ESPN college baseball analysts size up Diamond Hogs’ chance to win it all

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Count ESPN college baseball announcers Chris Burke and Kyle Peterson among those who think this might be the time that Arkansas and head coach Dave Van Horn leave Omaha with the crown.

The two highly-respected analysts held a zoom with media Tuesday afternoon to discuss the upcoming College World Series, which begins Friday.

The Razorbacks (48-13) open play Saturday night at 6 p.m. against SEC foe LSU (48-15) in the fourth and final first-round game.

“That Saturday night game will be pretty crazy,” Peterson said. “Omaha has seen plenty of LSU and they’ve seen plenty of Arkansas in the past, but to finish off the first set of games, it is going to be rowdy.”

Burke noted that Van Horn, who has taken Arkansas to the CWS eight times and Nebraska once, is missing just one thing on his glittering resume – a national title.

“For DVH’s perspective, I think it would be the exclamation point n a Hall of Fame career,” Burke said. “It’s the only thing missing from his trophy case. He’s done everything there is to do in the sport of college baseball.

“He is loved by his peers and and his players. He’s been to to this event, I think nine times, eight at Arkansas. He certainly has checked every box every college head baseball coach wants to check and there is just one last box left to check.

“And from a university standpoint, I think they are committed financially and also from a support staff standpoint as any program in America.”

SEC teams Florida (2017), Vanderbilt (2019), Mississippi State (2021), Ole Miss (2022), LSU (2023) and Tennessee (2024) have won six of the last seven CWS titles.

Arkansas came a win away from claiming the 2018 title – losing to Oregon State in a game three – while the CWS was not held in 2020 due to covid.

“I think the SEC has kind of traded off championships over the last decade or so and it feels like Arkansas is the next one in line,” Burke said.

“Bu they’ve got their hands full because this a field as probably evenly matched as I an remember and they arguably going to have to deal with as talented pitcher (LSU ace Cade Horton) as there is in the country in game one.

“As to how good they are and how it feels like it’s their time, they have a real mountain to climb here to get to the top of it.”

The CWS will begin Friday at 1 p.m. with Arizona (44-19) facing Coastal Carolina (53-11) and Louisville (40-22) and Oregon State (47-14-1) clashing at 6 p.m. while Murray State (44-15) takes on UCLA (47-16) Saturday at 1 p.m.

Burke sized up Arkansas’ roster as the most complete of the eight teams that will be in Omaha.



“I would say that are balanced because their roster composition is just about all you could ask for,” Burke said. “They have dominant starting pitching options and, if for whatever reason, if it is not their day to start, they have a really diverse of relief pitchers they can go to that can not only give them length, but potentially be dominant in their own right.

“Not too many people have a guy like Gabe Gaeckle that they can call on or Cole Gibler or (Landon) Beidelschies or Christian Foutch…Parker Coil, Will McEntire – all guys who can pitch three innings and guys that can throw up three zeros.

“They have enough different options, especially in a format like this, where where they can go righty, lefty and all type of situations, too.”

Arkansas is expected to send out Zach Root and Gage Wood as its first two starters.

“From a pitching standpoint, they have everything you could ask for, including a first-round ace in Zach Root and maybe another first-round starter in Gage Wood,” Burke said. There is some much talent and so much depth.

“And then offensively, it one through nine and there is power up and down the line up and they go left, right, left, right all the way through.

“And then they have different kind of bats that can beat you in different ways, but especially with the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark.

“And then they are fielding .984. So really there are no holes in their game and they have as complete of a roster that you can ask for and they healthy.

“You put all those things together that’s why they are the favorite.”

Peterson was asked by an Omaha television reporter what made Arkansas such a heavy favorite.

“I would start with one thing, I don’t think they are a heavy favorite,” Peterson said. “For me, I think they are the best team, but I wouldn’t consider them a heavy favorite. I don’t know that there is one for me.

Peterson was intrigued with how emotional Van Horn was after Arkansas beat Tennessee 11-4 on Sunday to win its Super Regional book the Razorbacks’ 12th trip to the CWS.

“It was interesting how emotional he was after the game and I don’t know that I have ever seen him like he was at their postgame press ,” Peterson said. “He broke down a little bit and you could tell just how much it meant.

“You never know. I don’t know how long he is gong to to do this, but the has got three grand kids now and it affected him a little bit different than it had in the past.”