Hogs get share of SEC West title, but Omaha is Van Horn’s main goal

Arkansas and Mississippi State are splitting the SEC West regular-season title this year and mainly because neither team won its way to an outright title.

The Razorbacks lost to Texas A&M on Saturday, dropping two out of three games, and the Bulldogs lost to South Carolina, but won two of three.

That resulted in a tie that leaves neither fan base particularly thrilled, but Hog fans do like the No. 2 seed headed into the SEC Tournament this week.

“Our division is the toughest division in the country by far this year,” Dave Van Horn said last week at the Swatter’s Club meeting.

Arkansas finished the season 20-10 in league play. It’s the sixth division title since joining the SEC with conference titles in 1999 and 2004, outright division crowns in 2007 and 2011 and split the division title with Ole Miss last season when both teams were 18-12 in conference games.

It is the most regular-season conference wins since a program-best 22 during its SEC championship season in 1999.

Van Horn got his fifth division championship.

Arkansas will open play in the tournament Wednesday next week, heading straight there from College Station. The Hogs will play either Ole Miss, Missouri or Auburn in a double-elimination game.

Winning games at Hoover, Alabama, next week might excite fans, but Van Horn said Monday it’s not the biggest goal.

“Yeah, I want to win that tournament, but I want to go to Omaha, too,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can (to win).”

It requires some management of players, much like playing in Omaha. Tournaments tests a team’s pitching depth and catching at times, Van Horn pointed out to boosters at the Swatter’s Club.

“You don’t want to wear people down to where it affects you during the regional,” he said.

The Hogs will likely host an NCAA Regional in a couple of weeks at Baum-Walker. Hosting a Super Regional is probably a notch or two above possible, but far from definite at this point.

But they did win a share of the SEC West title, over a time where they held the tiebreaker advantage, outscoring the Bulldogs 27-10 in a sweep earlier in the year. The Hogs were picked third in the preseason behind LSU and Ole Miss.

That tournament seeding is more important than an outright title, mainly for an extra day of rest as the planning is in full mode for something bigger.

And that, of course, is going to Omaha again.