By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 12 Arkansas will finish the regular season with an SEC series at Kentucky beginning Thursday evening.

Arkansas (34-18) is on the bubble for hosting a regional and needs a great showing against Kentucky (30-18, 12-15) to help possibly secure that. Most forecasts currently have Arkansas the No. 2-seed in various regionals, but combined with winning the Oklahoma series and some others losing has reportedly given the Razorbacks at least an outside shot at hosting. Their RPI is 24 currently.

One reason for Arkansas' falling some this season, tied for sixth in the SEC, has been pitching woes. Arkansas has one reliable starter in Hunter Dietz (7-2, 3.22 ERA) and a shaky bullpen. Dave Van Horn was asked about this weekend's rotation on Wednesday?

"Yeah, if you want to call it a rotation right now," Van Horn said. "We’re going to go Dietz Game 1 and then kind of see what’s going on with the standings, jockeying for position as far as the tournament, and then still have everybody available. So we’ll just TBA the next two days."

Van Horn addressed the status of Cole Gibler possibly staying in the rotation or going back to the bullpen. Gibler (4-2, 4.62) has appeared in 14 games with five starts. He has one save out of the bullpen.

"Yeah, he may benefit from that," Van Horn said of returning to the bullpen. "But I would say right now, he’s definitely available Thursday, for sure Friday. Thursday, it depends on the situation, maybe just a matchup, but if it was a chance for more extended, it could be Friday. But yeah, I want to see him come out of the pen and see how that goes."

A player who could help with the pitching situation is James DeCremer (0-1, 5.11) in eight appearances with three starts, but a calf injury has shut him down recently until this past Sunday. He worked two innings against OU on Sunday allowing one hit, a run, walked a hitter and struck out three among the seven hitters he faced.

"Well his injury was in his leg," Van Horn said. "He was just having trouble landing, pushing off, all of the above. Just couldn’t shake it off. Actually, the last time we pitched before this, he said it was okay, but it really wasn’t and it didn’t go well. So we just said we’re going to let this thing heal up and if you get on the mound again, show us what you can do. That’s really about all I can tell you."

Gabe Gaeckle started the season as the ace and Friday night's starter, but was sent back to the bullpen and then took the mound first on Saturday and worked 4.2 innings before the bullpen replaced him. Gaeckle (5-3, 4.47) has pitched in 17 games with 10 starts.

"Yeah, you know, we’re going to do what we need to do," Van Horn said. "We felt like he was first out of the pen on Thursday, and that could be the case, but honestly, I don’t think it is. Just depending on what we see. If we don’t use him, we’ll definitely start him in Game 2. You know, I don’t like to play games. I’m not trying to trick anybody and out-smart anybody. We just feel like this is what we need to do for us, and as soon as the game’s over, we’ll get that announced. Or, if he doesn’t pitch, you can just plan on him pitching Friday."

The SEC Tournament starts Tuesday and the Razorbacks could play as early as that day or as late as Friday depending on where they finish in the standings.

"Obviously we are hoping we don’t have to play the first day," Van Horn said. "Believe me, I haven’t looked at all the scenarios, I’m not too concerned about it. I just want to go down there, play well on Thursday and win. I think we’ll probably be in pretty good shape. But if not, wherever we end up, we end up. It’s been a good second half for us. We’ve won six out of nine series.

"Kentucky’s not an easy place to play. They have a good team and they’ve let some games slip away. They had a five-run lead in the eighth against Florida on Friday last weekend and then Florida punched in five, tied it, or six, took the lead and I think they walked them off the field. Then they win the next day, lose the last game. They’re good. Their shortstop is probably going to be a first-round pick and maybe a top 10 pick. So they’ve got weapons and they’ve got an older team. So we know we’ve got our hands full this weekend."

As opposed to Arkansas' grass turf, Kentucky has artificial turf. Van Horn talked about what to expect from that.

"I don’t really think, from what I remember a few years back, same as all turf, you know," Van Horn said. "Some are faster than others obviously and then on what they decided to put in it. But it’s a quick field. This is the latest we’ve ever played up there and it’s gonna be warm, looks like maybe for sure on Saturday a lot warmer than normal, maybe in the 80s. So usually the warmer it is that turf gets a little bouncier and a little quicker, so we’ll really try to figure it out tonight when we’re practicing. We’ll work on sliding, which is funny to say. But it’s what you have to do at different places. We’ll see how the ball bounces when it hits. For example, if you don’t catch a pop-up or a fly ball, is it gonna bounce high where you just have to try to slap it to the ground. But you’ve also got to learn how to run the bases on it too, but I don’t … it’s the same. It’s going to be close to the same."

Kentucky's program seems to be one on the rise compared to a few year's ago. Van Horn credited the head coach.

"Well I think coach (Nick) Mingione and his staff have really done a nice job of recruiting," Van Horn said. "I would say transfer portal wise, they’ve done a really good job there of evaluating and getting kids maybe up in that region more. Some of the mid-majors that we don’t really see, so they probably, you know from mid-week games where they see the kids and they pop in the portal and they jump on it. Then they go get the type of kids they feel like will fit into their program. But they have a really good coaching staff, and they work hard. A lot of enthusiasm there. Their players are a little crazy during the game, but that works for them, so hey, I’m good with it. To each their own there. I just think they’ve done a really nice job of evaluating some kids more in their area and they’ve developed them."

While Arkansas' pitching staff has struggled even more in recent weeks, the bats have heated up particularly the 7-8-9 spots.

"Yeah, so, example, we’ve had guys in the 7-8-9 hole that can hit home runs, in (TJ) Pompey’s case, steal bases," Van Horn said. "Threat down there, you know, I might have to move him up a little bit. When I say have to, maybe it’s time. But I tell the guys, it really doesn’t matter to me if you’re hitting fourth or eighth. To me, you have a chance to drive in runs either place, and just try to make the lineup tough for the opposing team to navigate through. A lot of times you think back, ‘I got the top four, five, six guys out and I can catch my breath a little bit here seven-through-nine’, and I don’t feel like that’s the case with us. It just makes us deeper, and maybe we wear them down a little bit. I know we’ve had a lot of success scoring late in games."

First baseman Reese Robinett has been out in recent series with an injury. Will he travel to Lexington?

"Yeah, he’ll definitely travel and he’ll be on the roster," Van Horn said. "He’s got a brace on his knee. He took ground balls yesterday and the day before, swung the bat. We’ll really look at it tonight at our workout and figure out if we want to start him, bring him in for defense if he can move well enough, but yeah, that’s still open right now. We’re not sure, but he’s definitely going to practice and he’s definitely traveling."

Arkansas and Kentucky will play Thursday and Friday at 5:30 p.m. and then 1 p.m. on Saturday. All the games can be streamed on SEC Network+.