FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- The Razorback baseball team played its annual Fall Classic on Friday night at Baum-Walker Stadium in front of an estimated 4,000 fans.
The intrasquad scrimmage was highlighted offensively by a 426-foot missile off the bat of catcher Parker Rowland --- a junior college transfer vying to be the starting backstop --- and Jace Bohrofen's eventual game-winning two-run single. Fourteen Arkansas pitchers took the mound Friday, and not one of them issued a walk.
Head coach Dave Van Horn met with the media after the scrimmage for the first time in three weeks, providing his thoughts on his players' performances during that time period.
He also announced a pair of exhibition games against the Texas Rangers' instructional league team, which is scheduled to visit Fayetteville on Oct. 12 and 13. It will be the first time the Diamond Hogs have taken on outside competition in the fall since September 2019, when the Oklahoma Sooners came to town for a 14-inning exhibition.
Below is a box score and Van Horn's full quotes from Friday night:
On sophomore RHP Jake Faherty's night:
It was great. Great ball. He's got a really good breaking ball. Fastball, the ball jumped out of his hand, upper 90s, and the key has been command and tonight he had it. He's made a move in a year. He went out, pitched in the summer and played on a really good team that ended up winning one of them summer championships. So he gained a little experience there, and that's really helped.
On pitching as a whole:
You know, it's kind of interesting. The pitchers got after 'em tonight, and our pitching has been really good all fall. And our hitters have done a nice job too. I split the teams up today. The last few scrimmages, I loaded the team up and loaded team smoked the other team, so you know, the lineup could wear down pitchers if you got enough guys back-to-back-to-back. The pitching's been great all fall, honestly. I mean tonight, we went seven innings and we didn't walk anybody. We hit three, but we didn't walk anybody, so that's always good to see.
On sophomore RHP Nick Moten:
Last year he started out good, and then it didn't go good. He's pretty good. He'll throw on Sunday.
On freshman RHP Gage Wood:
Gage was outstanding. I mean, sittin' mid 90s, has really good breaking ball. He was 93, 95, 96, even up to 97 this fall. You know, the scoreboard, it said it was 91, we got it over here, it says 94. Ours is right, that's wrong, you can throw that in the trash start over. I said it last year, you heard me. I mean, it's just the way it is. It doesn't work right. But yeah, our velocities are up, we're throwing a lot of strikes and there's a lot of competition. I mean, we got a couple of guys that you know transferred in from the junior colleges, you saw tonight they didn't throw very many pitches. They've been really good, so there's gonna be a battle to get on the hill. It's really good competition among teammates, and that's what I like about this team.
On newcomers who have stood out at the plate, particularly junior college transfer corner infielder Caleb Cali:
I mean, Caleb Cali's been unbelievable. I mean, he was dead on a 99-mile-an-hour fastball and fouled it straight back and take a breaking ball. He's been really good, Stovall's been really good. I mean, there's more than that. Jace Bohrofen's starting to heat up a little bit, his legs were bothering him early. But yeah, we've had some guys that have swung really well, and batting average a lot of time doesn't show. But the quality at-bats you know, seeing a lot of pitches and hitting balls hard. That's what we keep track of as much as batting average.
On center fielders Mason Neville, a freshman, and Tavian Josenberger, a transfer from Kansas:
(Neville)'s pretty good, really smooth out there. He's had some good days and some bad days like all freshmen, they're gonna strike out a little bit. They're not used to seeing this type of stuff every day, but been solid in the outfield. And Josenberger's been great. A lot of people thought we brought him here to play infield, but we didn't. We brought him here to play in the outfield. He came in, he was all banged up, but once he got healthy, he's been what you saw tonight. He's a tough out, and he'll fight you from both sides of the plate, he's a little bit of the pest on the basepaths and he's exactly what we were hoping we were getting: a leadoff-type guy.
On Creighton transfer outfielder Jared Wegner, who has not played since being scratched Sept. 15:
Wegner's right there. I mean, there's a guy who didn't even play and he's starting. I mean he showed when he got here, he was like a man. And he can hit, pretty good defender, but he'll be right in the middle of our batting order. So he kind of tweaked his oblique, whatever that is there. He's getting ready to come back.
Breaking news on outside competition:
So do you guys know that we're not done playing outside competition? Do we get to talk about that yet? I just told the team...We didn't want it out there, but we're gonna play the Texas Rangers' instructional league team here at Baum on the 12th and 13th of October, and I think the first game will be at night. I don't know if it'd be seven or nine innings, it kind of depends on how much pitching they have. We're gonna play I think in Arlington on Tuesday, they may play TCU or somebody, but we're gonna play 'em twice. They tried to get us to come down there.
On that decision to play the Rangers instructional league team:
They kind of contacted us and said 'Hey, you want to come down here and play a play our instructional league team?' There were some pretty good names on that team, but I think some of them are gonna go out to the fall league before we get to play them then. Maybe some from the SEC that did pretty good, that we've seen before. Yeah, I think Bobby Wernes knows some of those guys down there a little bit. So we got Bobby to talk them into coming here. We didn't want to go on the road. We don't want to go on the road. We just we need to play here, we're not ready for that. I'm not saying we wouldn't have done well, it would have been a good trip. It just costs money and there's a lot that goes into that.
On Brady Slavens' rehab process:
He's coming along. Brady's gonna be good. Really good attitude, just starting to really appreciate the game. He got frustrated last year, arm injury and not being able to play in the field. You know, we brought him back to play first. I think he's gonna have a really good year.
On catchers Rowland and Oklahoma transfer Hudson Polk:
We got two of them that are really battling. One hit one about 450 tonight, and you know, the other one, Polk, he's probably ahead of it. They're good friends. They work hard, and they're both gonna get to play...They've cut the ball well, thrown well. You know, we've been very fortunate here over the last 10 years, we've had some good catchers, and these guys are gonna be.
On freshman LHP Sean Fitzpatrick and the remainder of the fall:
He's an interesting left-hander, now. He's different. Kind of throws the ball to the side, comes at you all arms and legs, and his velocity's picking up a little bit. He's 88 to 90, 91. It looks a little harder because of his arm slot, it's interesting. He'll pitch on Sunday. We're gonna scrimmage Sunday at 2:30 and just throw all of the rest of the guys, give 'em a day off on Monday and then we'll get geared up to try to get ready for a couple of scrimmages next weekend and then we'll be in the week that we play the Rangers team. Some of the guys that throw there, like Smith, he'll throw a little bit. They won't throw anymore after that. After that's over, it changes our fall. We'll run, like, a two- or three-game light series the next week.
On transfer shortstops John Bolton, formerly of Austin Peay, and Harold Coll, from junior college:
It's a battle. I mean, Bolton's been ahead of it. Last week, I ran three scrimmages where I put the first team out there, and I've never done that...The starting team absolutely smoked the other team, like 9-1, 8-1, and Bolton was on the first team...Coll had a great night tonight, he's a good player. He can hit. He's a good hitter, too.
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