FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 2 Arkansas is set to battle Missouri and the weather this weekend for a three-game series.
The weather is wreaking havoc on things in Northwest Arkansas and around the state. At this time the Razorbacks are slated to play Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, but Dave Van Horn said Thursday he knows that may not happen.
"Lot of rain obviously and then cool temperatures and wind," Van Horn said. "We’ve had such good weather, you kind of knew this was going to happen somewhere. But it looks like, you know, we’ll make a decision tomorrow morning on tomorrow’s game. You can’t really go off of … I don’t now … this far in advance it’d be tough to move the Friday game because of what you’re seeing on Thursday morning. So we’ll get together in the morning and kind of look at the long range.
"Obviously we’re in touch with two different weather services and getting their opinions and then make a decision on Friday’s game and then how we’re going to handle Saturday. Because Saturday we’re scheduled to play at 6. If we have to move that up to catch a window to get a game in that’s what we would do. And then somehow between Saturday and Sunday late afternoon get three games in if we don’t play tomorrow."
Van Horn was asked if the SEC allows enough flexibility concerning the weather?
"Yeah, I mean it’s difficult because of, obviously the guys have to go to class, take care of business there," Van Horn said. "Things have changed over the years with all the technology now. But I guess you gotta set some parameters and they’ve done it. When you leave on Thursday, you have until Sunday night to get it done. You can’t leave on Friday and you have until Monday. They just don’t allow that. Now we have games Thursday through Saturday, where teams leave on Wednesday and they have until Saturday night to get it complete. And the last day, if you get to the point where you’ve only played one game going into your last day, you have to play 7-inning games. You can play 14 innings pretty quick."
When the two teams do play the Razorbacks have Zach Root, Gabe Gaeckle and Landon Beidelschies as the starting rotation. Van Horn also said there will be no Gage Wood this weekend. He remains out with an injury.
"Yeah, as of now those three pitchers will pitch," Van Horn said. "That would be the order we would go in if everything’s on time Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If we figure out tomorrow that something’s changed I mean we might change who starts in what order, but yeah, that’ll be the three."
The offense has been very impressive while helping the Razorbacks get off to an outstanding start to the season. The new outfielders Charles Davalan, Justin Thomas Jr. and Logan Maxwell have been very impressive. So has designated hitter Kuhio Aloy, third baseman Brent Iredale and first baseman Cam Kozeal.
"Well, give credit to first off the players for coming in and working extremely hard and getting stronger," Van Horn said. "And then Coach (Nate) Thompson and Coach (Bobby) Wernes for working with our hitters, developing our hitters. You have to have the guys who have the potential in them. I’d say the three you’re talking about are having really good seasons and hopefully they’ll have the opportunity to play down the road at the next level. One reason they came in here was to get better and develop and play in our league and play at the University of Arkansas. So yeah, we take a lot of pride in getting our guys a little better when they — really a lot better — by the time they leave here. So hats off to them and hats off to our coaching staff."
Missouri (11-17, 0-9) comes to Fayetteville after barely defeating UAPB 8-7 Wednesday night. The Razorbacks have faced Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Is there any concern about the team overlooking the Tigers?
"Well, I feel like they don’t really care what the other team’s record is," Van Horn said. "They just play. I don’t feel like I’m to that point where I see that the way they’re acting or the way they’re practicing, working out in the weight room like we’re playing somebody that they’re not going to compete as hard as they can against. That’s not the way they’ve been trained. I’ve said it many times already this year, that I really like the makeup of the team. They show up and they play, and they play hard. It’s business-like. They feel like they’re never out of a game. Been behind, comeback and win, and as the innings start to get a little tighter or we’re running out of them and we’re losing, you can just see the intensity ramp up in the dugout, and they find a way to get it done, most of the time.
"So I don’t really feel like we’re really looking at records right now. Honestly, you look at Missouri, they can hit. Lovich is having a great year and, you know, they’ve had some good pitching performances. They play at their ballpark, wind’s blowing out some times, a lot, it can be blowing out hard, so sometimes the numbers can be kind of skewed for a pitching staff. The way to go about every series is just to go in and play. It’s like I tell our guys, as well, ‘they all count the same. Whether you win or lose, it’s one loss or one win’. Just try to stack up a few wins because the league’s tough and you can have a bad week or weekend, or a couple of weeks. You look at some of these other teams that are down in the pack where they’re 1-8, those are good teams, believe it or not. RPIs are still pretty good. They have a lot of talent, pro talent for the future, and it just hasn’t gone right for them. I don’t get all excited about being 8-1 or if we were 5-4, whatever. We’ve just got to show up and play."
Arkansas (27-3, 8-1) is coming off a very rare sweep at Vanderbilt. If the Hogs have to play a double-header this weekend against the Tigers Van Horn doesn't see that as an advantage.
"I don’t think a doubleheader gives anybody an advantage, honestly," Van Horn said. "You just never know how the day’s going to go. Now, somebody is out of pitching or they have no bullpen after the first game, they used their four best relievers and now they’ve got their No. 2 and 3 starting with a bullpen that’s pretty much been wiped out, then there’s an advantage if you didn’t have to use anything. As of right now, I don’t think there’s any advantage for anybody. You just, when you play in a doubleheader, you’re scrambling trying to get that first game. Takes a little pressure off, but yeah, it’s just baseball. Things happen and you just hope you’re playing well. If you mix in a nine-inning game on Saturday night and you turn around and play two sevens at 12-noon on a Sunday, that’s a lot of innings in a 24-hour period. You just hope it goes your way."
Key reliever Parker Coil is injured, but Van Horn expects him back very late in the season. His absence could open up more opportunities for Colin Fisher and Cole Gibler.
"Those are the two guys and I thought Gibler was outstanding the other night in Little Rock," Van Horn said. "He struck out, he got six outs for us, five of them were by strikeout. It was really good to see. Colin, in my opinion, wasn’t as sharp as normal. Has to get used to coming out of the bullpen. That’s one reason that we brought him out of the pen instead of starting him, was to get that experience for him. Because we could use him that way this weekend as well and going forward for a while. Those two lefties have to pick up the pace for us a little bit."
As of right now, Friday's game is slated for 7 p.m. on the SEC Network. Saturday is at 6 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m.