Category: Arkansas baseball

Check out every Razorbacks player and coach to earn All-SEC honors

Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn was named SEC Coach of the Year for the third time Monday. Four of his players earned All-SEC honors.

Arkansas has just been a different program under Dave Van Horn’s watch. And the 2023 may have been his best coaching job in 21 years at the program’s helm.

The league noticed, too, as Van Horn was named SEC Coach of the Year on Monday. Arkansas won the SEC West for the seventh time and fourth since 2018 this year. His Razorbacks will carry the No. 2-seed into this week’s SEC Tournament.

Van Horn previously won the award in 2004 and 2021. He is now one of three active coaches – joining Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin and Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan – as three-time winners.

DVH was not the only Razorbacks baseballer honored Monday. As four Arkansas players earned All-SEC marks from the league’s coaches. Check the complete list below.

Four Razorbacks were named to All-SEC teams by the league’s head coaches, led by Hagen Smith’s first-team selection at starting pitcher and All-Defensive honors. Kendall Diggs picked up second-team recognition at designated hitter, while pitcher Gage Wood and outfielder Tavian Josenberger garnered Freshman All-SEC and All-Defensive praise, respectively.

Arkansas finishes as third highest ranked team in SEC, fourth in nation

Eight teams from the SEC finished inside the Top 25.

The final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll for college baseball was released Monday following the final weekend of the regular season across the sport.

Two new teams entered the field of 25, but the biggest story remained the SEC’s dominance. The conference had four of the top six teams in the land and eight inside the top 25. Wake Forest stayed the top-ranked team in the land.

LSU overtook Arkansas as the SEC’s top-ranked team. The Razorbacks lost in their final series of the season at Vanderbilt two games to one, which send Arkansas to tie Florida for the league’s best record.

The Gators earned the No. 1 seed at this week’s SEC Tournament and were No. 2 in the poll. LSU checked in at No. 4, while Vandy was No. 8. Rounding things out for the SEC were Tennessee at No. 13, South Carolina at No. 19, Kentucky at No. 21 and Auburn at No. 25. The Tigers were new to the poll this week.

The SEC Tournament begins Tuesday morning from Hoover, Alabama.

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It’s official: The 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament is set – here’s how it looks

The last two national champions in the entire sport won’t even play in their conference tournament.

The last two champions of college baseball won’t even get to play in their conference tournament.

That’s the SEC for you.

The bracket is set for the 2023 SEC Tournament from Hoover, Alabama, this week and neither 2021 champ Missisisppi State or 2022 champ Ole Miss is a part of it. The two Magnolia State schools failed to qualify for the 12-team field as they finished 13th and 14th in the conference standings.

Traditional powers still dominate the top of the league, anyway. Florida earned the No. 1 seed by a hair when Arkansas dropped its season finale against Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Diamond Hogs are second, while LSU and the Commodores also earned first-round byes by finishing third and fourth.

The five through 10 seeds are considered all but locks for the NCAA Tournament next week, though No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 9 Alabama would probably feel a touch safer with first-round wins at the league tourney. No. 11 Georgia and No. 12 Missouri need a run to a championship to earn a spot beyond Hoover.

Things start Tuesday morning. Here’s how each team will start the week.

Treylon Burks and KJ Jefferson connect to host football camp

The two former teammates connected to host a Saturday football camp in Farmington, Arkansas.

Treylon Burks and KJ Jefferson started together at Arkansas in 2021. Burks was Jefferson’s number-one target, catching 66 passes for 1,104 yards and 11 touchdowns.

This time, the two former teammates connected to host a Saturday football camp in Farmington, Arkansas.

Sponsored by Flexworks, a company that runs different youth camps with pro and collegiate athletes across the country, the camp is new to the area of Farmington, with Burks completing his first year in the NFL. Burks hopes this camp will give opportunities to kids and teach them the mental toughness needed to succeed at football.

“Just to teach them that, to just move on to the next play and to keep encouraging them to have fun,” Burks said. “That’s the main thing when playing any sport is to always have fun with it because when you stop having fun, there’s really no point of playing anymore.”

This camp was designed for children between the ages of 6 and 16. The organizers prioritized ensuring that all children, regardless of financial status, had an equal opportunity to attend.

“I mean, that’s the big thing for me is community engagement,” Jefferson said. “Being able to showcase and use my platform to raise awareness for different causes anywhere that’s the main thing for me.”

Diamond Hogs win share of SEC title even in defeat

Arkansas won its sixth conference championship in baseball on Saturday in Nashville despite a 7-6 loss.

With Georgia beating LSU midway through Saturday’s series finale in Nashville, Arkansas clinched a share of the SEC regular season crown.

Vanderbilt ended up rallying for the second straight day and ultimately defeated the Razorbacks, 7-6.

The loss relegates Arkansas to the second seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament in Hoover.

It is the sixth league title for the Razorbacks since and fourth since 1999. Three of those have come under Van Horn.

Arkansas jumped out to an early lead for the third day in a row, 2-0 after a Commodores throwing error.

Hunter Hollan gave up a 3-run blast the following inning, but the Hogs led 6-4 after a four-run fifth inning before Parker Coil and Gage Wood ended up both balking to allow Vandy to tie the game.

Enrique Bradfield’s ensuing infield single set the final scoring margin.

Arkansas will play on Wednesday at 12:30 against a yet-to-be-determined opponent in the SEC Tournament.

Diamond Hogs collapse, allow Vanderbilt rally to tie series

Arkansas still may be the nation’s best team. But Friday’s collapse against Vanderbilt stung.

