Ask Mike: Dugout Pain, The Law of Averages & Is the Curse Real?

Q. Our first question is from WVHogfan who wants to know: Would you rather lose 10-0 knowing you lost to a better team or lose in the 9th making mental and physical errors? To me, not trying to turn 2 and pitching to Jones hurt us more than Davalan’s error. What do you think?

A. No question Aloy made a big mistake. Replays show that unless there was a throwing error it would have been a game ending double play if Aloy had gone to second. But again, he’s one of the best defensive shortstops in college baseball. Why does he make a mistake like that with the season on the line? There’s no explanation. It’s the law of averages gone negative.

Q. Hogman 80 thinks the curse goes beyond baseball. He says: In the past year…

Basketball team was up 16 and lost in Sweet 16

Baseball was weird in the 9th inning vs LSU and our best team since 2018 goes home

2 best pitchers in softball get food poisoning before Supers

Best soccer team ever loses in Sweet 16 on PKs

One of our best gymnasts gets hurt before Regional finals

Question to Mike, how do we reverse this curse?

A. Just keep performing at a high level. Sooner or later it goes the other way. That stuff happens to all teams but you don’t notice it if something big is not on the line. There were some strange things that happened to the football team last season but because they were struggling just to get bowl eligible it wasn’t as noticeable.

Q. Edwardclutch also has questions about a so called curse and he wants Courtney to answer it. He asks, after witnessing the men’s basketball collapse to Texas Tech, the women’s softball defeat by Ole Miss and the baseball disaster in person what are your opinions of Arkansas athletics being “cursed.

A.

Q. Torqued pork asks: Is it not time to drop the “Omahogs” stuff? Hog fans like myself receive a lot of teasing and ridicule from fans of other SEC teams because of it.

A. The term “Omahogs” doesn’t suggest a national championship to me. It suggests that Arkansas goes to Omaha which is true. As for other fans, just ignore them and ask yourself how good it’s going to feel when the Hogs finally does get over the top. trust me, the harder you have to work for something, the longer it takes, the better it feels.

Q. Eddylynn says: A shoutout to Matt Hobbs. He developed his pitchers all season long. They got better and they saved the best for last. Give that man a raise.

A. I agree with this 100%. Going into the CWS the question seemed to be would Arkansas starting pitching hold up? Actually there was only one game where that happened and Zach Root came back two days after a bad start against LSU to go five innings and 87 pitches against UCLA giving up just three hits and no runs.

How about Gage Wood? He delivered perhaps the most amazing pitching performance in the history of the CWS. A complete game no hitter. The first in 60 years. The most strikeouts (19) in a 9 inning CWS game ever. He threw 119 pitches and his last, a strike out to end the game was 98 MPH. That kid had talent when he signed with Arkansas but he was extremely inconsistent. Matt Hobbs took him and molded him into a high first round draft choice.

Hobbs was 2024’s D1Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year. This was his seventh season as an assistant coach for the Arkansas baseball program. He has helped develop nine All-Americans, nine All-SEC honorees, including two conference pitchers of the year and 23 MLB draft selections since joining Arkansas as an assistant coach ahead of the 2019 campaign. Under Hobbs, Kevin Kopps emerged as the best player in the country in 2021, winning both the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy while Hagen Smith developed into the unanimous national pitcher of the year in 2024.

Freshman Cole Gibler said he signed with Arkansas because he thinks Hobbs can make him another Hagan Smith or better. He had a very good freshman season and will likely be a weekend starter next season.

Q. Hawgredneck says: Gaeckle had the best stuff he’s had all year and it was wasted because we couldn’t hit the baseball. How do we lead the SEC in hitting, set a school record for home runs, get to Omaha and stop scoring?

A. Some believe this team was too much about home runs with not enough back-to-back hitting. You get to Omaha and you’re not gonna hit three big dingers in one game. Also for whatever reason Kuhio Aloy went into a slump at the wrong time. That hurt, but look at Justin Thomas. He had a huge world series. Also Arkansas scored runs against Murray State and UCLA. LSU’s had the best pitching staff in college baseball and they had a book on Arkansas batters.

Q. Popular Porkster says: That crazy 9th inning hurts but it wasn’t like 2018. In 2018 we didn’t have a pitcher throw a no hitter. In 2018 we didn’t have a Golden Spikes winner. The baseball program is elite and we will win the CWS.

A. Gage Wood becomes part of CWS history. It’s huge. Arkansas now has three Golden Spikes winners in 10 years. No other school has had more than one in that time and if not for COVID that number might well have been five. Heston Kjerstad could have joined Andrew Benintendi, Kevin Kopps and Wehiwa Aloy. I also agree that Arkansas will win the CWS and that revenue sharing will help Arkansas moving forward because players will go back to selecting teams based on the ability of a coaching staff to develop them. DVH is top of the list on that.

Q. RazorAlex88 wants to know: HOW does the highest seeded team left standing get paired against the second highest seeded team right off the bat? This matching system is stupid. Put the the two highest seeds on separate ends for more buildup to the big match.

A. I must emphasize that I don’t think this cost Arkansas the CWS title. They were going to have to play LSU more than once no matter what. So take Arkansas out of the discussion. I favor reseeding teams once they reach Omaha. There are plenty of arguments for keeping it like it is but to me baseball is different from other sports. There are more upsets. Things can get jumbled coming out of the super regionals, like this year. As it worked out we got competitive championship series matchup between LSU and Coastal Carolina this year but there’s less a chance for a lopsided series if one side of the bracket is balanced with the other.

