John & Tommy discuss the Arkansas/Memphis series, Omahogs drafted, game times announcement, plus Matt Hobbs joins the program!
Fletcher, Campbell go on MLB Draft’s first day among top 100 picks
FAYETTEVILLE — Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Isaiah Campbell and junior outfielder Dominic Fletcher were the first Razorbacks taken in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft Monday night.
The duo was taken in back-to-back picks in Competitive Balance Round B as Fletcher was taken by Arizona at No. 75 overall while Campbell was taken by Seattle at No. 76 overall.
Fletcher and Campbell are the 15th and 16th Razorbacks to be taken in the draft’s first three rounds since 2010.
Campbell is the sixth pitcher since 2013, while Fletcher is the first position player taken that high since Andrew Benintendi went in the first round to Boston in 2015.
Arkansas’ previous top picks in the last two drafts were right-hander Trevor Stephan, who went in the third round to the New York Yankees in 2017 as the 92nd overall pick and Blaine Knight, who went in 2018 to the Baltimore Orioles in the third round as the 84th pick.
With Monday’s selections, Arkansas has had at least one player picked in each of the past 45 MLB Drafts dating back to 1975. Also, there have now been 90 players drafted at least once under Dave Van Horn since he became head coach in 2003.
Over the last three seasons, Fletcher has shown why he’s one of the best players in the nation both offensively and defensively.
In 2019 alone, Fletcher is having his best year at the plate, hitting .312 with 77 hits, 23 doubles and 10 home runs, while slugging .526. All of those numbers are career-bests as he’s hit 10 or more homers each year of his career and is the current SEC leader in doubles through 61 games.
Fletcher is a .297 career hitter for the Razorbacks and has 218 hits, 32 home runs and 142 RBIs in 189 games at Arkansas. He needs 11 hits, one home run and 17 RBIs to crack into the Arkansas all-time career charts in each of those categories.
Only four Razorbacks are in the top-10 in all three offensive categories (Ryan Lundquist, Danny Hamblin, Greg D’Alexander, Jeff King).
Defensively, there may not be a better centerfielder than Fletcher as he’s only made nine errors in three years (.981) and has seven outfield assists to his name. This year, he has a career-low two errors in 162 chances.
Campbell was selected in last year’s draft as a redshirt sophomore by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (24th, No. 721), but elected to come back to Fayetteville for his fourth year and has had one of the biggest jumps of any pitcher in the nation.
The Olathe, Kansas, native has racked up an 11-1 record this year and has helped the Hogs into their second-straight NCAA Super Regionals, their eighth appearance in supers in school history.
He recently was named an All-American by Collegiate Baseball Magazine and showed his All-American stuff in the NCAA Regional last week with a career-high eight-inning, one-run performance against TCU to put the Hogs into the regional final.
Campbell has racked up a team-best 2.27 ERA among Hog pitchers that have thrown 40 or more innings and has struck out 108 batters over 103 innings, which are all career-bests.
Campbell topped the 100-strikeout mark during his start in the SEC Tournament and is now sitting ninth all-time on the Arkansas single-season charts with 108 strikeouts.
Throughout his career, Campbell has made 48 appearances on the mound since 2016, 39 being starts. He has a 3.29 ERA in 205 innings and has held opponents to a .232 batting average.
Last week, in his start against TCU in the regional, Campbell reached 200 strikeouts in his career, becoming the sixth Razorback under Van Horn with 200 or more strikeouts in a career.
Day two of the draft will commence on Tuesday on MLB.com. Rounds 3-10 will be conducted, followed by rounds 11-40 on Wednesday, which will be the final day of the draft. All selections can be followed on MLB.com.
Hogs sell out Super Regional against Ole Miss quickly
FAYETTEVILLE — Less than 10 hours after they went on sale, all reserved and Hog Pen general admission tickets for this weekend’s NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium between Arkansas and Ole Miss are SOLD OUT.
Arkansas (44-17) clinched its spot in its eighth NCAA Super Regional in school history last night with a 6-0 shutout of TCU and will now face SEC foe Ole Miss (40-25) in a best-of-three series this weekend for a spot in the College World Series.
Game dates and start times, as well as television networks will be determined Tuesday morning after all regionals have completed.
A small allotment of general admission tickets in the Hog Pen have been reserved exclusively for UA students and may be purchased for $20 on a first come, first serve basis starting on Wednesday.
Students are limited to one ticket per person and they will be available online as well as at the Razorback Ticket Office.
???? Monday Halftime Pod — Featuring Hutch
Phil & Tye hit on takeaways from the Regional win, chat with Hutch, and more!
