FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas has lost three SEC series in a row and this weekend will host No. 1 Texas in a three-game battle at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (37-9, 14-7) and Texas (38-5, 19-2) were battling for the top spot in the polls prior to the Razorbacks losing the trio of series. Arkansas still is between No. 5 and 11 in the various polls. Dave Van Horn knows this will be a big test beginning Thursday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN2 as the two teams were both members of the Southwest Conference.
"I was here as a player and as a grad assistant when it was pretty hot and heavy and it was fun," Van Horn said. "It just brought a little extra excitement. Yeah, it would be … you know they’re not considered one of our rival schools that we play every year. We’ve got Missouri and Ole Miss for that, in baseball anyway. But I’m sure that our fans are going to see it as a huge rivalry. Texas is having a great year and that throws a little fuel on the fire so to speak. We’ve been struggling a little bit, battling injuries and a few other things. But I’m sure that our players that are on the team now will kind of get a feel for what’s up when the games start and they see how our fans probably react to having the Longhorns in town again."
Van Horn also addressed that the Longhorns own a five-game lead over the Hogs and LSU. Tennessee is six games back. Arkansas has series remaining with LSU and Tennessee to close out the regular season.
"They’ve won a lot of close games and they’ve done a great job," Van Horn said. "They’ve pitched extremely well in league play. Their team ERA in league is really good. And overall. I mean it’s just over 3.00, I think. The baseballs, they’re a little firmer than they’ve been in the past it seems like. The bats are good. They’ve just done a tremendous job of finishing games. And they’ve got a freshman closer, a lefty, who’s 6 foot 6 who’s been really good. They don’t make too many mistakes. They’ve won at home big time. They’ve won just enough on the road. You know the league is doing what I thought the league would do except for Texas. I thought the league would pound each other a little bit. Texas has found a way to get those 2 out of 3s and sweep some weekend series and that’s why they’ve pulled away."
Arkansas got some bad news on the injury front last weekend when freshman relief pitcher Carson Wiggins exited the Florida game with elbow pain.
"He’s going to get another MRI today just to double check everything," Van Horn said. "The first one came back positive. So now we’re going to have another one done today that includes a little more thorough look I think with dye and whatever they call it. So that’s all I have for you."
The hard throwing Wiggins has appeared in 14 games. He is 1-1 with three saves and a 3.21 ERA. In 14 innings, he has struck out 20 hitters. Outfielder Logan Maxwell is battling hamstring issues as well. He missed some time in Florda. Maxwell is hitting .342 with nine home runs on the season. Van Horn had a little better news on Maxwell.
"He’ll be available but he’s not doing much right now," Van Horn said. "So that’s where we are with him. I mean he might be able to play during the series some time. Might be able to just hit, pinch hit. I don’t know about playing in the outfield yet. But yeah, he’s down."
Van Horn was also asked if the initial prognosis on Wiggins was good or is there still caution with a more extensive test on Wednesday?
"Yeah, I mean, that means it’s not torn as of now," Van Horn said. "It might be today when we do the dye test. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to pitch again this year even if it’s not. It just means if there’s a strain, you let it heal, you rehab and pitch when he’s ready. If there’s a nerve issue or something jumped out, you just deal with it. So we don’t know anything yet. We just know that the first MRI came in positive, it didn’t show a tear."
Van Horn was asked about the mood of the team having lost three SEC series in a row?
"I don’t think it matters who we play to the team," Van Horn said. "Just want to play well and find a way to win a couple games, win the series. Obviously you’d like to win them all. You gotta win the first one first tomorrow. It was good being around the guys yesterday. The mood was good. Everybody’s upbeat. We know how hard it is and we know how close we were. We just didn’t take care of some things. We’re just fighting to get back on track a little bit. What I mean by that is just be more consistent game to game."
As far as the rotation, Van Horn is only committing to Zach Root and Gage Wood. Landon Beidelschies has been the Game 3 starter. Gabe Gaeckle started the season the Friday night starter but is working out of the bullpen now.
"We will go with Root, Wood and TBA," Van Horn said.
Wood, the former Batesville standout, is just working his way back from an injury he suffered in Arlington at beginning of season. He had a very good 3-inning outing against Florida last weekend.
"He threw really good last weekend," Van Horn said. "He didn't even throw a couple of his pitches, didn't even throw a cutter. He threw his fastball and the curveball, four seamer for the most part. It was two to three innings. He went three but I think he got up in the low 40s[pitch count]. We were going to give him 35 to 45, but we were thinking more towards 40 max. I think he threw 42, 43 pitches. He pounded the strike zone with some big velocity, and he threw the breaking ball for a strike. He just sliced right through their order for nine hitters, 10 hitters, whatever he saw there. I think they got one baserunner on.
"And the real positive thing was the next day he didn’t have any soreness, any complaints. I am sure he gained a lot of confidence, not only in his pitching ability, but that was healed. The mind was telling him, ‘hey I’m fine.’ So if we an get him to where to whatever we can - he can give us x amount of pitches this weekend, more next week against LSU and then maybe by the time we play the last series against Tennessee, he will have his pitch count up there more and then we can let him go after that. That could really help us out if the all plays out. You are always holding your breath, but after the way he got through this weekend, we are feeling pretty good about that.”
Friday's game starts at 7 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network. Saturday's start is slated for 2 p.m. and will be streamed on the SEC Network+.
