FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' baseball season is growing nearer as evidenced by Monday's Swatter's Club at the Fayetteville Library.

Dave Van Horn is set to begin another season with his team ranked as high as No. 4 by Perfect Game in the preseason. Arkansas (50-15) last season and made another trip to the College World Series in Omaha. Neb.

Due to the recent weather in Fayetteville the team has spent a lot of time practicing inside. Van Horn was asked if that has still resulted in good practices?

"Yeah, it's been good, but you know, it's to the advantage of the pitchers," Van Horn said. "You know, it’s tough hitting inside. It’s tough hitting it anyway when they’re throwing as hard as they are, when they’re throwing those cutters and change ups. And you know, the lights are good in there and we have a really good backdrop, but it's not like being outside. Hopefully this weekend our offense will pick it up a little bit because the last couple of weekends, it's been all about the pitching."

With temperatures improving this week and basically the snow almost completely gone the outlook for practice is better now.

"Oh yeah, we’ll be out there this weekend," Van Horn said. "We had the tarp on the field so the snow's melted off of it. Then we had the tarps in the outfield where it doesn't get much sun, and they've gotten that all taken care of. Now it's just a matter of just drying up that green part of the outfield, so to speak. They had to break it up, because they had a sheet over the top of it. So they’ve been doing that today. So today’s a big day for us to get that down. Honestly, if it’s melted enough I would like to hit out there tomorrow even if we’re using old baseballs because our outfielders need to catch a ball off the bat."

Van Horn was asked if the weather conditions leading up the season have had much an impact on the start?

"Yeah, I mean, it is what it is," Van Horn said. "We try not to make a big deal out of it. But it’ll slow you down for sure. But I don’t … I’m not making any excuses. If we pitch well and field well, we’ll be in the games down there. If we don’t, we won’t.

"I don't take the first weekend too seriously, so to speak. I know that we're going to get better. If you win three, it’s great. If you lose a couple, it's don’t panic, just try to see what’s up. But this weekend, being able to go outside, I think it makes up for the last couple of weeks being inside because we get to make up for it a little bit, see what’s up."

The season will start Friday, Feb. 13, with the Shriners Children's College Showdown at GLobe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The Razorbacks will open with Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. that Friday. They will also face TCU on Saturday at 7 p.m. then finish up on Sunday taking on Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. Then on Monday they will take on Tarleton State at 2 p.m. in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series also at Globe Life Field.

Gone from the starting rotation are Gage Wood, Zach Root and Landon Beidelschies. With the need to find some new starters Van Horn spoke about how he feels about the group.

"Yeah, I think so," Van Horn said. "Let the guys go again. But right now I’d say you’re probably looking at two lefts and a right. That's kind of what we're thinking, but we’ll see how it goes this weekend. Unless something crazy happens that’s what we’ll probably do."

Last season Gabe Gaeckle struggled as a starter and then was moved to the bullpen where he became a very important part of the team. Assuming he is one of the projected starters this season what is different?

"I think last year he was a little just wound up and you know high expectations and he had a little trouble throwing that heater for a strike," Van Horn said. "That breaking ball’s always been pretty good. He just seems to command his pitches better. You know, he was unbelievable out of the pen again last year. Even in the first game in Omaha, we brought him in and we’re down, and they really didn’t do much after that. Then his last outing he was amazing. We just didn’t want to hurt him, obviously. He was running out of pitches. So it’s his year to start and get us into the game and get us to that next guy, hopefully after the fifth inning."

Gaeckle finished with a 4-2 record in 19 games, including nine starts with an ERA of 4.42. In 71.1 innings, he fanned 92. Is there a chance the rotation for the season could be set the first weekend?

"Well, you have older guys for sure," Van Horn said. "A lot of times, it might change one or two, but we’ve moved them all around the last year or so. This year, I don’t see that quite as much. I think that’s their role, they’ve earned it. You hope as a coach they go out and they do that and you kind of go, ‘Okay, alright,’ and go to the next week and get them ready for the next week. But if they don’t, we’ll make adjustments. And they get it, they understand."

The home opener will be Friday, Feb. 20, when the Razorbacks host Xavier for a three-game series beginning at 3 p.m.. Saturday's game will start at 2 p.m. and then noon on Sunday. Arkansas State will come in for two games Feb. 24-25. Both have 3 p.m. starts.