John & Tommy discuss a former Hog on Chad Morris, Nick Mason on Daniel Gafford’s NBA projections, Richard Davenport with a recruiting update and more!
Musselman adds former Nevada assistant to Hogs’ staff
FAYETTEVILLE — Hays Myers, who spent the last three seasons at Nevada, has been named special assistant to new Arkansas coach Eric Musselman.
Myers was a graduate assistant one season and worked the last two seasons as director of player development.
His duties with the Wolf Pack included gathering and disseminating analytics, film exchange with opponents, preparation of film for opponent scouting for both coaches and players and one year as the academic liaison.
In his three years at Nevada, the Wolf Pack won at least 28 games each season, won three Mountain West regular-season titles, one conference tournament championship and made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a Sweet 16 run in 2018.
Myers joined the Wolf Pack staff after five years as a student manager for the LSU men’s basketball team. It was there, in 2014, Myers first crossed paths with Musselman, who was an associate head coach with the Tigers.
Myers worked directly with Musselman, preparing scouting reports.
Myers has worked with coaches such as David Patrick (head coach at UC Riverside) and Brendan Suhr (former Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks assistant coach).
Myers also worked with several NBA players while at LSU, including the 2016 overall number one selection Ben Simmons and fellow first-rounder Jarrell Martin as well as second-round NBA picks Johnny O’Bryant and Jordan Mickey.
A native of Dallas, Myers graduated in May of 2016 from LSU with a degree in mass communication and two minors in sports studies and leadership development.
He married the former Haleigh Wells on May 26, 2019.
???? Wednesday Halftime Pod — featuring Rashad Phillips
Phil & Tye hit on if Arkansas baseball’s success is helping the FB/BKB team, interview Rashad Phillips about Daniel Gafford, and more!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday
John & Tommy discuss best gas station food, excitement for Hog FB, friends in NEA and more!
???? Tuesday Halftime Pod — featuring Nikki Chavanelle
Phil & Tye hit on the disappointing part of the season, interview Nikki Chavanelle, and more!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John & Tommy discuss the Texas Tech loss, the team reflects, Hog sports better next year and more!
Hogs’ quick exit from Omaha shows how hard titles are to get
Within minutes of the stories being posted here following Arkansas’ loss to Texas Tech on Monday afternoon, one fan apparently thought I was going to produce a negative piece.
Bless his heart, he implored that I not be allowed to write a certain way … and added for the umpteenth time I be fired.
It’s almost disappointing to tell him no one has told me in the five decades of doing this what to (or not to) write or talk about.
In the biggest of markets I’ve been in (top five in the country), no one has ever so much as hinted at it … to me or anyone else that I know.
Even more, there’s nothing to really be negative about, even with an 0-2 run in Omaha at the College World Series this year.
It’s baseball. Winning a national title in that sport is as hard as any sport.
Yes, that’s one of Dave Van Horn’s sayings that filters down to his players, but it’s an accurate statement. It also applies to just about every other team sport, but especially in baseball, which is (at least in my opinion) the most difficult sport.
Baseball, unlike any other sport, celebrates someone who accomplishes their task of hitting a round ball with a round stick four out of 10 times. Most would crucify a quarterback who completed an average of four-of-10 passes.
The sport creates more “what if” moments than any other form of competition. For a fan base that is still playing that card 60 years after some games in various sports, baseball is often a maddening experience.
Yes, there are questions on decisions. Van Horn knows that’s a gigantic part of baseball, too.
And there were mistakes made in the field and at the plate. That’s part of baseball, too.
“It was a good year,” Van Horn said later.
This Hogs team over-achieved from what a lot of folks were expecting back in February. Van Horn said it. Many ignored him saying and assumed another trip to Omaha, which turned out to be correct, and has become the expectation every year.
“I know there’s a lot of people back home disappointed, but probably like me, if they just take a step back and take a breath and kind of realize what we replaced and how we did after we replaced all those players, it was a pretty good year,” Van Horn said Monday afternoon.
The result against Texas Tech is crushing to some, disappointing to others.
But all Razorback fans should just take a step back, suck in a deep breath and realize it was a year that actually was better than most expected.
Next year will be here soon enough.
In the meantime there is football coming up with practices starting in about six weeks and SEC Media Days in about three weeks.
Yes, it’s that close.
Van Horn, Kjerstad, Martin after falling to Texas Tech, 5-4
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, right fielder Heston Kjerstad and shortstop Casey Martin with the media after being eliminated from the College World Series on Monday.
Tadlock, players after beating Hogs to advance at Omaha
Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock and his players recapping the 5-4 win over Arkansas on Monday in an elimination game at the College World Series in Omaha.
Red Raiders’ long ball knocks Hogs out of College World Series
OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas fell victim to the home run ball Monday and was eliminated from the College World Series by Texas Tech, 5-4, inside TD Ameritrade Park.
The Razorbacks’ appearance in the College World Series caps the program’s 10th trip to Omaha, and its sixth under coach Dave Van Horn.
Arkansas ends the season with a 46-20 record, tying for the second-most wins in a season under Van Horn.
2019 College World Series (Day 3)
Game 1: Michigan 5, Texas Tech 3 | Box Score
Game 2: Florida State 1, Arkansas 0 | Box Score
Game 3: Vanderbilt 3, Louisville 1 | Box Score
Game 4: Mississippi State 5, Auburn 4 | Box Score
Game 5: Texas Tech 5, Arkansas 4 | Box Score
Sophomore Heston Kjerstad jumpstarted the Hog offense with a solo opposite-field home run in the second inning, giving the Razorbacks their first run of this year’s CWS.
