This article was updated Wednesday, Oct. 2.
The Arkansas baseball team confirmed Wednesday it will play outside competition for two fall exhibitions against Oklahoma State. The matchups are set for Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12, at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
First pitch Friday is set for 6 p.m. and Saturday's game will begin at noon. Admission and parking will be free to the public for both exhibitions.
"Friday's game might be a normal game, 9 innings," head coach Dave Van Horn said Sept. 3. "Saturday might be 10, 11, 12 innings. That'll be maybe the end of our fall. Just play a couple of games instead of playing a Red-White series where we always run out of pitching. I don't know, we haven't finished it the last couple of years it seems like. That would be the plan right now. You can only have two outside competitions and that would be it unless something changes."
It will be the first time the Diamond Hogs have faced outside competition on the college level in the fall since September 2019, when the Oklahoma Sooners came to town for a 14-inning exhibition. Arkansas also hosted the Texas Rangers instructional league team for two exhibitions in Oct. 2022. The Razorbacks won both matchups and outscored the Rangers, 18-6.
The Diamond Hogs and Cowboys have plenty of recent history, as Arkansas won two of three games over Oklahoma State to make it out of the 2022 Stillwater Regional and eventually make a deep run in the College World Series before being eliminated by the eventual national champions, Ole Miss.
Arkansas has also played Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, each of the past two seasons. The Razorbacks picked up an 18-1 run-rule win in seven innings on Feb. 19, 2023, and the Cowboys returned the favor with a 2-1 victory in 14 innings Feb. 24 of this year.
The Arkansas Edge NIL collective is also selling experience packages during the fall exhibition series with the Cowboys, including the opportunity for fans to watch Arkansas batting practice from the dugout, tour the Hunt Family Baseball Development Center with legendary former Razorback head coach Norm DeBriyn and receive an autographed baseball from Van Horn.
Van Horn's roster features 51 players entering fall ball, and he'll have to cut it down to 40 before starting the 2025 season. After next year, the roster limit of 40 with a total of 11.7 scholarships will change to a limit of 34 roster spots and scholarships.
Key players back for Arkansas include pitchers Gabe Gaeckle, Gage Wood, Will McEntire, Christian Foutch and others, along with position players Kendall Diggs, Wehiwa Aloy, Nolan Souza and more.
Arkansas also dipped in the transfer portal to form one of the nation's top transfer classes this offseason. Names to know include transfer pitchers Zach Root (East Carolina) and Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State), plus Vanderbilt transfer infielder Cam Kozeal, TCU transfer outfielder Logan Maxwell and others in the field.
Competition is set to be fierce this fall with a lot of talent and not enough spots on the roster. As always, HawgBeat will have plenty of coverage of Arkansas fall baseball live on The Trough message board from intrasquad scrimmages and more.