Arkansas may be the SEC’s best team, which, in turn, makes it perhaps the nation’s best team.

But even the best make mistakes.

The third-ranked Razorbacks lost to No. 6 Vanderbilt on Friday in the second game of the series, 10-8. Arkansas carried an 8-2 lead into the eighth inning in Nashville.

The Commodores struck for eight in the frame, sending 11 hitters to the plate. They had just five hits, as two walks and hit batter helped things along. Gage Wood entered to start the inning for Arkansas despite the man he replaced, Zack Morris, had given up just a single walk and no hits while striking out six in his three innings of work.

Wood record just one out. All five of Vanderbilt hitters who reached against him – via three hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch – scored. Cody Adcock gave up two more runs and didn’t record an out in his relief and Parker Coil allowed one before finally getting Arkansas out of the inning.

The Razorbacks’ lead came early as they scored three runs in the first. Back-to-back solo home runs for Vanderbilt followed in the second before Arkansas scored five straight.

Peyton Holt, Brady Slavens and Caleb Cali combined for eight of Arkansas’ 11 hits, six of the eight RBI and six of the eight runs.

The rubber game between the two teams is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.

Arkansas baseball vs Vanderbilt – Game 3: How to watch, stream, listen

The season finale rubber match between the Diamond Hogs and Vandy Boys.

Saturday’s series finale between Arkansas and Vanderbilt holds implications. Especially after Friday’s Game 2.

In that game, Arkansas held a 8-2 lead up until the Vanderbilt boys put together a big eighth inning, giving them a 10-8 comeback victory.

The loss prevented the Diamond Hogs from clinching the SEC regular season title, giving them only a half-game lead over LSU and one game lead over Florida. Florida suffered a 6-4 loss to Kentucky, while LSU clinched their series against Georgia with an 8-4 victory. 

The Hogs will need to win the final game of the season to claim the SEC season title. If they can’t capture the victory, they will need losses from both Florida and especially LSU.

Giving up multiple runs in one inning has hurt the Hogs in the past. This will be something Dave Van Horn has to address before the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully, it doesn’t continue to haunt them in the future.

Arkansas baseball vs Vanderbilt – Game 2: How to watch, stream, listen

Arkansas looks to clinch the series over Vanderbilt with a game two victory.

Arkansas Razorbacks opened their series against Vanderbilt with an 8-2 victory. 

Hagen Smith and Will McEntire split the work on the mound, combining for nine innings pitched, allowing six hits, and striking out 13 batters. Smith earned the win, while McEntire earned the save.

The Diamond Hogs are the first team in the SEC to have 20 conference wins this year, only the fourth time since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992.

All nine Arkansas batters tagged Commodore starter Patrick Reilly for four runs on one hit, four walks, one hit batsman, and two errors in the first inning. Brady Slavens hit a two-run blast to right field that traveled 398 feet.

The star of the lineup was Peyton Holt, who is taking over for the injured Peyton Stovall at second base. Holt led the team with three hits, his second three-hit game of the season.

Diamond Hogs take series opener against Vanderbilt

The Diamond Hogs used a fast start to put the Commodores away early in Thursday night’s series opener.

The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (39-13, 20-8) used a hot start to strike first in their weekend road series with No. 12 Vanderbilt (35-16, 17-11) on Thursday night.

Vanderbilt starting pitcher Patrick Reilly had an abysmal start, walking four batters in the first inning. The Diamond Hogs were able to capitalize on Reilly’s terrible start and jump out to a 4-0 lead.

Peyton Holt continued his stretch of incredible play, going 3-for-4 with a double, walk and an RBI. Brady Slavens was able to record his ninth home run of the season in the first inning and finished 2-for-4.

Hagen Smith started for the Razorbacks and was able to pick up his eighth win of the year after striking out seven hitters and allowing just two runs on five hits in five innings of work. Will McEntire recorded his second save of the year after striking out six hitters and only allowing one hit over the final four innings.

The win on Thursday night gave Arkansas its 20th conference win of the season, which is the third time its reached that milestone under Dave Van Horn. Arkansas will try to clinch the series tonight at 7:00 p.m. with Brady Tygart expected to be on the mound for the Diamond Hogs.

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Remember Jared Wegner? He’s back for Arkansas baseball

Arkansas outfielder Jared Wegner hasn’t played in a month. He’ll be back against Vandy as the Diamond Hogs seek to clinch SEC title.

You’ll be forgiven if you are a so-called Arkansas baseball casual and don’t quite remember Jared Wegner. The fly-by-night, I-don’t-pay-attention-until-the-NCAA-Tournament crowd might not know him.

But if you’re a Diamond Hogs fans – not even a hardcore one, at that – Wegner’s scheduled return Thursday against Vanderbilt has you excited.

The Arkansas outfielder, a transfer from Creighton, hasn’t played since mid-April after suffering a fractured thumb. At the time, he was the Razorbacks’ leading hitter in just about every category. Still, heading into the series opener against the Commodores, Wegner is still second on the team in home runs (12) by just one, third in RBI (44) by just one and he steals leads in slugging and on-base percentage.

Coach Dave Van Horn’s only question is where to plug him back into the lineup. The Razorbacks have been dynamite in his absence, taking first-place to Nashville. Arkansas is one game ahead of Florida and 1 1/2 games ahead of LSU in the West. The top four finishers in the SEC get double-byes at the SEC Tournament next week. The Hogs can’t finish any worse than fourth no matter what happens with Vanderbilt.

First pitch Thursday from Vandy is scheduled for 6 p.m. Expect Wegner in the lineup.

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