[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: On today's show, Bubba Carpenter's in studio. We talk about Arkansas sweep of number one Texas at Baum Walker Stadium. What's it mean for the Razorbacks in the here and now? And what does it mean for their NCAA tournament future? We'll talk about that, but first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by Combin of Kindle King, Soapbox and Shopcart. Together these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Arkansas and Texas have been playing baseball since 1902, Bubba. And this is the first time that Arkansas had ever swept Texas in a three game series. I was surprised to hear that. Like, I know Texas was great and Arkansas was building its program for a lot of years when those two teams played. But still you think, you know, somewhere along the line you're going to catch a team having a bad weekend and you're going to be able to sweep them for a series. And I know it's not a, you know, an annual deal, but for a series that dates 123 years, to have never had a three game sweep over a team, that was astonishing to me.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I couldn't believe that. I think Phil was the first one that told me that and I just, I couldn't believe it. Because you think back about some of the teams, even that 85 team, how good that 85 team was. 79 was really good. We were good in 89. I think we took two out of three from them. I think we won 51 games that year. I don't know. But all those years and you never, you never swept them. I want to say we, we were, we were one out away from sweeping them. I believe in 89 and we had a comebacker to the pitcher and he threw the ball away down the first baseline and they end up winning. But yeah, I think that was 89. But anyway, yeah, that's crazy to think that it's been that long. But I tell you, we got, we got it done this weekend.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: I don't think It'll be another 123 years.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: I don't think so.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: I think it might happen a little bit more frequently now that they're in the SEC sweeps are hard to come very. And I totally understand that. To sweep a number one team, though, I mean, this is something that just doesn't happen very often. I mean, they're number one for a reason. You know, whether it's Texas this last week or whoever, it's first time Arkansas swept a number one team in 24 years. They actually swept LSU at the end of a really disappointing 2001 season. That was a year when Arkansas lost 18 straight SEC games and then they had broken their SEC streak and then LSU came in number one. You know, I mean, that's Skip Bertman's final year there and they swept lsu and probably one of the most surprising outcomes ever at bomb Stadium. Texas is still ranked ahead of Arkansas in the polls that have been released as of the time that we're recording this show. Now, I will say I like the coaches poll. I think the coaches will get it right today when that comes out. We just don't have that yet. That'll come out midday.
I understand not overreacting to a series if you're the pollsters, but I think by any objective manner that you look at Arkansas and Texas, you have to say right now that Arkansas has the better team. Number one. There's the head to head matchup that you cannot dispute. Arkansas just wiped the field with them for three games over the weekend. You also look at the bigger picture. Arkansas has more wins. Texas has two more SEC wins. But we could nitpick the schedule a little bit probably and say that they played an easier SEC schedule. And that leads me to this point that Texas and Arkansas both have the same number of series wins over other teams that are ranked. All of Texas have been in Austin, all three. Two of Arkansas's three have been away from home. Again, I think if you look at any objective manner, Arkansas is a better team than Texas. But I got to guess that probably Dave Van Horn and his coaching staff will use this as a little bit of a motivation to poke and prod the players this week as I get ready for lsu.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think. I don't think they care. I think. I think the fans are going to be mad about it. I was talking to you when I sat down about. I just saw John Williams tweet. He sent out a little while ago about it and it makes no sense to me. And then who's number one?
[00:04:33] Speaker B: I mean, Georgia's Georgia in one poll. Texas is still number one in the D1 baseball poll.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Oh, see, I haven't seen that one, but I saw Where Georgia was number one. Well, they. They swept Missouri and they nearly lost.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: And they nearly lost to Missouri yesterday. They. They rallied in the ninth. It was a Tide game going to the ninth, but they rallied ninth to beat Missouri.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: I just don't get it. I don't know how they leapfrog and get there after. After sweeping Missouri. I mean, I'm sorry. I've got. I've got showcase teams that could play Missouri, a good game.
