By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas and Santa Clara will open the Fayetteville Regional play on Friday at 2 p.m.
Later Friday night, TCU and Arizona will battle in the second game of the day. Dave Van Horn and Arkansas (41-16) are glad to be back at Baum-Walker Stadium this season after traveling last year. Santa Clara (35-18) enters as the No. 4 seed in this regional and owns an eight-game winning streak.
"Obviously we’re super excited to be in a regional and hosting a regional," Van Horn said Thursday. "Last year we went on the road and it went well. But this team really has enjoyed playing at home. Our fans have been amazing. It looks like we’re going to have some pretty good weather. Might battle a little bit of rain.
"Pretty good temperatures in the mid-80s. Love that as a coach after battling early-season weather. It’s always nice to have this towards the back end."
TCU (37-22) is coming off winning the Big 12 Tournament and has won six games in a row. Arizona (33-24) has won seven of its last nine games.
"I think we have an incredible field," Van Horn said. "We have teams coming in here in baseball terms that are really hot. They’re on fire, winning however many games in a row, blowing through tournaments.
"It’s going to be a great regional. I feel like, at least on paper, this is probably one of the top two or three regionals in the country as far as the talent."
Van Horn plans to start lefty Hunter Hollan on Friday. Hollan is 8-2 with an ERA of 4.06. Van Horn talked about the decision to go with Hollan.
"He’s started most of the Game 1s for us all year and we just like where he’s at, so we’re going to give him the ball," Van Horn said.
On Monday when asked about Santa Clara Van Horn said he didn't know much. But now the Hogs are very aware of the first opponent.
"What we found out about them is what we knew about them, probably, by just looking at their overall statistics," Van Horn said. "They’re playing extremely well right now down the stretch. They didn’t win the regular season championship, but they just basically blew through the field in the tournament championship. They’re scoring. We know about their arms. We know the velocities. They’re good. They’re older. If you look at their roster, they’re older. They’ve got a good mix of left and right handed hitters. Got a couple of guys in the bullpen that are really good and they’ve got one that throws 100 miles an hour.
"To me, at this time of the year, everybody is good. I don’t get too excited about ‘Oh, we have these guys in our regional,’ or ‘Oh we’re going to get that game first.’ My mind moves to the next game, because if you do that, you’ll end up losing. We respect them. We know they’re going to play super hard and that’s the game for us. Tomorrow, we’ll be ready mentally."
Van Horn was asked if he feels the bigger crowd at Baum-Walker is something that could hamper Santa Clara?
"Well, you never know how that's going to play out," Van Horn said. "If we get up on them, I think it could play a factor. If they get up on us, it's a little different. You just never know. I'm sure they're looking forward to playing in front of that many fans if they haven't before. Older kids, usually it doesn't bother them too much. They want to see it, see what it's all about. It can help. It can help on a certain play or two, maybe they can't hear or something's going on. It's hard for me to really comment because I don't know their personalities, so to speak, that much."
Former Batesville standout right-handed pitcher Gage Wood (2-0, 5 saves, 3.81) has struggled in his last two-three stints on the mound. Van Horn talked about how the freshman has looked in practice this week.
"You know, he threw a great bullpen the other day," Van Horn said. "It's kind of interesting. He had been so good, and then it didn't go good there his last three outings, and you're going 'what happened?' We feel like he's back on track.
"Man, this game sometimes, it's so mental. You just let everything get in your head and bother you. Next thing you know, you can't hit, you can't field, you can't throw strikes. Sometimes you get off to the side a little bit, and you regroup and slow the game down, and you're back in there again. We've got to have him if we're going to get through this thing and have a chance to play after this weekend, we've got to have him. He's going to be out there."
Tavian Josenberger, Jace Bohrofen and Jared Wegner have also struggled at the plate in recent games. Van Horn knows his three outfielders have to hit for Arkansas to advance past this weekend.
"It was good to see Josenberger get two hits in his last two at-bats in the tournament, and they were both right-handed," Van Horn said. "Those are tough at-bats. He fouled off a bunch of pitches to get something he could handle. Wegner, he didn't have a good week. I wish we could have gotten him in the lineup the week before, but we're facing Vanderbilt, and they have good pitching and have played well at home. He hit a ball off the top of the wall there that almost got out of the park. That was his only hit in the three games, I think. And then he hit that laser grand slam out of the park. If it weren't for that, we don't win that game. Those are his only two hits, but he's hit both of them hard. He's really improved since as far as his bat speed. You know, he broke his thumb, and it had been bothering him. Had it looked at Monday when we got back. X-rays and everything said he can't hurt it anymore. There is some pain still. I think that eased his mind a bit. He has swung it better in batting practice the last two days than he has the last two weeks by a lot. So, we'll see how that goes
"You know Jace, he was real steady all year then he got super hot. And then obviously the hits stopped coming, through some balls that were hit hard, but on that six-game road trip, not much there. I think maybe a home run at Vandy and that was the only ball he hit really. And then in the six games he hit another ground ball hard at somebody. But you know we’ve talked. He’s got to relax a little bit. There’s always outside things. You’re talking about guys that are eligible for the draft and there’s all this chit-chat and worry and things that drives coaches crazy. And I think we’ve got these guys, ‘Hey, just stay within that locker room and you’ll be fine.’ They’ve had good weeks. Hopefully it’ll come out in the games against live pitching. You never know."
The winner of the Fayetteville Regional will oppose the winner of the Terre Haute Regional hosted by Indiana State in the super regional.
NCAA Fayetteville Regional
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – Arkansas vs. Santa Clara – 2 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2 – TCU vs. Arizona – 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 2 p.m.
Game 4 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser – 2 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 8 p.m.
Monday, June 5 (If Necessary)
Game 7 – If the Game 5 Winner Wins Game 6 – TBD