Grad transfer Lael Lockhart Jr. discusses decision, role at Arkansas

In the span of a month and a half, Lael Lockhart Jr. went from enduring a five-day self-quarantine that left him wondering if he had played his final game to transferring to one of college baseball’s premier programs.

The left-handed pitcher and former all-conference utility man at Houston announced Friday that he would finish his career at Arkansas as a graduate transfer.

It has been a whirlwind for Lockhart, who was in his second season as the Cougars’ ace when the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancelation of sports across the country. As disappointing as that was, it set in motion his path to the Razorbacks.

“I looked at it as a golden ticket to look at grad schools and baseball and new opportunities to get a fresh start,” Lockhart told HawgBeat. “Once (Matt) Hobbs and (Dave) Van Horn reached out, I kind of compared all of my apples and Arkansas - for me - was the best fit, most competitive and (it’s) going to be a hell of a year and a special time for me.”

That path hasn’t always been clear, though. Lockhart and his teammates were traveling from Arizona to Las Vegas when they saw the Ivy League’s decision to cancel the rest of the spring sports season.

The second of their two midweek games at UNLV was canceled because of rain and they found out while on the bus that the American Athletic Conference joined the growing list of conferences that suspended all sports.

When they got back to Houston, the Cougars were promptly put into a precautionary five-day quarantine because a staff member was showing coronavirus symptoms. It proved to be a false alarm, but the seclusion allowed Lockhart’s mind to wander about his future in baseball.

A couple of weeks later, Lockhart, a fellow senior and two former teammates were golfing and nervously joking that they could become alumni within the hour as they awaited the NCAA’s vote on eligibility relief. But then Twitter notifications lit up their phones with the news they were hoping for: it was approved.

“We saw the tweet and I think all four of us shot the ball straight into the water,” Lockhart said. “We were like, ‘We’re just going to skip this hole,’ but it was the best hole we played all day because we found out we got a year back.”

With the unexpected extra year, Lockhart decided to explore his options as a graduate transfer.

He submitted the paperwork to enter the portal on a Friday - April 24 - and was told it could take two business days for his name to actually show up. However, he was enjoying a cup of coffee at 11 the next morning when his phone blew up with emails from coaches.

As he started to sort through the “tons of schools” that reached out or offered, Lockhart said an email from Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs gauging his interest stood out. He immediately responded and got the ball rolling with the Razorbacks.

Louisville and LSU were also among his top three choices, particularly the latter because his parents are from Louisiana and he still has family in the state. All three of his finalists have a rich baseball tradition, but with a high school associate principal for a mom, academics were also a factor and he ultimately settled on Arkansas as his destination.

“For me, Arkansas was a great opportunity not only to play baseball in the SEC and compete at the highest level and be a part of one of the top teams in the SEC - that’s a dream come true for me as a baseball player - (but also) for school, I looked at the grad program I’m going into and it’s actually a grad program I could finish even if I’m on or off campus,” Lockhart said. “So it’s something that’s attainable for me and then also compete at the highest level in baseball.”