Sorry. I don't want to be disrespectful, but it is what it. Good team. They're the worst team I've ever seen in sec. But you reward Georgia for that. I, I don't get that. And I don't know how you. In the other poll, you leave Texas at number one. I'm not saying we should be number one. I mean, I don't know. But we beat them in every aspect of the game, and we beat them bad all weekend. I mean, we. We out hit them. We out pitched them. We out defensed them. We. We did well. We made a couple blunders on defense. They made so many mistakes. I mean, they made baserunning mistakes. They made fielding mistakes. I mean, they did so many things wrong. I mean, we. We just beat them all weekend. I mean, Thursday, Thursday and Friday, we dominated. What was it, 15 to 1?
It wasn't even close. And then, you know, it was a little bit different. They threw their dudes at us on their bullpen guys on. On Saturday, and we beat them. We beat them like they've never been beat before. I mean, I was. I loved our approach against grubs. I thought we did great against him. Volantis.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Burns.
[00:06:08] Speaker C: Burns. Yeah. I mean, our hitters just had a great approach. Valentis. I'm sorry, he was. He was flustered. He was really flustered because we quit swinging at the slider in the dirt that all the other teams in the conference had swung at. I love the home run.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: I think they baited him into the home run.
[00:06:26] Speaker C: I think they did. I don't know if y'all had the broadcast going on in the, in the, in the press room, but I said it. When he picked the first base, you could see Davilon start to fake like he was going to bunt. And then that got him a next pitch fastball, and he hit a bomb. And we used to do that. I mean, back. I don't. I don't know if professional baseball, it's changed. I don't know if you focus on little things. We were always taught. If A pitcher is. Picks you. Even if you're not bunning, you square around and act like. Or you start to move your hands up the bat and make it look like you're bunning. Get you a fastball, usually. All right. And that's what Davlin did. I cannot wait to ask either DVH or I'd like to know their conversation over there. I want to ask DVH and see if that was something that was intentional.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: We could see him from our vantage point where he kind of, you know, put the. You know, he's simulating like he's got a bat and he puts it out and he's like, draws it back.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: And that could have.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: I think that they. They may have baited Volantis, who's a freshman pitcher, into throwing something right there that they wanted him to throw.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: Yeah, because he did. He laid an 89 mile. First of all, give. Give Devlon credit. He took the first pitch, he squared around the bunt. Safety squeeze. And I even said on the air, it's a great time for a safety squeeze right here. First and third. You got speed at third.
He laid off the slider. That's a hard pitch to lay off of when you're. When you're squaring around for a safety squeeze. It wasn't that bad a pitch. It was a little down, but yeah, I mean, the whole sequence was just. It just kind of. Just kind of put a nail in the coffin for the whole weekend. I thought it was. I thought it was freaking awesome.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: I know you're in a text thread with a bunch of players from your era. What was the text message thread like this weekend? Beaten Texas.
[00:08:11] Speaker C: It was awesome. There's guys from 85 all the way up. Like, a lot of the 85 guys are on the thread, and then there's guys all the way up into the. To the 90s on. On a couple of them. And it was. It was awesome. It just goes to show you that once a Razorback, always Razorback. I mean, there's something it. That just stays in your blood. And for us to do what we did with the 85 team there, and, you know, we can talk about it later on, but that 85 team had a lot to do with. With where we're at now. Jeff King came in the. In the booth, and I appreciate Kevin Trainor bringing him in there. And for the first time ever, I took my headset off, laid it down during an inning, and talked to Jeff King. I just want to talk to him for a second because he's the reason or that whole group's the reason I wanted to play Razorback baseball. Watching them play just really made me want to be a Razorback. And I think they kind of helped pave the way. And I, I even told him, I said, you look out here and see what you see now. I said, you guys had a big part in that.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: I had the same thought. You know, I was talking to Ralph Krause earlier this year because I wrote a story. It's been about six weeks ago. It was the 40 year anniversary of the night that they turned the lights on at George Cole Field. And he and I were talking and I told him, I said, you know, I think your home run is, you know, it's, it's right there with Brady Tupes home run and with Brett Eibner's home run in Omaha. And all of these little building block moments that have led to what Razorback baseball is right now. I mean, it's. And you could say the same thing about the entire 85 team because of the, you know, some of the momentous wins that they had that year.
