Ask Mike: Hogs Advance in Tough Weekend for the SEC, DVH Jokes About Retiring & Will WMS Be Sizzling for Hogs & ASU?

Q. Our first question this week is from Cajun Hog who asks: Are you surprised that Arkansas not only finally won its own regional but there wasn’t a lot of drama to it? I was worried going in but the Hogs surprised me. What surprised you?

A. I wasn’t surprised that Arkansas got through the regional but there were some surprises. Let’s start with Kansas. They were supposed to be the team to watch out for. They went two and out. North Dakota State surprised me. They played Arkansas its closest game at 6-2. Creighton also surprised me. Their team batting average was nothing special. They has not hit a lot of home runs, although they did have three guys who go yard in a heartbeat, but if you look at their schedule they ended up with 43 wins and in 16 of those games they scored double digit runs. Arkansas limited them to 4 total runs in two games but in the other two games Creighton scored 11 runs twice. This regional was probably tougher than most fans think after wins of 6-2, 12-1 and 8-3 but to me that’s a credit to Arkansas. They did what I said they are going to have to do to get to Omaha and have a chance to win it all. They hit and pitched very well.

Q. PopularPorkster says: I’m used to us getting no respect from the baseball media but all I heard last week was how Arkansas was the most complete team with the best chance to win the CWS. After this weekend it looks like they were right. Wow! We’re the top seed left.

Q: RazorAlex88 with pretty much the same reaction. He says, It’s been a wild weekend in regional play. Vandy goes bye bye, Texas goes bye bye, Little Rock forces a game 7 against LSU! And of course we are looking red hot going perfect rolling into supers! Woop woop!

A. Let that sink in. Vanderbilt is gone. The top seed is gone. Texas is gone. The national two seed is gone. So yes, Arkansas is the top remaining seed left. As we do this show on Monday afternoon only 5 of the 16 national seeds have advanced. Five are out and six more must win today of they’re gone.

Look at the SEC teams. Right now Arkansas and Auburn are the only SEC teams that have advanced. Vanderbilt, Texas, and Georgia are gone. LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee must win today or they’re gone.

Last week we talked about how if Arkansas advanced to Omaha they could be looking at five SEC teams on their side of the bracket. Well, three of those teams are gone and two more might be. There’s a chance that Arkansas, if they make it to Omaha, would be the only SEC team on their side of the bracket.

On the other side there were five SEC teams. Three are gone, one has advanced and one more might be gone after today. If they get there there’s a chance that Arkansas and Auburn will be the only SEC teams in the CWS.

Eddylynn asks: Did you catch that exchange between Van Horn and Creighton’s coach after the game? The guy’s retiring, and Van Horn said something like good luck on you’re retirement. I may not be to far behind you. Wow. Hopefully he was joking.

A. Maybe a little of both. He’s 64 years old. He’s about 70 wins short of a thousand at Arkansas. I think he’ll go at least two more years and that’s even if he wins a national title this year. He’s got great facilities, a staff he’s comfortable with and an awesome fan base. I’m not sure how the 40 roster limit will affect Van Horn under revenue sharing if it’s approved. Scholarships are set to go up from 11.7 to 30. That would be a good thing. But again, I’ve give him at least two more years and maybe more.

Q. HillCountryHog says: The early exit from Hoover really helped our pitching in the regional. Most of the guys got an extra week’s rest and it showed. Just another reason why the SEC Tournament is pointless. Agree?

A. The extra week’s rest looked like it helped Gage Wood for sure. He went six innings, 89 pitches and struck out 13. He gave up just 3 hits, zero walks, one hit batter and of course he was touched for that 3 run homer in the 4th. But he bounced back to record six straight outs over the next two innings.

I also think it helped Landon Beidelschies. He only went two innings but he gave up no runs with one hit and no walks.

The pitching was solid in all three games except for Aiden Jimenez who walked 4 in 3 and 2/3, was touched for five hits and two runs. Not great but not terrible either.

Q. Hawgredneck asks: Did the game 2 blowout surprise you? I was worried about Creighton’s batters after they lit up Kansas pitchers. Root was on top of his game again and that freshmen reliever, where did he come from? I’d never heard of him.