Hogs adding Memphis to future schedule could be positive recruiting tool
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will meet Memphis on the football field for the first time since 1998 when the two schools open a three-game series at Memphis on Sept. 20, 2025.
Memphis will come to Fayetteville the next year and again in 2028.
It’s a move that helps the Razorbacks in an area Chad Morris and his staff have targeted as a high priority with a decent-size number of quality players in the area each year.
The Razorbacks and Tigers have met only five times on the gridiron previously with all five games coming between 1992-98.
The 1998 matchup also came inside Memphis’ Liberty Bowl with the Hogs winning 23-9 in head coach Houston Nutt’s debut season.
The two teams met in four consecutive seasons from 1992-95 with the Tigers claiming the first three games and the Razorbacks winning the 1995 game inside Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium 27-20.
“I am excited for our fans throughout Arkansas and extending into Memphis that this series has come to fruition,” athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in a press release. “Based on the proximity of the two institutions and their respective fan bases, I believe these games will generate tremendous interest.”
Arkansas now has two non-conference games scheduled for the 2025 season with Notre Dame’s first-ever visit to Fayetteville joining the Tigers on the schedule.
(Information from Razorback Sports Communications included in the report)
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy discuss Isaiah Campbell’s significance, DVH’s mentality after winning the regional, and more!
Van Horn, Wicklander, Ezell, Goodheart after regional sweep
Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn along with starter Patrick Wicklander, first baseman Trevor Ezell and designated hitter Matt Goodheart recapping NCAA Regional.
Hogs roll past TCU to claim regional; will host Ole Miss in Super Regional
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas finished a clean sweep of the NCAA Regional on Sunday night, shutting out TCU, 6-0, to reach their eighth NCAA Super Regional in program history.
The Razorbacks (44-17) are back in the super regionals for the second-consecutive year. It’s the first time Arkansas has reach the supers in back-to-back years since 2009 and 2010.
It was also the eighth time an Arkansas team made it out of a regional without recording a loss.
Arkansas will face fellow SEC member Ole Miss in next week’s super regional as the Rebels finished off the NCAA Oxford Regional with three-straight wins.
As a top-eight national seed, Arkansas will host the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament, but dates and game times for the Fayetteville Super Regional will not be set until Tuesday. It will be the fourth time Fayetteville has hosted a super regional in school history.
Arkansas jumps out early
For the first time in the regional, Arkansas was able to jump on its opponent in the first inning scoring three times off TCU starter Jared Janczak to take a 3-0 lead.
It started with a one-out, two-RBI double by Dominic Fletcher, his 23rd double of the year and, then, followed with another double, this time from Jack Kenley to bring in Fletcher.
The Razorbacks held that lead for the entire game, finishing with their fifth shutout of the season.
Sunday’s win was Arkansas’ first shutout in a regional since a 3-0 win over Oral Roberts in the 2017 NCAA Fayetteville Regional. Arkansas also never trailed in its three games in this year’s regional, outscoring its opponents 20-6.
Wicklander follows suit with gem of his own
Just like Connor Noland and Isaiah Campbell before him, freshman lefty Patrick Wicklander handcuffed TCU hitters for five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts on 89 pitches.
The seven punch outs were just one shy of a season high and most since striking out seven against No. 18 Tennessee (April 27).
The Razorback starting pitchers had, arguably, its best week of the season in the Fayetteville Regional.
Combined, the trio of Noland, Campbell and Wicklander had a 0.99 ERA in 20.1 innings pitched and struck out 17 batters with only two walks allowed.
Goodheart, goodnight
Sophomore designated hitter Matt Goodheart put one of the final daggers into TCU’s season when he crushed a two-run home run off the scoreboard in right-centerfield in the fifth inning.
The blast was his fourth of the year and ended up chasing Janczak from the game. Janczak make it just 4.2 innings and allowed seven hits with five earned runs, but struck out eight.
As for Goodheart, the Magnolia native had four hits in the regional and has homered twice in his last four games.
Good play begins at home
Over the last three years, Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium has been nearly unbeatable.
This year, the Razorbacks are 31-6 at home and only lost one series, which was to future super regional opponent Ole Miss. Since 2017, the Hogs are 95-18 and have only lost three home series.
This year, the Razorbacks are averaging 8.6 runs per game at Baum-Walker and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.52, while holding opponents to a .219 batting average.