[00:09:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you're right. And people don't. I wish people today knew a little bit more about that 85 group because they were a special group. I mean, a lot of those guys got drafte, it went on the pro ball. But what they did was, was huge. And, and I said it on the air. I said, you know, the Brady Tubes home run, most people will put point to that is when Razorback baseball changed, exploded. But you gotta go back farther than that to realize what, what even got us to Baum Walker Stadium. I mean, and then 85 team had a whole lot to do with it. There were some studs on that team. And you know, Jeff King, so humble. I mean, he just, you know, he really is. And I'm so glad he came to town. You know, he's not a big, he's not big on all the publicity and all that.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: First time he's been on campus since he left in 86.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Isn't that crazy?
[00:10:31] Speaker B: That's amazing to me. You know, Dick Hughes was like that a few years ago. Remember he came back the great or he had a great year with the St. Louis Cardinals. And I think it was in 2002 for the LSU series. And he threw out a first pitch and I asked him, I said, when was the last time you were on campus? He said it was for the big shootout against Texas in 1969. And he lives in Arkansas. It amazes me how you know, it's. You think about these guys who played, and it's like, you think they're coming back all the time, but, you know, for some of them, they just don't.
[00:11:00] Speaker C: You know, when I. When I was playing, when I quit playing, when. When I was done here and got off into pro ball, I didn't go to a Razorback game for. Probably for years now. I listened to him on the radio all the time, but I didn't come back for a long time. I mean, part of it is I was gone a lot. I mean, I was spring training. I'd always go down to spring training early, whether it was big league camp or whatever. But, you know, now you can't get rid of me.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: You're like a bad penny.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: So I'm definitely not comparing myself to Jeff King, by no means. I'm just saying that it's. Yeah, some guys, like, he's a private guy, lives out in that country, you know, doesn't want the publicity. Got his service time in and in the big leagues, and he's happy enjoying.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: His life up on a ranch in Montana right now. So Arkansas wins this series, and obviously it's a big turnaround because they needed something good to happen to them after the way they'd lost the previous three weeks series. This is what Dave Van Horn said when I asked him about that on Saturday.
[00:12:01] Speaker D: We needed to win the series. I mean, we lost three in a row.
You know, like I said a couple weeks ago, it's life in the sec. It's. It's tough. And about the time you think you got it figured out, somebody gets you three times on the weekend, and players are good. All the teams have good players, good pitchers, and, you know, lose three in a row. I mean, that was tough. But we're playing really good teams. Didn't go our way. Nobody swept us. You know, we just kept hanging in there, find a way to win a game, almost won another one, and we didn't do it, you know, and then today, you know, we won the first two games, and today could have been a day where all they're scoring and we're not pitching real good. And they got their guys going, but our guys wouldn't have any of it. You know, they just kept fighting, fighting for another pitch and let the next guy do the job. As I take ball four and four or five times, you know, three or four times a day, we did with.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Home runs, you know, it would have been easy for Arkansas to lose that game on Saturday. And I don't Think anybody would have been. I mean, there's some disappointment that you, you didn't finish a sweep. I don't think anybody would have thought less of the weekend had they lost it. But you know, very similar to how when they're at Ole Miss and they hit a home run with two outs in the ninth and they keep that game going, or even Georgia, they didn't win the extra inning game, but they kept it going with a two out home run of the ninth. There's a fight in this team that seems different than maybe we've seen the last few years.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: Well, I said it early on, there's something about this team and I said, I'm all in on this team. No matter what happens at, you know, at the end of the season, I'm in on this team. There's something special about this team. They do, they have that fight. And man, I love it. You know, it was really cool. First of all, Dave, Dave always says the right thing. I liked his message to the team. I liked him talking to the team about the 85 team being here. And I like the fact that he Talked to the 85 guys. They loved that. I got to, I got a chance to talk to a few of the guys. They thought it was really cool.
