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Hogs being two games up in West with six to go only interests fans
Dave Van Horn knows what the standings at this point in the season are … whether he wants to admit or not.
But he’s not sharing that with any players.
“We’re not even looking at that,” he said Wednesday in advance of the final home series against LSU. “We just want to play well Thursday and then go from there.”
First pitch Thursday is at 6:30 p.m. and you can listen on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
The last time the Razorbacks took a series from the Tigers was 2011. Since then, the record is 22-6 and that’s counting seven meetings in the SEC Tournament.
Fans get worked up over it. Just mention LSU to some of them and watch their face change color, often to Razorback Red.
Van Horn publicly just shrugs it off.
“Those are really things I can’t control,” he said. “It’s more for the fans, to be honest with you.”
Arkansas is sitting one game behind Vanderbilt for the overall regular-season league crown and two games up on both Mississippi schools with LSU in fourth, three games back.
“I haven’t talked to our team about it one time this year, not one time,” Van Horn said.
It’s amazing how many of the great coaches never mention the standings, even at the major league level. Oh, they know and they figure their players know.
They just try to keep the focus narrow and more on what each player is doing rather than sitting back looking at the big picture.
“The only thing I’ve ever talked about is ‘we’ve got a couple of weeks left of the season and we’ll be at the tournament.’” he said. “Other than that, not what we’ve got to do, who we’ve got to beat, who’s gotta do what. We’re not even looking at that.”
LSU has done some big things this year with two outs and that’s something Van Horn is very aware of.
“The game’s not over ’till that last out,” he said. “If any team should know it’s us.”
Razorback fans don’t need the painful details of THAT detailed for them. It’s a painful memory.
What this team has accomplished is surprising to some, mainly because of the players who left for pro ball or flat ran out of eligibility.
“They’ve really come a long way,” Van Horn said about this team. “They wanted to write their own legacy, so to speak. They wanted to show that last year’s team was good, but they can do it as well.
“It’s been a really fun team to be around.”
Now they just have to close things out, starting with LSU this weekend and it’s a big series for the fans, at least.
“I don’t feel like we look at this series much different than any other,” Van Horn said and he’s probably not stretching anything there.
He’ll let the fans worry about hosting a Super Regional, which is the hot topic lately. That’s making a lot of assumptions with six regular-season games left (they go on the road to Texas A&M next week) and all the tournament stuff.
Van Horn knows how big this weekend is.
“They’ve had our number,” he said about the Tigers.
He’s also pretty sure his players know it, too. If they didn’t there were several questions from the media Wednesday pointing it out.
“We’re just focused on LSU,” Thursday starter Isaiah Campbell said. “We’re focused on getting a win tomorrow then on Friday and the next day.”
Which is kinda the way Van Horn wants them all thinking.
Follow live
You can hear all of the games with Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch.
This weekend’s series will be televised in front of a national audience on Thursday and Saturday. Game one will be featured on ESPNU, while game three will be on ESPN2.
Tom Hart, Kyle Peterson and Eduardo Perez will call the series opener, while Hart and Peterson will return for the finale.
The middle game will be online only via SEC Network+ with Brett Dolan and Troy Eklund calling the game.
Razorback notes
• Arkansas is coming off its third-straight SEC series victory after taking two of three games at Kentucky last week. It’s loss to the Wildcats on Sunday snapped a nine-game conference winning streak, its longest since 2010.
• The Razorbacks currently sit at the top of the SEC Western Division with a two-game lead over Ole Miss and Mississippi State. At 17-7, the Hogs need two more wins to tie for the most conference wins under Dave Van Horn and five to tie the school record (1999).
• Redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell will take the mound on Thursday night for his 13th start of the year. At 8-1, Campbell is the SEC leader in innings pitched (78.0) and has worked six or more innings nine of his last 10 starts with nine quality outings.
• Lead-off batter Trevor Ezell hit .533 over four games last week, with five of his eight hits going for extra-bases. Ezell has seen his average rise 29 points since taking over the lead-off spot (April 2) and is hitting .381 since then.
• Coach Dave Van Horn earned his 1,000th Division I win last week after defeating Kentucky, 9-1, in the first game of their doubleheader. Van Horn is the ninth active head coach in the country with 1,000 or more wins at the DI level.
• Casey Martin and Dominic Fletcher lead the SEC in doubles heading into Thursday’s game with LSU. The duo each have one double in the last four games and have combined for 12 in SEC play.
• Casey Martin hit his third inside-the-park home run of the year last week in the series opener against Kentucky and second of the week. Martin is hitting .302 for the year with 11 home runs, which is the second-most home runs on the team.
• Catcher Casey Opitz was a baserunners worst nightmare last week as he caught five would-be base stealers, all against Kentucky. Opitz has 18 caught stolen bases this year, which leads the SEC.
Notes from Razorback Sports Communications
