Arkansas downed the Horned Frogs on Monday night to close out a perfect weekend at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington.
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Razorbacks’ centerfielder Christian Franklin talked with the media after the 4-1 win over TCU and compared this team to 2019 group.
Kopps got save in Razorbacks’ third win in State Farm Showdown
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Musselman on Hogs finding out Texas A&M game postponed getting on bus
It was pretty clear Monday Eric Musselman was disappointed at not playing against Aggies and finding out after they were on bus to airport.
Odom may not be as close as some think to leave Hogs, says SDS’ O’Gara
Connor O’Gara from Saturday Down South said on Halftime on Monday that Hogs defensive coordinator Barry Odom may stay in Fayetteville a while.
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Pig Trail Nation’s Jason Carroll said on Halftime the key for the Hogs against Alabama will be figuring out some way to slow down their offense.
Aggies haven’t played a game in February, but planning on tourney
Texas A&M hasn’t played a men’s basketball game in the entire month of February due to the covid-19 stuff and some bad weather.
Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Monday morning on the The Morning Rush with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on ESPN Arkansas that he could “see a scenario” where the Aggies just quit playing this year.
They haven’t played in February. The last game was Jan. 30 against Kansas State. They are sitting on an 8-7 overall record and 2-6 in the league. Their game Tuesday night against Kentucky has already been postponed.
Either Buzz Williams doesn’t want to try and deal with all of the changes or couldn’t manage recess at playschool.
But he told Olin Buchanan of TexAgs.com the Aggies have no intention of bailing out on whatever is left of their season.
“Our guys want to play,” Williams said over the weekend to TexAgs. “As soon as we can play, we want to play. We were scheduled to play today (against Arkansas). We were going to meet the SEC minimum on guys suited up to play. We were going to play, and those guys that were able to play were excited to play. Those that weren’t (able to play) understood why they couldn’t.”
Let’s be clear on something here. The Razorbacks haven’t had to postpone a game. Tulsa and Texas A&M have canceled games.
And the Aggies, in true fashion that makes you wonder what the hell is going on down there, bailed out as Eric Musselman and his team was getting on the bus headed to College Station (sort of like TCU did with the Texas Bowl at the end of December).
All of this is driving Musselman crazy, probably because it’s decisions being made by other people. He isn’t particularly crazy about practice and wants to play games.
They tried to play Arkansas State over the weekend after the Aggies canceled, but the coach over at the community college in Jonesboro either didn’t have the stomach for it or couldn’t figure out how to do it.
Naturally, he covered it with not being in the best interest of the Red Wolves, which means he probably figured playing the Hogs right now might be a distraction or something.
But don’t look for A&M to back out of the SEC Tournament unless the league just forgets to put them on the schedule.
“We’ll do whatever they want us to,” Williams told TexAgs.com. “We’ll be happy to play whoever it is at that time will be able to play. They’re (A&M players) anxious to play now and have been anxious to play.”
The Aggies hadn’t had a positive test since returning from a game with Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, on Jan. 30 and it’s apparently cycled through the entire program.
Teams must have one coach and seven scholarship players to meet the SEC minimum standard required to compete and A&M practiced with just four players a couple of weeks ago.
They thought they had turned the corner until the winter storm swept across the south and basically shut down College Station with snow and ice plus delaying results from covid testing.
When they got the results on Friday, another positive test forced the postponement of the Arkansas and Kentucky games.
The SEC Tournament won’t be pushed back because we’re now in a time crunch where these basketball tournaments HAVE to be played, especially the NCAA Tournament, scheduled for Indianapolis on March 18.
For financial reasons, they may take volunteers for teams to fill out the schedule.
But the Aggies are kind of like the relative who shows up unexpectedly and stays longer than you want.
For them not to play in the tournament they will have to be eliminated by the SEC because they aren’t going to say they aren’t coming.
“I don’t know exactly how that will play out,” Williams said.
Right now, nobody else does, either.
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Tye & Tommy on the TX/TTU wins, not getting to play basketball, Tom Murphy and remembering Miracle on Ice!
Van Horn knows February win over Texas means nothing in May
Arkansas shut out Texas, 4-0, on Sunday night at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown and while some fans will celebrate, Dave Van Horn probably won’t.
“It’s just another game to me,” he said later when the question that always gets asked when the Razorbacks meet the Longhorns.
Exactly why it’s a big deal in any sport to Hog fans remains a mystery to me. It’s been just another game for the last 30 years.
Van Horn was more interested in Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who are also in Arlington playing games and the SEC is 5-1 (the Bulldogs lost to TCU on Sunday).
“There’s two other teams from the western division (of the SEC) that are here right now that are every bit as good as we are,” Van Horn said. “We’ve got our hands full with league play.”
Texas has been good in baseball before it became popular to be good in college baseball. Arkansas didn’t get around to having a whole lot of interest in the sport until the mid-1970’s.
“I have a lot of respect for their program and what they’ve done over the last 75 years,” Van Horn said. “It’s hard to say it’s just another win because some of our fans love it when we beat Texas in anything but to me it’s just a good win for our program.”
Still, getting a shutout win over the Longhorns in a showcase college baseball series that wasn’t television is a big deal to a lot of fans.
“It’s hard to say it’s just another win because some of our fans love it when we beat Texas in anything,” Van Horn said to acknowledge he’s aware some of the fans get worked up over it. “To me it’s just a good win for our program.”
And it was a good win.
Peyton Pallette allowed only one hit over 4.1 innings of work, retiring the first six Longhorn batters he faced.
He struck out two in the first before striking out the side in the top of the second.
Pallette, from Benton, worked around a base-loaded jam in the third, collecting another punch-out along the way, and then set down the Longhorns in order in the fourth, grabbing his seventh strikeout in the frame.
He struck out the very first batter he faced in the fifth before he was pulled for pitch count, finishing the outing with eight strikeouts.
Pallette departed the ballgame with a one-run lead thanks to designated hitter Brady Slavens, who single-handedly powered the Hog offense on Sunday night.
The Olathe, Kansas, product drove in all four runs in the win, starting with his RBI single in the bottom of the fourth that put Arkansas up, 1-0.
Slavens then broke the game open in the sixth inning, launching a three-run homer to right center and putting the Hogs ahead by four.
Left-hander Caden Monke and right-hander Caleb Bolden came on in relief of Pallette and did their jobs in protecting the lead.
Bolden tossed four scoreless frames out of the bullpen, closing out the game and striking out seven to lock down Arkansas’ second consecutive win over a Top 10 opponent.
Sunday’s win was Arkansas’ sixth all-time shutout victory against Texas. The Razorbacks last did so during the 1988 campaign, taking down the Longhorns, 5-0, in Austin, Texas in 1988.
The State Farm College Baseball Showdown concludes Monday night.
Arkansas will look to continue its undefeated start, facing its third nationally ranked opponent of the year, squaring off against No. 10 TCU at 6 p.m. Monday at Globe Life Field.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Bolden on strong four innings picking up save in Hogs’ win over Longhorns
Razorbacks’ pitcher Caleb Bolden’s strong four innings keeping Texas at bay helped secure the shutout win in the second game in Arlington.