NCAA Fayetteville Regional All-Tournament Team
Catcher – Casey Opitz (Arkansas)
First Base – Trevor Ezell (Arkansas)
Second Base – Jack Kenley (Arkansas)
Third Base – Buddy Dewaine (CCSU)
Shortstop – Adam Oviedo (TCU)
Outfield – Heston Kjerstad (Arkansas)
Outfield – Johnny Rizer (TCU)
Outfield – Dave Matthews (CCSU)
DH – Hunter Wolfe (TCU)
Starting Pitcher – Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas)
Starting Pitcher – Connor Noland (Arkansas)
Relief Pitcher – Matt Cronin (Arkansas)
Relief Pitcher – Jake Eissler (TCU)
Tournament MVP – Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas)
Razorback quotables
“I thought it was just an outstanding job by Patrick Wicklander. Coming out as a freshman, packed crowd, a night game, had a little delay [because of lightning]. And he just came ouT and did a tremendous job. He only walked one. He did get behind some hitters, but he found a way to fight back from 3-1, 3-2 to get outs, strikeouts. He worked out of a jam or two and gave us a chance to really set up our bullpen to finish the game up.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on Patrick Wicklander
“It’s grown over the last few years. I think it was pretty good 10 years ago, but it’s continued to get better and better. I mean, did you watch the way our players acted when they won the game? It’s like just another game because they know they accomplished something, but they haven’t accomplished what we’re really trying to do. So, I don’t say anything to them after the game but we all noticed it. That’s what we want.” — Van Horn on the evolution of the culture of the Arkansas program
“I think they played with a lot more energy. Sometimes, maybe you see that maybe you need to work on certain things, but I don’t think you would change a whole lot because the players are nervous or uptight. On Thursday, I said, ‘I’ve had the opportunity to be in a lot of regionals and Super Regionals, I’ve been to Omaha a bunch of times and I’m not nervous this time of the year.’ I’m nervous during the season because it’s hard to get to this point. There are a lot of good teams that aren’t playing anymore. Now that we’re here, I just want you guys to go out and have fun. Let’s see how long we can play together. You need to keep things thing going.” — Van Horn on his team’s energy and focus this time of year
“I’m just thrilled. It’s been a fun ride so far. As the season comes to an end, it’s only going to get better, I know. So I’m just really excited and honored and privileged to be here.” — Trevor Ezell on advancing to the super regionals in his first year with Arkansas
“It honestly felt very good. It was probably the best ball I’ve hit with two strikes this year. As soon as I hit it, I knew it had a good chance of going. It was the best feeling in the world.” — Matt Goodheart on his fifth-inning home run
“We always feel great at home. We have the best fans in the country. They can change the game for us and we really feel that on the field. I think the other teams, when they come in to play here, can feel that.” — Trevor Ezell on playing well in front of the home crowd
“My thought process was is it’s a big game, just do what I can, throw up as many zeroes as possible. Whether there was a delay or not, just have to keep my head on right, just throw up as many zeroes as I could.” — Patrick Wicklander on the lightning delay before the start of the game
Schlossnagle, Janczak, Watson after TCU knocked out of regional
TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle, starting pitcher Jared Janczak and left fielder Josh Watson with the media recapping the Horned Frogs’ 6-0 loss to Arkansas on Sunday night.
Campbell’s strong outing lifts Razorbacks past TCU, 3-1
FAYETTEVILLE — Redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell tied a career-long eight innings Saturday night, holding TCU to just one run, as Arkansas defeated the Horned Frogs, 3-1, in front of 10,967 fans at Baum-Walker Stadium, sending it to the NCAA Fayetteville Regional final for the third-straight year.
Arkansas (43-17) will now await the winner of the Central Connecticut State and TCU elimination game set up for 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The winner of that game will have to beat Arkansas twice to advance to the Super Regionals. The Hogs will only have to win once.
Campbell out-dueled TCU starter Nick Lodolo and matched his career-best of eight innings pitched on 108 pitches, which he achieved last year in a 14-2 victory over No. 4 Kentucky (March 17, 2018).
He also gave up just one run on four hits and struck out eight, including two in his final inning of work.
It was just the third time this season Campbell had thrown into the eighth inning, but it was the fifth time he allowed one run or less in seven innings or more.
With the win, Campbell moves to 11-1 and has earned the victory in four of his last five starts.
With the way Campbell was throwing, the Razorbacks (43-17) didn’t need too many runs to top the Horned Frogs. All three of their runs were scored in the sixth inning after Lodolo was relieved on 93 pitches.
A fielding error broke up a would-be double play ball and the inning continued, allowing catcher Casey Opitz to deliver a bases-loaded two-RBI single up the middle to break up the scoreless game.
Opitz, who hadn’t recorded a hit in the regional yet, took an 0-1 fastball from Haylen Green and drove in Jacob Nesbit and Jack Kenley to make it 2-0 Arkansas.
It broke a streak of nine-consecutive bases-loaded situations that Arkansas had gone hitless in dating back to its series at Texas A&M (May 16-18).
