchers,” Van Horn said. “You can scrimmage and scrimmaging is great, you can kind of see things, it gives you a little bit of a head start, but when we start playing a team with a different uniform on, you can kind of figure out really quick on who can do what, who’s ready and who’s not, who needs to start, who needs to come out of the pen, you can handle the crowds and who can’t.”
(Story continues in post below)