But I like how Dave talked to his team about the 85 guys being here and even joked about the reunion. In 40 years he'd be 105 and all that. But I mean, and I think, I think the players understood the importance of the 85 guys being here. I really do. But I think the best thing Dave said all weekend, and I even wrote it down, you know, he was, he was saying, you know, it's a good weekend, good sweep all over. He said this isn't the, the best thing we're going to do this year. I thought that was awesome. That's real telling about where this team's headed, hopefully. And you know, don't be, don't be satisfied with a sweep. Let's now, let's go to LSU and win this series and then come back here and beat down on Tennessee, get ready for postseason. I love it.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Maybe Schlossnagle should have said the same thing to his team after they swept the Aggies, because, I mean, you watch their reaction in Austin and we talked about this last week, it just felt like they were due for a letdown. When you, when you just have such an emotional, you're so emotionally spent on that one series. And even though Arkansas won this series, I don't feel like Arkansas Going into LSU is maybe the same way that I felt like Texas coming into Arkansas was. I feel like there's. They, you know, yeah, they spent some energy on it, but it didn't feel maybe the same way as whenever I was watching that A and M Texas series the week before. Like there's a lot left in the tank for this team when they go to lsu. Now we'll say this is finals week. I do always worry about a team at the end of finals week. It just seems like, it seems like, you know, because there is so much of their attention that's pulled away from baseball for this week that it has affected some teams and I think that's something worth mentioning and watching.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: I don't think it'll affect this team. And remember we, we, we swept them this weekend and we had a lot of injuries. There's a lot of, there's a lot of things this team's dealing with and I think they have the ability to just put it aside and it's kind of next man up. And if you look at Texas, I felt like from, from Thursday on, from the time Bowles hit the home run, I felt like Texas was on their heels the rest of the weekend and they felt the pressure and look at all the mistakes they made. There was miscommunication between the third baseman and shortstop on just a routine ground ball. Who's going to field it?
You know, missed pop ups. First baseman going over against the railing, missing a pop up ended up costing him some runs. Catcher doesn't help him out. You know, I watch Ryder Helfinkel go down and I mean, well, you don't really have to because we're on that side of the field. But you always help out your, your infielder, he ran into the wall.
I mean, there were so many, there were so many just, just screw ups on the basis in the seventh inning, the pop up to Ryder, you know, and the runners are running. They thought there were two outs, there's one. I mean, that's a team that's feeling the pressure of it right there. And the game got too fast for them. It just sped up and they started making blunders. And then I think the pitchers the same way, you know, all the walks that we drew, we weren't swinging at pitches like other teams have done all year. And I think the pitchers felt the pressure. They end up come over the plate and they got hit hard.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: It was a ton of, what was it, like, 28 walks on the weekend? Something like that.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: 22 walks.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: I mean, there were nine hit batsman in there too. It was just a ton of free passes that Texas gave out. In fact, it was kind of funny. Bubba. I don't have a video or an audio clip of it, but as Schlossnagle was talking to reporters after the game, he's going through this kind of stream of consciousness and he goes, and today we walked. He looks down at the paper, goes, Jesus, just like yesterday.
It's like it was this very raw moment whenever he saw the number on Saturday being like it was the day before.