A. His name is Steele Eaves. He’s a true freshman from Lonoke. He was the MVP of his state championship game which was Lonoke’s first ever baseball title. He was 10-1 with a 1.12 ERA. This year he’s only thrown 9 2/3 innings but he’s got the second best ERA on the team at 1.86. He struggled a bit in his first two games, Grambling and Portland, early in the season but ever since he’s been solid. They are really high in him and if he keeps it up you will definitely hear a lot about him next season.

Q. T.L. Slaten says: I sure hope Van Horn drops this idea of starting Jimenez in the super regional. His control has gone south lately. He’s been good for about one inning. Make him a spot reliever.

A. Not a bad suggestion although nothing has been said about that. Inserting Beidelschies back into that spot is a possibility I guess. To me both are one or two inning pitchers. It may be that the strategy is go with one of those guys for a couple of innings and go to the bullpen. It worked out in the first game against Creighton.

Q. sglies says: I was telling my husband about how Aloy always strikes out with two or three on base because he’s swinging for the fences. Just as I said that he hit the first of two homers against Creighton. Should I keep that up?

A. If you’re like me, yes, keep it up. Negative helps create a positive. Arkansas continues to lead the SEC in hitting. .313 to .305 for Auburn. They’re 4th in home runs with 120.

It just seemed like to me that in the three regional games Arkansas played almost everybody contributed at one time or another. Arkansas has seven players with 10 or more home runs and one with 9. Six are hitting over .300 with the other three starters close to .300. Right now there are no holes in the lineup. The guy who is really moving is Helfrick. His average is up to .329, he’s hit 13 home runs and he can really run the bases. He’s got great speed for a catcher. He was he MVP of the regional for a reason.

Q. mousetown wants to know: Do these ESPN plus announcers ever do any serious homework before the games? They keep repeating the same talking points over and over. Also they way they overhype us makes me nervous. Good thing the players can’t hear them. It’s rat poison.

A. I hear you. I that’s why I turn the sound off. I’m usually watching a game on my phone and a game on my TV so I keep the sound off anyway. The thing that bothers me with a lot of announcers is when they don’t focus on the game. They’re telling some story about something that happened to them 10 years ago, its a one run game with two outs and two on. I’m thinking, TALK ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THIS GAME RIGHT NOW.

Q. WVHogfan asks: What are your thoughts on the seeding process for this year’s football playoffs and the proposed 16 team playoff with the Big 10 and SEC getting four automatic teams each?

A. Love the idea of a 16 team playoff and I agree that if there are four major conferences then the SEC and Big 10 should fill at least half of those spots. Spread the remaining 8 spots around based on rankings with the Big 12 and ACC champions getting in automatically. That would be 10 of 16 spots on automatic bids and if you’re going to have automatic bids you need seeding. The problem is getting the seedings correct and that doesn’t always happen.

Q. Hobhog wants to know: Who picks the times for football games that are streamed? Why would anyone think playing day games in August or early September in Arkansas is a good idea for attendees and players safety?

A. Even with games on ESPN3 or ESPN plus, ESPN has the final say in the start time although input from the school in question is taken into consideration. The only Arkansas game this applies to this coming season is the Arkansas State game with a 4:00 p.m. kickoff. Sam Pittman has said before that he prefers late afternoon games in Little Rock so the team can get back home earlier in the evening. I assume Arkansas State would have the same preference. It’s those 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. start times the first week of the season that coaches and fans don’t like. It’s usually brutally hot for those games.

Q. Whippersnapper says: You mentioned that softball should consider making the field bigger. I can get behind that…..but what about pushing games to 9 innings too? Never understood why they only play 7 to begin with.

A. I didn’t say that. Grant Hall, a longtime sportswriter, suggested it in a conversation I had with him. He thinks that college athletes are bigger, stronger and faster these days so the field should be adjusted. For the record I don’t see that happening. As for why 7 innings, that started with the invention of softball in the late 1800’s as an indoor alternative to baseball. Indoors because it could be played in all types of weather. A 7 inning game would be less stressful on the players and get the fans in and out quicker.

There has been some discussion that baseball might want to go to 7 innings for those reasons. I hate that idea.

Another alternative is to offer baseball to women. In larger schools I could see having both baseball and softball teams. Let the players decide which they prefer.

Q. KyHog asks: Now that Karter Knox is coming back will there be any other additions to Cal’s roster or is this it?

A.