By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas will host Tennessee this weekend in an SEC series that pits Dave Van Horn's team against Tony Vitello's squad.
Vitello is a former assistant for Van Horn, but the two have since exchanged some words over recruiting. This doesn't seem like just Van Horn facing one of his assistants. Van Horn praised the Vols without mentioning Vitello.
"Well, they're very talented," Van Horn said. "Their pitching staff is probably as good as anyone in the league. Their numbers are great. They have three really talented starters with big arms, pro guys that are going to pitch in professional baseball for a long time. Good bullpen, good mix out there. They've got four or five starters back. They're solid. They're like every team in the league, they're just really good."
Is Tennessee's pitching staff as good as any in the SEC?
"Yeah," Van Horn said. "You could say LSU's staff, you could say Florida's staff. I'd say Vanderbilt's staff, Tennessee's staff. They're all just... they're deep. LSU's had some injuries. Tennessee's been good. Florida's got their guys rolling. Every weekend, you go into it knowing you're going to be facing good arms, good velocity, usually a good mix of right and left-handers.
"To answer your question, yeah. If we hit the ball good this weekend, we're going to feel like we can hit anybody in the league, but there are other staffs in the league that are really good, and you'd probably get the same feeling if you hit them."
On Thursday, fans were already lining up at Baum-Walker Stadium to get into Friday night's game.
"We haven’t really seen an atmosphere this season at this ballpark that we’ve seen in the past," Van Horn said. "What I mean by that, the weather hasn’t been great. It was pretty good against Alabama, but it wasn’t real loud, honestly. There were some good ballgames, they were tight, but the fans, they can help us when they’re loud. So I’m sure with the weather being where it is, where we are in league play, I have a feeling this place is going to elevate a little bit."
Van Horn was asked if he will use Hunter Hollan, Will McEntire and Hagen Smith as starters this weekend?
"We're going to do the same thing we did last weekend," Van Horn said. "We're not sure who we're going to throw on Saturday or Sunday yet. It kind of depends on who we have to pitch on Friday to try to win."
The status of left fielder Jared Wegner is still up in the air. Wegner is hitting .351 with 12 home runs and has knocked in 44 runs. He hurt his thumb sliding into third base against Little Rock on Tuesday night.
"I'd say it's 50-50," Van Horn said. "He's got a little fracture in that thumb, little hairline. Broken, whatever you want to call it. He's very tough. It's not a clean break or anything, it's more of a hairline fracture. It's very painful right now, but I think if anybody could handle the pain, it would probably be him. I don't know yet. We'll know more tomorrow. I don't think it'll be until Friday I'll know if I'm going to write him in the lineup. He's going to have to show me he can play."
Hunter Grimes played left field in Wednesday's loss to Little Rock. Van Horn listed off the options for left field if Wegner can't play when asked if it would be Grimes?
"That’s an option," Van Horn said. "I could. It just depends on how you want to. I could put Kendall (Diggs) in right, (Jace) Bohrofen in left. I could have another DH. There’s options there. I think Hunter had been swinging it well and he hadn’t had a lot of opportunities until today. He popped up a few times and hit a decently hard ground ball to third, struck out the other at bat, maybe walked. But yeah, I don’t know yet."
Van Horn went into a little more detail on Wegner's injury.
"He can grip the bat," Van Horn said. "If you hurt your top hand thumb, it’s going to affect you more than the bottom hand, I would think, the way we swing a bat. It’s more about the pain and him not thinking about that thumb, so if he shows me tomorrow that he can hit a little bit or Friday, we’ll probably go with him. But we won’t know for a day or two."
Did Wegner try to persuade Van Horn to let him play on Wednesday?
"We got him looked at this morning," Van Horn said Wednesday. "So once we found out exactly what was up, you’re definitely not going to play him today and have a plan to try to get him ready for Friday."
The Vols will send righty Andrew Lindsey (0-1, 2.01) to the mound tonight to face Hollan (5-1, 3.00). Tonight's game will begin at 7 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network. Saturday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the 2 p.m. on Sunday. The final two games of the series will be on the SEC Network+.