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Well, hey, we, we had 20, we scored 28 runs. We had 25 hits, 22 walks and nine hit batters.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Okay, so 31 free passes.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, but I heard, I heard someone ask in the, in the post game, ask of Dave about that. That's not bad pitching. That's, that's good hitting on our part. There weren't a lot of like non competitive at bats where it was just four straight balls. I mean most of those walks came on three, two pitches where we fouled off a few pitches and took a borderline pitch. And you know, and I want to say, what was the one? 11 out of 15 runs were scored with two outs on Thursday and Friday's games. I mean, think about that, that. Talk about a dagger. We talk about that two out rbi. That's a lot of runs scored with two outs in those first two games where the pitcher thinks the innings over. We draw a walk, maybe two, maybe a single and then a home run. I mean that's pretty impressive. And, and it says a lot about our lineup.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Good number of two out runs, I think during the final game too. Yeah, I mean you look at this and Kahiwa Loy's home run was with two outs. I guess that was the only one for Arkansas. Texas had a better day with two outs in the finale. But yeah, the two out hitting I thought was really good. So Arkansas is the first team to 40 wins this year nationally.
I think one of my big takeaways from the weekend is that if you look at not only what happened here, but LSU loses College Station. Do you listen to that? By the way, I sent you the radio. Yes, I appreciate that.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: So I'm driving back from Tulsa and I'm trying to find a game to listen to and I couldn't find anything. My varsity app wouldn't work. And so I appreciate you sending that to me. I didn't even know they did it on YouTube.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: It's kind of cool, you can watch. So. But I sent Bubba was The LSU radio broadcast. They do an in the booth thing where you can watch Chris Blair and whoever his analyst is and I don't know, it's kind of fun watching that.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: No, it really was. And then Sorrell walked them off or Sorel hit the home run. Yeah. In the 8th. Didn't walk them off, but that was, that was, that was neat to watch and just to hear their, Their cadence went from really high to really low after that happened.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: Huge moment in the game. So LSU series, Clemson loses a series to a good Florida State team. Tennessee, they. They lose another series. They lost to Auburn. You know what's happening at the top of the national ranking. There's not a team that's pulling away. I mean, you can't. You. There, there is not a, you know, 22 Tennessee, 21 Arkansas type team right now where you can look at them with two weeks left in the regular season and you say that team is clearly going to be the number one seed when the NCAA tournament selection show occurs on Memorial Day.
I think you could make an argument for Bubba. Any number of probably 11 teams right now to be a top eight seed. I would put Auburn in that conversation after what they did at Tennessee and what they've been doing in recent weeks. But where I'm going with this is one of the big takeaways for me is that with 40 wins, you've got three series wins now over top, you know, 10, 15 teams and you've got a top five RPI.
This is to me, unless they totally mess the bed for the last two weeks, and I just don't see that happening. I think that they're going to do something similar to Tennessee in a couple of weeks what they did to Texas, because I don't think that that's as good of a Tennessee team this year.
I think that, you know, they put themselves in a really strong spot this weekend to be a top eight national seed. And that's huge because we saw, and we have seen numerous times this year how hard this team is to beat at home.
[00:21:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I agree. I think. I think we did what we need to do this weekend.
You know, barring something catastrophic going wrong in the next couple of weeks, I think we set ourselves up really well. But you know, Matt, I said going into this weekend, I thought we matched up against Texas really well. I felt really good about this series, Hope I thought we'd win the series. Didn't know for sure if we'd sweep them, but felt really good about that. But, you know, you look at, you you mentioned Auburn. Auburn's quietly putting up some pretty good weekends. And did you see the. The Tony Vitala meltdown?
[00:22:15] Speaker B: I have not seen it. I have heard about it.
[00:22:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Apparently their. Their pitcher, Liam Doyle, got ejected in a relief role, too, you know, in Tennessee and Auburn on their first night. They started a game in just an absolute monsoon, and it burned Doyle. He pitched for a half inning. The umpires pull him off the field, and he's, you know, you can't. I think they brought him back in a short relief outing, but I don't know. That's one of those deals where as the home team, you get to decide, hey, is it playable or not? And then once you get into the game, the umpires have the discretion when to pull the teams off the field.