Trevor Ezell followed with an RBI double in the next-at bat for good measure to make it 3-0.
Ezell continues to swing hot bat
Lost in the stellar pitching performance of Isaiah Campbell, redshirt senior Trevor Ezell turned in his first four-hit game of the season and eighth of his career after going 4-for-5 with a career-high three doubles and one RBI.
Ezell is hitting a blistering .700 (7-for-10) in the regional and has driven in four RBIs combined. He now has 22 doubles for the season, which puts him in a tie for first in the SEC along with teammate Dominic Fletcher.
Cronin slams door; picks up 12th save
There was no question who head coach Dave Van Horn was going to go to out of the bullpen after Campbell polished off his eight-inning performance.
Junior Matt Cronin was summoned for the ninth inning and earned his second save in three appearances, 12th overall.
He struck out just one of the final three batters he faced, but now has 27 saves in his career, just six behind Arkansas saves record-holder Philip Stidham (1989-91). The 27 career saves ranks in a tie for fourth among all active players in the nation.
Razorback quotables
“Just a really good baseball game. Two really good starters going at it. After each inning we were saying, ‘That’s round one. That’s round two.’ Just like it was a fight. Who was going to make a mistake or who was going to boot a ball or whatever. Both pitchers did a great job. When runners got on base they delivered pitches. We got a double-play ball. Just give them credit for matching us pitch-for-pitch and we finally put together a really good inning in the sixth.” — Head coach Dave Van Horn on his team’s win over TCU
“Give Isaiah a lot of credit. He gave us eight innings. We were getting real close to taking him out after seven. Coach (Matt) Hobbs and I, as a matter of fact, were down there talking about it kind of at our end (of the dugout). Do we leave him in? Do we bring so-and-so in? Next thing you know, Isaiah came around the corner and said, ‘I’m good.’ And we just looked at each other and said, ‘OK, we’re going to leave him in.’ I’ve taken him out many a time this year early and I’ve said, ‘Hey, we’re going to need this inning later in the season.’ I think tonight we needed that inning, that eighth, and he came through and got them out 1-2-3.” — Head coach Dave Van Horn on Isaiah Campbell
“I mean that’s actually a really good question. I don’t think so off the top of my head. The jump that he’s made. He’s always had talent that’s good, but to be so consistent. We’d see a little bit of what you saw tonight here and there. And you’d think how he pitched last year in Omaha I think against Florida where he was really good. But every week giving us a good start, it’s been fun to watch. Because of the consistency he’s made the biggest jump that I’ve seen.” — Head coach Dave Van Horn on if Campbell’s improvement from one year to the other is the best he’s seen
“I don’t think he’s scared number one. He plays pretty much every game. He’s a catcher obviously sitting right in there and comfortable in that area of the field. He doesn’t let a bad at-bat get to him and it’s just his makeup. He wants to be there whether he’s hitting .240 or .440. He doesn’t care. He just wants to have an opportunity to help the team win.” — Head coach Dave Van Horn on Casey Opitz being a consistent presence in the field
“Like Coach Van Horn said, they were talking about it in the dugout, and I just came up to them and said, ‘I’m good.’ That was kind of the end of the discussion. They said, ‘Alright, you’ve got it.’ My mindset was just attack hitters like I’ve been doing all night. Just get ahead of hitters and let the defense work and then the strikeouts came in that last inning.” — Isaiah Campbell on coming back for the eighth inning
“He was outstanding tonight. He’s been outstanding all year, but tonight you could kind of tell it was something different. Tonight was probably the best I’ve seen him keep control of his stuff throughout the whole game. You could really tell in the eighth that he still had command for every pitch in his arsenal. He just did a great job keeping hitters guessing and not leaving too many balls out over the middle and hitting corners. That kind of performance shows.” — Casey Opitz on Isaiah Campbell’s eight-inning performance
“Obviously, I heard it. We had a big crowd tonight, so it was kind of tough not to hear it. It gave me a little adrenaline to keep going and get through the eighth. For me, it was just staying in the present moment and just keep doing what I was doing all night and that’s what I did.” — Isaiah Campbell on the crowd reaction when he came back for the eighth
Up next
Arkansas moves on to the regional final where it will face either Central Connecticut State or TCU, which will play an elimination game earlier in the day.
Arkansas is 2-0 in the regional and the double-elimination rule will continue through the remainder of the weekend.
The winner of CCSU and TCU will have to beat Arkansas twice to advance to the super regionals, while Arkansas will only have to win once.
First pitch for Arkansas’ game on Sunday is set for 8 p.m.
Van Horn, Campbell, Opitz on needing one more win to advance
Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn, starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell and catcher Casey Opitz recapping win over TCU to move within a win of winning regional.