Kjerstad now has 17 home runs this year, which ties him for 10th most in a single season in Arkansas history. Kjerstad now has 31 home runs in his two-year Razorback career, just two shy of the top-10 of the Arkansas all-time list.
Casey Martin also put together his third multi-hit performance in his last five games, going 2-for-5 with a double and a triple.
He helped put together the two-run third inning with an RBI triple, his fourth three-bagger of the year, and later scored on an RBI single by Matt Goodheart.
The Razorbacks got a solid start from Connor Noland, as he worked four innings with just four hits allowed and one walk, but the two-run home run by Warren were the only runs he allowed.
It was Noland’s fifth outing in his last six that he pitched four or more innings and 14th where he walked one or less.
What happened
After taking a 3-0 lead after three innings and starting pitcher Connor Noland rolling through his first three frames, the Red Raiders started to chip away, starting with a two-run home run by Cameron Warren in the fourth inning.
That was followed by solo home runs by Easton Murrell and Josh Jung, marking the sixth time this year the Arkansas pitching staff has given up three or more home runs in a game.
Arkansas tied the game in the top of the eighth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Jack Kenley. Dominic Fletcher worked a full-count walk, then ended up on third behind a single from Kjerstad.
After five pitches fouled off, Kenley lifted a fly ball to left field and Fletcher raced home to knot the game up at four.
Texas Tech starter Caleb Kilian seemed to handcuff the Arkansas lineup, giving up just three earned runs in seven innings and striking out nine, tying a career high.
He gave way to lefthander Dane Haveman in the eighth, who gave up the tying run.
However, in the bottom half of the inning, Tech countered with a two-out walk to Warren and a triple to the gap in right-center field from Cody Masters, pushing the Red Raiders back on top, 5-4.
The Razorbacks threatened in the ninth, as Jacob Nesbit was hit by the third pitch he saw, then a single from Christian Franklin put two on with nobody out.
Unfortunately, the Red Raiders were able to leave the duo stranded on the bases to put an end to Arkansas’ run in the College World Series.
Arkansas-Texas Tech game notes
• Saturday marked the third time Arkansas and Texas Tech had squared off in postseason play.
It was the second-straight year the two teams have faced each other in the College World Series, with the Razorbacks picking up the win, 7-4, in the 1-0 game.
• Arkansas moved to 5-3 in NCAA Tournament action this season. The Razorbacks swept the Fayetteville Regional, 3-0, and went 2-1 in the Fayetteville Super Regional.
Overall in postseason play, Arkansas is 6-5 this season.
• Arkansas is 15-20 in the College World Series and 4-10 in CWS elimination games.
• The Hogs are 88-69 (.561) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 24 tournament wins in the last six years.
• Heston Kjerstad hit a solo home run to left field in the second inning, his 17th of the season and third this postseason. His other two homers came against Central Connecticut State (May 31) and Ole Miss (June 10), both solo shots.
• Casey Martin ripped an RBI triple to left field in the third inning, his fourth of the year and first this postseason. His triple was the first by an Arkansas player at the College World Series since 1989 (Jim Calhoon vs. North Carolina).
• Connor Noland’s final line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K – the 13th time in 20 starts Noland has pitched four or more innings, including five of the last six.
• With a single in the seventh inning, Trevor Ezell extended his hitting streak to nine games, including every game of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. This postseason, he is batting 17-of-37 (.315) with eight RBIs and eight runs scored.
• Casey Martin recorded his 26th multi-hit game behind a double and triple. He finished tied for the team-lead with Dominic Fletcher.
• Heston Kjerstad also posted two hits to move up to third this season in multi-hit performances with 24.
• Christian Franklin posted his 17th multi-hit game of the season after recording a pair of singles against the Red Raiders. He ranks seventh on the team in multi-hit performances this season. He was the only Razorback to have multi-hit games in both CWS contests.
Razorback quotables
“Well, obviously it was a tough loss. Pretty well-played game by both teams. For the most part, there really wasn’t too many mistakes. Just kind of who got the big hit and who didn’t. But just some big hits. Texas Tech took advantage of a couple of things, and tough loss, two tough losses here for us. Two one-run losses that really could have gone either way.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on the 5-4 loss to Texas Tech
“You know, just really proud of the team. Told them that after the game. Told them to walk out of there with their head high. We were real close to winning two games. We ended up losing two one-run games; kind of hard to swallow. But overall it was a really good year, getting a part of the Western Division championship and getting back here, just proud of them and appreciated the effort they gave us all year. Those guys showed up every day and worked hard, smiled a lot, and it made it fun to work with them. I just appreciate the effort.” — Van Horn on putting the season in perspective
“I thought we had an outstanding year, being counted out from the beginning. We bring in some new guys, Trevor Ezell did more than outstanding for us, and he’s a competitor. Without bringing guys in like that, true leaders for this team, I guess you just could say such a young team we have, that it shows these younger guys what it takes to get here. So they’ve experienced it now, and they know what it takes. We needed that, and I think we’ll be good if we can build off that.” — Casey Martin on how the year played out for Arkansas
“We had a spectacular year getting back here for the second year in a row, but it shows a lot about the incoming guys that came in and replaced a lot of the starters and experience we had from last season, and it took everyone on our whole roster to get us here, and it was just great to be back, and we’ll look back on the season and realize how good we were for the whole season, how good of an experience we had. But for now it’s obviously a little bitter once the season is over.” — Heston Kjerstad on the 2019 season for Arkansas