Their version of Roy did not do a good job, you know, before the game.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know how they could have started that game because it's poor. And Phil showed me, showed it to him.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: It was unbelievable. He showed that, like, Irish hit a home run. They couldn't even see whether or not it cleared the wall.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: I mean, you just can't let that happen. But I don't. I don't know, but I watched that Tennessee team. They're very talented, but they're not disciplined.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: I mean, they're not last year's team.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: No, they're not. And they're. They make a lot of mistakes. I watch their pitchers. They don't hold runners well. At.
They got some big arms, but once you get them first, I mean, you're gonna steal second because they don't. They just don't hold runners.
They make errors, they kick the ball around. I just don't think they have discipline. And, you know, Tony Mattel is a good coach, but I just feel like sometimes he lets them. I don't know. He. They don't do the little things. I guess what I'm trying to say, they're good enough to overcome it a lot, but I think when you get against a good team, you get exposed.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Zach Root, what did you think the difference was from him? Eight innings, and, I mean, he was phenomenal.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: So that's the best I've ever seen. Zach. He had all pitches working.
I liked what. When I interviewed him after the game, he said that, you know, he didn't want any of the credit. He just said what he was trying to do is give his. Give his teammates a road map on how to get these guys out the rest of the weekend. That was his response because, you know, I'm I'm all. I'm all hyped up and I'm like, man, you just, you know, and you got to be careful what you ask a guy. You don't want bulletin board material. But those guys were flustered. Think about it. They hit one ball hard all night against him. It was that 104 comebacker to him that he made the out on. That was the only ball they hit hard. They hit another ball. 96 to center field. So 95 is a threshold for a hard hit ball. The only other hard hit ball was 96, and that was a fly ball, a lazy fly ball to center, launch angle, 40 something degrees. So they. They basically squared up one ball against him the whole night. He was in total control, all four pitches working.
And the hitters were just frustrated. And I really think that set the tempo for the rest of the weekend.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: Engage. Wood was dominant. I mean, these last two weeks, it's. It's got you thinking like, man, when he gets back to full strength and there's not the, you know, the low pitch count on him, what. What could he possibly do?
[00:25:17] Speaker C: Well, he's got that fastball going, and he had his breaking ball going, too. But that fastball is 97, 98, and it plays faster than that. And they. They couldn't catch up. I mean, anything above the belt, they couldn't catch up to.
You know, I don't know. I don't have. He's got nine punches in. In four innings, but he just. He just straight dominated him. And then Gacko came in. I thought Gackel was. Gackel was pretty good too, you know, and then. And then Aiden came in and did his thing.
I was kind of a little bit wishing we didn't have to use Aiden, but I get it. You got a chance to win the series. Take it right then while you got a chance.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: I don't have my scorebook with me, but I was. I was charting when Gage was throwing, you know, like. Like they were. They were mixing their pitches so well. He and Helfrich were. I mean, it was as. It was as good as I think I've seen all year. A pitcher and a catcher for Arkansas mix their pitches and keep the opposing hitters off balance.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: So the player of the game Saturday or Friday after the. After Gage woods started was going to be Helfrick. You know, just because we wanted to talk to Helfrich or I wanted to talk to Helfrich about how well he mixed pitches and how he had him just baffled, you know, for two days straight. And then I ended up getting down there late and Helfrich was already gone. But, you know, I really wanted to talk to him and just talk about the pitch calling and what he sees from behind the plate and how well they were setting up the hitters because talk about being caught in between. These guys were caught in between all weekend. I mean, they're late on fastballs, early on off speed. They just really, you know, you look at Vital Cheese's start, one bad pitch, you know, left a cutter over the middle of the plate. Dude hits a three run homer.
