FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 5 Arkansas will open the season on Friday in Arlington, Texas, where they will play four games in as many days.
On Wednesday, Dave Van Horn discussed the pitching rotation he has set for the first three games.
"It’ll be (Gabe) Gaeckle on Friday, then we’ll go with (Hunter) Dietz on Sai Aturday and (Colin) Fisher on Sunday," Van Horn said. "We’re not going to announce [Monday starter] yet. We know who we’re throwing, but we’re not going to announce it."
Gaeckle is a right-handed pitcher who started early last season before being moved back to bullpen. Fisher started some of the midweek games. Dietz struggled last year when on the mound, but Van Horn feels he's healthy now. Fisher and Dietz are both lefties.
Kuhio Aloy spent the majority of the 2025 season at designated hitter. This season he's in right field. Van Horn was asked about Aloy's defense.
"He had a rough Saturday and Sunday," Van Horn said. "I wasn’t here, obviously. I got play-by-play and I watched video of all the mistakes we made yesterday, fielding mistakes. So he… To answer your question, but I’ll say this before that, he just had a bad weekend. Monday he worked on his own. One of our professional players Dominic Fletcher) is still here, got with him, did some extra work yesterday. Did a lot of extra work. Then we had a big defensive day yesterday with the — example, coach pitch, so basically balls are flying to the outfield, flying out of the park. He got a lot of work and he looked really good yesterday. To me, it’s a mental thing. It’s a little nervous, confidence thing, and a little bit of technique. So we worked on a few things and I feel like he got better.
"But to answer your question, yeah, the conversation has been, ‘You gotta get better every day, you gotta be really into playing defense, and not thinking about hitting all the time, to stay on the field all the time.’ If it becomes an issue, then there will be a change or there would be some adjustments made in game, where you have to put defenders in there late in the game depending on the score. But this is normal when you have position changes, or in this case, someone who had never played out there until a year ago. It did slow him down that he missed fall ball, most of it, coming off of mono and then some other sickness. Now he’s finally starting to get healthy. We just gotta get him some reps."
With four games in as many days Van Horn was asked what he's looking for this weekend?
"It’s not always about wins," Van Horn said. "Wins are good, winning makes everything better, but at the same time, it’s just kind of figuring out where we’re at with this type of competition we’re going to play. We’ve had some really good days when I thought, ‘Man, we’re pretty good.’ And then we’ve had some days where I’ve gone, ‘Man, we’ve got a long way to go.’ So I just want to see us play hard, be consistent and kind of show us what we need to focus on going forward. I’d say that’s what I need to do."
What would complicate Aloy going to designated hitter is Nolan Souza will likely handle that until he heals from surgery last season that limited him to 32 games. Where is Souza at as far as being able to return to the infield and is it strength or accuracy concerns with the arm?
"It’s always going to be a little bit of both, but it’s more the arm strength," Van Horn said. "When you’re coming off any type of surgery on your throwing arm, there’s going to be some accuracy issues, so to speak. But really more about range of motion, arm strength and then mentally letting it go. What we’ve seen lately, and we made a change because he’s been freed up to do whatever, is that he’ll long toss but he’s not letting it go. You’ve got to let it go. You’ve got to throw hard, full effort. Throw it as hard as you can. He started doing that a little bit, because I think that he sees that he’s behind.
"The frustrating thing is it it took five weeks to have surgery when he hurt it, and that wasn’t us. He’s behind. When he got hurt, we thought he could be ready. He’s close, but he’s not 100% there yet, and he may play in the field when he gets back because he’s a really good defender and he’s got a lot of range. But for now, you’re probably looking at him DHing. He can play, but I don’t know that he’s more ready than the guys that are in front of him."
Van Horn was asked if he's specifically talking about Souza waiting five weeks to have the surgery?
"Who do you think it was?," Van Horn said. "I’m not going to say it. It wasn’t us. They all got to have the perfect guy do it. I get it. Get him in. We’re talking five weeks. That’s a big difference when you’re talking a short college season. Still frustrated, as you can tell."
What determined Fisher getting the Sunday start over some others. He was 3-0 last season with an ERA of 4.62 in 16 appearances including five starts. Gibler was 3-2 with an ERA of 3.99 in 20 games, all out of the bullpen.
"Man, he earned it," Van Horn said. "You’re probably talking about Gibler not getting in there. Gibler’s going to be in there. You guys have mentioned it, maybe on the field talking to me, it gives you a little bit of security when you got Gibler in there the first weekend because he’s been that guy and he’s been so dominant out of the pen for an inning or two, and even longer. Not saying that he doesn’t deserve to start, and we could hold him out and pitch him on Monday, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. So, yeah, Fisher did it again for like the fourth weekend in a row where all he does is get people out and throw strikes. We just feel like he deserves a shot. It’s not like Gibler didn’t do enough, but his best outing, Gibler, was his last outing. I mean, he threw really good this past Friday."
Van Horn was asked if he knows what the lineup will be?
"Yeah, I think so," Van Horn said. "I thought Souza, I mean, when I got my eyes on him on Friday live it was some really good at bats. Couple two-strike hits, hit lefties, righties, they felt like it continued on. So a couple other spots, left field is still flip a coin, honestly. But they’re all going to get their time throughout the season. I always tell the guys, the lineup changes from opening day, believe me. Don’t take it personal if you don’t start or don’t play too much first weekend. There’s a lot of games."
The games will be played at Globe Life Field. The Hogs will face Oklahoma State on Friday at 7 p,m., TCU Saturday at 7 p.m.. Texas Tech Sunday at 2:30 p.m. and then Tarleton State Monday at 2 p.m. at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.