Connor Noland bounced back from a rough outing for the final two innings against Nebraska and said later the staff would be ready for final game.
Bolt after staying alive with win: ‘Win or lose, you gotta have that dog in you’
Nebraska coach said after beating Arkansas to force a decisive game Monday they’ve got another game to finish to keep playing.
Schwellenbach said he was ‘pretty drained, but it was worth it’ after win
Nebraska shortstop and pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach said after downing Arkansas they will have the same message for Monday’s game.
Everitt said Nebraska thought they’d play again before win Sunday night
Huskers catcher Griffin Everitt said after the 5-3 win they will “just do what we did today” against Hogs in regional championship Monday.
Bolt after Nebraska explodes for win over NJIT to advance to meet Hogs
Huskers coach Will Bolt after they downed the Highlanders, 18-4, to advance to Sunday evening’s matchup with Arkansas.
Most important thing for Van Horn is being 2-0 right now
Dave Van Horn got what he really wanted with Saturday night’s 5-1 win over Nebraska that felt like it could have been a lot bigger than the final margin.
“Now we don’t have to win three games in two days,” he said later.
At this time of the year, Van Horn probably doesn’t care what a win looks like as long as it’s a win. Both wins in this Fayetteville regional haven’t exactly looked great but now they get nearly a full day to get ready to face a team that has already lost one game.
Win Sunday night against either Nebraska or NJIT and the Razorbacks will host a Super Regional next weekend. That will be a lively crowd of over 12,000 for whoever comes to town.
Van Horn isn’t thinking about that right now. He’s got a game Sunday night and hopefully he can wrap things up right there. Don’t be too surprised if the top pltcher in college baseball throws a few.
Kevin Kopps has thrown two straight days and his coach isn’t ruling out the possibility he comes trotting in again.
“He’s a different cat,” Van Horn said Saturday night with a chuckle. “You’ve seen it like I have all year.”
That’s part of why starting 2-0 in this regional was important. Having him is critical, but Kopps being available three straight games is almost unfair.
He said after the win over the Huskers with anybody else you could count them out of three straight appearances but he wasn’t ruling anything out.
“Probably wouldn’t want to pitch him tomorrow,” Van Horn said. “It kinda depends on him.”
For a change, the Hogs didn’t fall behind early in the game. Matt Goodheart started it with a solo homer in the first inning.
“It was nice to jump out ahead,” he said later.
Patrick Wicklander didn’t have his best stuff but faced just three batters over the minimum over five innings and Van Horn brought in Kopps in the sixth.
With another stellar defensive effort, the Hogs drew 10 walks from a Nebraska team that had avoided that all year, but managed to leave 13 runners on base to make it feel like the 5-1 win could have been bigger.
Don’t wander off into those high weeds. This regional is just the first step towards Omaha, which is the big goal.
Van Horn wants to wrap up this step as fast as possible so everybody is available for next weekend’s series against the winner of the Ruston Regional.
Which is why he’s not making any decisions on who will start on the mound until after that first game Sunday.
And it’s also why he’s not ruling out another trifecta for Kopps.
Van Horn: ‘We scored just enough’ in downing Nebraska, 5-1, to go to 2-0
The Hogs advance and stay perfect in the NCAA Regional by “playing really good defense” and some uncharacterstic walks by Huskers.
Wicklander’s goal was to go as deep as possible into game with Huskers
Pitcher Patrick Wicklander wanted to go deeper than five innings, but had confidence in Kevin Kopps and the Hogs’ defense.
Goodheart didn’t know his homer set record until he got to dugout
Matt Goodheart’s first inning homer was the 99th of the season for Arkansas, a new program record, and he didn’t know it.
Arkansas GameDay starts at 7 before Hogs play Huskers
Fans were nervous when Arkansas fell behind the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Friday afternoon but Christian Franklin’s diving catch jump-started a 13-8 win.
“He made made an incredible play,” Dave Van Horn said later. “He was stretched out as far as he could go.”
As so often happens in baseball, Franklin came up to bat shortly after that and hammered a homer and the Razorbacks proceeded to have a parade around the diamond the rest of the way.
“Bottom line, this time of year, find a way to win and hopefully we’ll do a little better tomorrow,” Van Horn said.
Now they have to get past a Nebraska team that downed Northeastern, who was eliminated by NJIT on Saturday afternoon.
No. 1 Arkansas, hosting a regional for the fourth consecutive postseason and for the ninth time overall, embarks on its journey to the College World Series against the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 2 p.m.
Arkansas GameDay with Tye Richardson at Walk-On’s in Fort Smith starts at 7 p.m. leading up to the Razorback pregame with Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter at 7:30.
You can hear all the action online HERE or on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
Hawg Reaction will start approximately 30 minutes after the game with and will be available on ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in addition to the other stations.
The Razorbacks, the SEC regular-season and tournament champion, earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Arkansas is a top-eight national seed for the fifth time, also receiving a top-eight seed in 2004, 2007, 2018 and 2019.
The winner of tonight’s game will advance to play at 8 p.m. Sunday night with a chance to get one more win and secure an expected trip to Omaha for the College World Series.
But first things first and that’s the Huskers.
NCAA Fayetteville Regional Schedule
Friday, June 4
Game 1 – Arkansas 13, NJIT 8
Game 2 – Nebraska 8, Northeastern 6
Saturday, June 5
Game 3 – NJIT 3, Northeastern 2
Game 4 – Nebraska vs. Arkansas, 8:00 pm
Sunday, June 6
Game 5 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser – 2:00 pm
Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 8:00 pm
Monday, June 7 (If Necessary)
Game 7 – If the Game 5 Winner Wins Game 6 – 6:00 pm (time subject to change)
On TV
Saturday’s game between Arkansas and Nebraska will stream nationally on ESPN3 with Steve Lenox (play-by-play) and Lance Cormier (analyst) on the call. Fans can watch via WatchESPN or through the ESPN app.
Statewide Radio Affiliates
Conway – KASR-FM 92.7
El Dorado – KELD-AM 107.1 (FM Translator)
Fayetteville – KQSM-FM 92.1
Forrest City – KXJK-AM 950
Forrest City – KXJK-FM 106.5
Fort Smith – KERX-FM 95.3
Little Rock – KABZ-FM 103.7
Marshall – KBCN-FM 104.3
Mena – KTTG-FM 96.3
Rogers – KURM-AM 790
Rogers – KURM-FM 100.3
Stuttgart – KWAK-FM 105.5
Texarkana, TX – KKTK-AM 1400
Van Horn after Hogs’ sluggish start, then coming back again for win
It was nothing new for Arkansas to get down early and Dave Van Horn said later it could have been worse without Christian Franklin’s big catch.