Other than that, I mean, you know, Beitle Cheese even look good.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Wrote this down. The starting pitching against Florida last week gave Arkansas 37% of their innings. Against Texas, it was 59%. Huge difference. When you get good starting pitching.
[00:27:20] Speaker C: Absolutely. We said one of the keys. So the keys Thursday night, going in.
I don't know, you probably don't listen to the, the broadcast, but listen more.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Than you think I do.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Well, good. I'm glad. I don't. I don't know what y'all have going on down there. Y'all are usually eating when I go down there, so I don't know.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Not unless you bring that big old chicken plate in like you did last year.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: Oh, that's right. Hey, by the way, I go down to the, I go down there, they were fixing a tv. So I go down and I sit in, in the press area and you know, I'm writing out the lineups and all that, and there was a Texas guy beside me. And so I just, you know, I just casually said, well, I hope they don't let any Texas, any Longhorn people up here and sit. And the guy just, he got all bristled up on me and got him left. And I was just kidding. I mean, I said it with a smile on my face. I think I hurt the A dude's feelings. But, but, but no, the keys for the weekend for me was starting pitching. And I said Thursday night, I said, the key for this game is Zach Root needs to give us a good start, get us off to a good start for the weekend. And, and our hitters need to go out there and control the at bats and, and get their starter out. I thought if we could get their starter out early on Thursday, it'd be a good weekend for us. And we accomplished both those things and it just carried on the rest of the weekend.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Does it feel to you? Because it feels like to me that Arkansas, maybe their ingredient to win moving forward is to go all in on pitching Game one and game two and then just see if you can outslug them in game three.
[00:28:50] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what, that's what it was. I mean, and if we would have needed vital cheese, he'd have been there Saturday.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: He was up. He was, he wasn't warming up, but he was stretching. You're talking about Friday night.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: Yeah, Friday night. I'm sorry, the Thursday, Friday, Saturday thing gets me.
But yeah, Friday, if we didn't need, needed him Friday for that win, we would have brought him in. And, you know, if the, if the matchup or a high leverage situation, something, and I really like that, that's what Dave's done in the past. There's been a lot of TBAs on that last game of the series, and if we got to do it that way, we got to do it that way. And, and look, it might be a situation where we use vital cheese in relief and we don't use Jimenez. Jimenez can start on, on that third game or Dylan Carter can start. There's a lot of different options. There's a lot of ways to mix and out, mix and match the pitching to get the outs that we need.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: The 04 Arkansas team went to the College World Series by closing Jason Watsky on a Friday night and starting him on Sunday. There's a lot of ways to, to approach that Game 3 starter. We got a lot more to come. We're going to talk about Reese Robinette. We're going to look around the sec, talk about Vivo Aloy and his player of the Year campaign. Now that I think is in full swing and a lot more. But first, another word from Kendall King.
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[email protected] most in depth source for all Razorback sports analysis. Latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today@whole hogsports.com Big weekend for Reese Robinette and you know, in particular in the finale. I mean he had six rbi, had nine career RBI going into that game and he gets six in one game.
It's amazing. It's also kind of crazy. I want to go back and look this up, Bubba. But the number of players this year who have had six or more RBI in a game, I think it's three or four different individuals who have done it. It's incredible. And I think it kind of speaks to the depth of, you know, not just the everyday lineup, but when you see Robinette do it, maybe what they've got coming off the bench, I don't know that he stays in the lineup every game. Like probably some people are going to think he's he would after this one game against Texas, you know, we'll see what happens. Number one is I think we got to see what happens with the injuries elsewhere. How's Gabe Frazier's back holding up? How's Logan Maxwell in the hamstring? Because I think that's going to the reason that Robinette and Pepe were playing at first base in the first place this weekend was because of the injuries elsewhere. And then you have to, you know, move things around. You have to put Kozal at second and But I think, you know, what he has shown is that there is some serviceability there with his bat and certainly at first base. He's the biggest target they've got over there and he plays a good defense.
