Resurgent Diamond Hogs turn attention to LSU

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON


FAYETTEVILLE – An Arkansas baseball team feeling that leapt back up in the polls on Monday could add a couple of pitching pieces this weekend while traveling to LSU.

They Razorbacks (40-9, 14-7) swept No. 1 and visiting Texas Thursday through Saturday and were inserted as the top ranked team by the NCBWA, No 2 by both USA Today and Perfect Game, No. 3 in Baseball America and No. 7 by D1 Baseball.

“All we did this weekend is all we could, and that was win every game,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said at Monday’s Swatter’s Club meetting. “We’re just going to try to continue to get healthy and play with energy, and go to Baton Rouge, which is obviously… It’s one of the top-two or three hardest places to play in the league if you’re the visiting team.

“That’s for sure, and they’re really talented. They can beat you in a lot of ways. They’ve got guys that have been there and they have power and they can pitch.

As he usually does, Van Horn took the poll numbers in stride with Georgia and Texas also being dubbed No. 1 in other polls.

“I don’t know if anybody deserves to be number one, Van Horn said. “I mean, when you look at it, everybody’s just beating each other. It’s kind of, the polls’ all over the place.

“I don’t think in the past few years, I’ve seen teams move so much: you’re number two and you go to eight. Or you have a bad weekend, but you still won a game.

“Or you lose three games on the weekend, usually you don’t stick to number one you’re gonna move to number two. So I don’t –– I almost feel bad for the guys trying to do it, honestly. Because I don’t know where I’d put ’em. I don’t know where I’d put people.

“They’ve got individuals working for them that are all over, watching all the different leagues, and they just probably get on a conference call and talk about it, try to figure it out.

“I think sometimes, whenever it’s like this, you just maybe need to look at the numbers more like team ERA, team batting average, fielding percentage, where’d they play, you know, who they play and maybe not move ’em as much. But then again, it’s all about saying, they’re using RPI, they’re using strength of schedule. We’re in pretty good shape on all of that.”

Van Horn noted that his team could be getting injured hurlers Parker Coil and Hunter Deitz back for this weekend’s series at LSU (38-11, 15-9).

Coil has not pitched since injuring his back against Grambling State on April 1.

He had been sensational up to that point with a 0.60 ERA in 15 innings laden 10 appearances

“I think you use him whenever you need to use him and go from there,” Van Horn said. “He’ll be on the roster, 100%, and he’ll be ready to go.”

Deitz has not been in a game sine April of 2024, but was close to taking the mound in a game before a freak accident in the bullpen with a resistance band.

“Now it’s tough because you don’t want to put him maybe in a leverage spot right now,” Van Horn said. “You know, you don’t want to be getting blown out. That would probably have been the time, it would have been great to get him in that midweek game just to get his feet wet.

“Hasn’t pitched in a game in over a year. So we’re just going to see what situation we have and just probably put him in.

“It could be a situation, I mean, it could be this weekend. It could be left-on-left, two outs and a runner on second. Just go get this one hitter. Doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. Gain some experience.

“He’s got really good stuff. If he can go in there and he can pitch like we know he can, it might not happen right away, but he definitely can help us.”

Razorback freshman reliever Carson Wiggins did not suffer a tear in his elbow, but still is on the shelf as of right now.

“I don’t know if he’ll be back this year,” Van Horn said. “We’ll just kind of play that out. If we’re playing mid-June, end of June, maybe.” 

Arkansas starting pitchers Zach Root and Gage Wood were both dominate against Texas while combining to fan 19 Longhorns in 12 innings.

It was Wood’s third outing since returning from a shoulder impingement injury aa Van Horn said his pitch count will continue to rise.

“Yeah, it’s getting close to that time,” Van Horn said of no pitch count for Wood. When you say let him go, it’s more like, you’re talking 80, maybe. 75. Maybe 80. Somewhere in there.

“It kinda depends on how stressful of a 75 pitches it’s been. Been a lot of traffic on the bases, or has it just kinda been like, foul ball, foul ball and you know he’s getting them out. Temperature. A lot of that plays into it, but he’s probably ready to go now.”

Outfielder Logan Maxwell could also be back in the mix this weekend after missing the last five games.

“If (he) is just OK to play, I’ll just use him as a pinch hitter,” Van Horn said. “If he can run down balls, he’s going to have to show that to me in Thursday’s practice a little bit.” 

Photo by John D. James