Can Hogs make a postseason run similar to '09, '12?
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FAYETTEVILLE — Once in line to be a top-8 national seed, Arkansas faltered down the stretch and will now hit the road for the postseason.
The Razorbacks lost their last two series of the regular season, went 0-2 at the SEC Tournament and enter the Stillwater Regional riding their first four-game losing streak since just before the pandemic.
It’s the first time they’ve traveled for a regional since 2015, when they also visited Oklahoma State on their way to the College World Series. Head coach Dave Van Horn hasn’t given up hope that Arkansas could get get hot like that this year — but such a run would have to start between the ears.
“Maybe just change your mindset a little bit and take a step back and reevaluate the long season,” Van Horn said. “Maybe think about more the good things that we have done and just be real positive. … I think more than anything, we need to change our minds. It’s a new season and anything can happen.”
The veteran coach made that comment Monday afternoon, following the NCAA Tournament selection show, but it echoed those made by his players last week in Hoover.
Following the opening loss to Alabama, outfielder Chris Lanzilli mentioned the team needs to “get out of our own heads.”
“(We need to) just go out there, play hard, and make a few minor adjustments here and there and just honestly play baseball,” Lanzilli said. “I mean, we have guys that are unbelievable at baseball, and we need to get out of our own heads and play with confidence.”
The comment that made the most waves, particularly because of the response it drew from a local radio show host, was by catcher Michael Turner after the loss to Florida.
Asked if he could put his finger on what was behind the Razorbacks’ recent struggles, Turner said “not really,” but that the team was doing its best to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by the critical fans that have been vocal on social media.
“We're just trying to keep the circle tight and trying to cut out a lot of the outside noise,” Turner said. “It's not always that easy to play here. There's a lot of people that are fans — good fans — (and) some aren't so great fans. If you read Twitter after the game, it can get in your mind a little bit, so we're just trying to keep the circle tight and keep moving forward.”
On the field, Van Horn said the issues plaguing his team have varied from game to game — from pitching to hitting to fielding.
The latter of those areas has been a stretch of Arkansas all year, but a few critical mistakes in the field against Alabama at the SEC Tournament cost it a 4-3 loss. Starting pitching has been a struggle since the middle of conference play and that has starting taking the form of early deficits.
In fact, the Razorbacks have found themselves down by at least three runs within the first five innings of their last eight games.
“It seems like we’ve struggled a little bit getting off to a good start,” Van Horn said. “We’ve been behind a lot, trying to fight back. And we did a few times down the stretch, but more times than not we didn’t catch them obviously.”
When Arkansas has scored, it’s typically done so by hitting the ball out of the park. The Razorbacks actually hit three more home runs in SEC play this year than last year and 2019, and matched the number they hit in 2018.
However, they were far more reliant on the long ball in 2022 than the previous three seasons (excluding 2020). From 2018-21, only 37.2 percent of Arkansas’ runs in SEC play were driven in by a home run. That jumped up to 42.8 percent this year.
It’s been even more noticeable over the last 15 games, which includes a non-conference game and two SEC Tournament games. Over that span, the Razorbacks scored 48 of their 80 runs via the long ball — a whopping 60 percent.
“We know we've got the right guys and just looking for that big hit,” Turner said. “I feel like we're throwing away some at bats right now and you can see it. There's certain guys that are fighting their butts off right now at the plate, and I think we're going to get everybody else to buy in pretty soon.”
The Razorbacks’ starting pitching struggles have been well documented by HawgBeat already. Over the back half of SEC play, only five of 15 starts lasted at least five innings and they posted a 6.79 ERA. It was much the same in Hoover, as Will McEntire and Connor Noland combined to allow seven earned runs in seven innings.
Aside from the Game 3 implosion at Alabama, though, Arkansas’ bullpen has been lights out and is a major reason why outsiders still think the Razorbacks are capable of doing damage in the NCAA Tournament.
“Arkansas is a really good team,” Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said. “They're a legitimate top-10 team. They just have too much pitching, especially at the back end of the game, to not be really dangerous the next three weeks. … I think if you look over a 12 or 14, 15-week period, you see a legitimate team. There aren't too many teams that aren't really successful in June that have the bullpen pieces that they do.”
Even outside of the bullpen, Arkansas has a roster of players that led to it being ranked as high as No. 2 in the preseason. Several of them were part of last year’s team that was No. 1 for most of the year and even this year’s team was top 5 or top 10 much of the season.
“We know we can do better,” Lanzilli said. “We just have a lot more talent than how we're playing. Conversations that are going on, we're just trying to build each other up and obviously recover. There's only so much you can do, but we have so much talent, and we can get there, for sure. We have confidence.”
The Razorbacks also still have Van Horn, who is in his 20th season as the head coach at his alma mater and has guided them to Omaha six times.
“Quite honestly, I think everybody goes through stretches and they don't play their best baseball,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I’ve known Dave for an awfully long time, obviously, and I would expect them to play their best baseball next weekend.
“I don't think there's any reason for concern. We all go through it. … You've just got to regroup and they've got a really good team. They've got a long lineup. They've got good pitching. They have an older bullpen for the most part. Dave will have those guys ready to play next weekend.”
Half of Van Horn’s trips to the College World Series at Arkansas have started on the road. In addition to the 2015 run that began in Stillwater, the Razorbacks went on the road to Norman in 2009 and Houston in 2012 — and then to Tallahassee and Waco, respectively, for the super regionals — on their way to Omaha.
He can draw on those, and other, past experiences to help steady the ship. In fact, he said just getting into a regional after a tough end of the season could be the breath of fresh air they need to get back on track.
In 2012, the Razorbacks lost two of their last three SEC series — both at home — and then scored just one run in an 0-2 showing in Hoover. Three years earlier, in 2009, they lost their last eight regular-season SEC games. Both years, they not only got to Omaha, but reached the College World Series semifinals.
“We feel like we haven’t played good down the stretch, as everyone knows, so we want to flip it,” Van Horn said. “Sometimes maybe going on the road is a little less distraction. We’ll see how it turns out. Obviously we’d love to be playing here in front of our fans, but we’re not and we know what’s in front of us, so we’re just going to embrace it and go get after it.”