Diamond Hogs Notebook: DVH to host trivia event at Goat Lab Brewery on Thursday

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – As one of college baseball’s winningest coaches, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn has accomplished a lot of things over the years.

But he’ll take on a new role Thursday night at 6:30 when he helps hosts a 20-team Razorback trivia event at The Goat Lab Brewery in Lowell (722 S. Bloomington Street).

Van Horn will be available for photos and autographs at the event, which is a fundraiser for Arkansas Edge, the official Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) collective for the Razorbacks.

“I’m going to be there,” Van Horn said. “I don’t know what my job is, but I’ll read a little bit and do whatever they want me, too. It should be fun.”

The winning four-person team will get a private tour of the Hunt Family Baseball Development Center at Baum Stadium.

The runner up wins four Tusk T-Shirts from Goat Lab Brewery while third place team gets four Arkansas Edge T-Shirts with tickets available at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thegrovecomedy

It will give Van Horn another chance to talk about his team that is ranked fourth by Baseball America, fifth by both D1 Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and 13th by Perfect Game.

It comes after a huge crowd attended Monday’s Swatter’s Club meeting at the Fayetteville Public Library’s Special Events Center.

“I appreciate it so much,” Van Horn said. “…They seemed excited about the season. There was a little hype about the season. Hats off to the players, getting better. Coaches getting some good players in here.

“It went well in the fall. I was thinking at the end of last year with what we were losing, it was going to take some time this year with whoever we brought in, just because it was so many.

“…But we tried to figure them out during the recruiting process and ask all the right questions and not sugar coat it for them and see how they act. I think we got some of the right guys mentally. We’ll see how it turns out.”

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Arkansas will continue its preseason afternoon scrimmages this upcoming Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the season opener looming a week later against visiting Washington State on Friday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m.

That is the opener of a four-game series against the Cougars and could give the Razorbacks a chance to send Gabe Gaeckle, Gage Wood and transfers Zach Root (East Carolina) and Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State) to the mound as starters.

Van Horn has not yet told those quartet of pitchers they will the order or if one of them might serve in a relief role instead.

“Not yet,” Van Horn said. “I mean, I haven’t. You’d probably have to talk more to (Razorback pitching) Coach (Matt) Hobbs about that.

“But you know we do play four games the first weekend, so that that might tell you what might happen. In what order we’re not sure yet.”

The Razorbacks will follow up the home opening series with a trio of games at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas, against Kansas State, TCU and Michigan.

“We’ll have four starters and next weekend one of those guys will come out of the pen and that’s when the conversation (is) probably starting,” Van Horn added.

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Gaeckle continued to add to his preseason accolades by picking up a Baseball America second team preseason All-American nod on Tuesday.

He had earlier been announced as Baseball America’s preseason SEC Pitcher of the Year.

Baseball America’s All-American selections are made via a poll of Major League Baseball scooting directors and based on performance, talent and pro potential.

It was Gaeckle’s s third preseason All-America honor of the season with the sophomore also a preseason All-American by D1Baseball (second team) and Perfect Game (first team).

The Aptos, Calif., native made 22 relief appearances last season while going 3-3 record with a 2.32 ERA, 57 strikeouts and a team-leading seven saves in 42.2 innings of work.

He was the fifth Arkansas freshman pitcher since 2003 to record five or more saves in a season.

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It’s likely the Razorback starting line up will see almost as many players born outside of the contiguous 48 states than inside.

Hawaiians Wehiwa Aloy and Nolan Souza are slated to start up the middle while Austrailian Brent Iredale looks locked in at third base and Canadian Charles Davalan in the outfield.