Q. Baghdadhawg asks: Which players on the baseball team are draft eligible in 2025? AlsoPigDaddyKane says: Trying to turn the page on MCWS, who is coming back? Who is coming in?

A. Some of these positions are not 100% certain but it looks like the entire starting outfield of , Logan Maxwell, Justin Thomas Jr. and Charles Davalan will be gone. Shortstop Wehiwa Aloy is gone. Third baseman Brent Iredale is probably gone and maybe first baseman Reese Robinette. However one or both could also decide to come back.

So who is back? Ryder Helfrick is a huge return. He might be another Golden Spikes winner. Second baseman Cam Kozeal is back along with Nolan Souza who also plays second. One of them could end up playing somewhere else in the infield. DH Kuhio Aloy is also back.

Pitchers? Gage Wood is gone. Zach Root is probably gone. He, Landon Beidelschies and Aiden Jimenez are all draft eligible. Essentially those were your starting pitchers in 2025. Parker Coil, Christian Foutch and Ben Bybee are relief pitchers who are draft eligible.

That’s a big hole to fill but look who’s back. RHP Gabe Gaeckle and Cole Gibler were both impressive in the CWS. They could make up two of the three man weekend rotation next season. Carson Wiggins could be the third if his arm is okay following non Tommy John surgery. Colin Fisher is back along with Tate McQuire. Freshman Steele Eaves also showed some promise this season. DVH has added a pitcher out of the portal and a JUCO pitcher. The incoming freshman class will probably have a player or two contribute and DVH is a master at using the portal to get his team better. Look at the rebuilding job he did for this season.

Also the House settlement creating revenue sharing and reducing NIL money will likely hurt schools like LSU but benefit programs like Arkansas who take good players and develop them into very good players.

Q. sgiles wants to know: What’s to keep athletes in women’s sports and men’s spring sports from challenging a revenue sharing system that puts almost all of the money into the hands of football players? Seems to me that the women will sue under title 9.

A. I’m told that the federal judge who approved the House settlement took the position that if you are an athlete in a non revenue sport, i.e. a sport that loses money, you’re getting a free college education, free room and board four four years and a thousand dollars a month spending money. You are not being discriminated against. Athletes in a sport like football are generating the revenue that allows you to have those benefits. Most of the revenue sharing money will go to the football players because they make scholarship based college athletics possible. Again, she is a federal judge and she has approved this system. Good luck with the Title IX lawsuits. I think they will fail.

Q. KyHog says: I finally got my answer on Cal’s recruiting and Courtney was right. He’s added two more players, both of them inside players. He will have five guys from 6-10 all the way up to 7-1. Take that Big Blue.

A. He added a couple of bigs, both 7 footers. Paulo Semedo is 7-1 with good size at 220 pounds. He’s top a top 50 player in the class of 2025 who went to prep school Florida. He’ll likely play some but they will also seek to develop him as a four and a five.

Elmir Dzafic is from Bosnia. He’s 19 and will need to develop. He could be around for a two or three seasons.

Q. Lanny asks: What is you opinion on the way Cal has loaded up the nonconference schedule for next season? He sure must have faith in his roster because you add all those Elite 8 teams to the SEC schedule and it’s likely going to be the toughest ever.

A. I think he wants to figure out his roster before SEC play starts. You do that by sending these guys up against some of the best teams in college basketball. I do think it shows confidence in who he has. He’s not scheduling these teams to lose. Winning quad I games drives up your NCAA Tournament selection resume while losing them doesn’t do as much damage.

Q. redleg says: Looking at the football team for 2025, it would appear they have talent at every position and should, at the very least, be competitive against every team on their schedule.IF you were a betting man, how many games would you guess this team will win in 2025?
I am going with 8. I don’t know if that is me “drinking the Kool-Aid” or just fool-hardiness, but that’s where I am.

A. I’m optimistic because Taylen Green is in his second year under Bobby Petrino who says his quarterback now fully understands the offense n. think the pass blocking will be better, especially on the left side and at center.
There are questions at running back and receivers but there are so many options I think Petrino and his offensive staff will come up with the right guys.
The schedule is brutal (what else is new) and there are some new parts on the D-line and in the secondary but the defense will be geared to go after opposing quarterbacks. I think we’ll see Xavian Sorey have an All SEC season, maybe All American, as he uses his speed to move around, find seams and sack quarterbacks will stopping running backs form losses.

Q. HillCountryHog wants to know: What bright idea was behind scheduling Arkansas & Notre Dame at 11:00 AM? That’s a big game. Shouldn’t it be in prime time? The home field advantage will be trashed that early in the day?

A. The official explanation for that it that the SEC did it to cooperate wit the Big 10. Apparently their noon game every week is a big game to get their slate of games kicked off. So blame the SEC. They allowed it even though the wishes of the SEC team should take priority.

Q. Hawgredneck asks: Did I hear you right on that question about the 4 pm kickoff time for the ASU game this season? Arkansas approved it?

A. I didn’t say they approved it. Based on what Sam Pittman had said previously about playing games in Little Rock I speculated that the 4 pm start was okay with him so Hunter Yurachek signed off on it. I was told that ESPN has the final say on kickoff times even for games that are streamed over the Internet. Pittman has said in the past that he likes Little Rock games to be over in time for his players to get back to Fayetteville at a reasonable hour.

I also said that fans who complain about a 4 pm start time for Arkansas’ first ever game against Arkansas State are just looking for something to complain about. So it’s hot? So the sun may be in your eyes in the first quarter? Suck it up. This is history being made.