[00:32:36] Speaker C: Yeah. One of my favorite interviews I've been able to do all year was talking to Reese Robinette after that game.
So excited. And I think what, what the best thing for me is is seeing a guy like him because in today's game of transfer portal and if you don't play, you. You quit and you leave to see him stick around. Red shirt last year, not getting the lineup much this year. Keep a good attitude, go out and take bp, work hard. You could tell the reaction when he hit the first home run. The, the guys in the dugouts reaction says a lot about how they feel about about Reese or Big Country.
And then to hit the second one, just a colossal bomb. And by the way, I think Trackman cheated him. I think that went farther in 448. But that ball was hammered just the first pitch. You Know, first pitch, splitty. And I said. I said before the pitch, I said, he needs to get geared up for the fastball right here because they're not going to throw him. He had hit a splitty out the time before. I said, get ready for a fastball because they're not going to throw him. Another split. First splitting. He hits it. 440 feed. So anyway, thought that was awesome, though, to see a guy like that, just like Bowles on. On Thursday night, his home run, how excited everyone got. But, you know, we said someone had to step up and be big. And it was. It was bulls and. And Robinette, especially Robinette.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: I think Robinette, you know, assuming others are. Are get healthy, I think he's got maybe more of a chance to stay in the lineup on at least a platoon basis than Bowles. The two. There were a couple of plays defensively in Saturday's game that I think probably showed you why Bowles has had trouble getting into the lineup consistently.
[00:34:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay, so the pop up to shallow, right. I mean, by the way, did you have far Vera ran to get to that?
[00:34:23] Speaker B: About two football fields.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: People don't realize how fast that dude is, how much ground he covers. But I don't want my shortstop out there in right center. I appreciate the hustle. Don't want him that far out there.
The way the wind was blowing, Kozil got twisted around. The ball's really carrying.
Bowles has to come get that ball. I don't care how deep you are. That ball was in the air long enough hit. You have to come get that ball. And then the other ball, you know, in deeper right center.
That little miscommunication there. He's got to take charge on that. You know, the ball's. The ball's going to drift back to him. He's got it. He's got to take charge. But you're right. But I think those are little things that can get fixed. He probably hadn't played. I don't know where he played last year. Probably had played a lot of right field. Um, so I mean, the ball plays different whether you're in left field or right. It just comes off the bat different, the way it slices.
So he's got to get better. But. But yeah, it was. Still, to see Robinette do what he did was just super exciting.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: This is what Dave Van Horn had to say about Reese Robinette. You're going to hear him say something and then a question and then him talking about him some more. But this is what he had to say after the game three victory.
[00:35:37] Speaker D: What you guys saw, he's been swinging the bat a lot better. I mean, his batting practice got better a couple weeks ago. He's kind of like, wow, starting to let it go a little bit. Hitting the ball on the line.
Yeah, I mean it's, it's all about the offense. Defense has always been good. I mean, he's the first baseman that can play third. So that tells you something, that he's, he's got, you know, good hands, he can pick the ball. He's a really good target to throw to. And you know, this weekend what I did is I just started him against the right handers and started Rocco against the lefty and then, you know, would get Reese in maybe for defense if we had the lead. Just, you know, because he's a lot better target to throw to.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: Reese had the big home run at LSU a couple of years ago. Red shirted last year. What's it say about him that he sticks around, you know, this day and age? You know, guys could easily hit the portal, just kind of. What's it say about him?
[00:36:28] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, last year we told him after fall ball of his second year that just didn't see a lot of playing time. We didn't want him to leave. But we told him if we understand if you do go to, you know, if you go to junior college, maybe we'll get you back and you know, but if not, we'll just get you stronger. And he decided that's what he wanted to do. Went out and played pretty well this past summer, I think in the New England Collegiate League or one of those over there and, and you know, made the all star team. Played a lot of third base, come in in the fall. Didn't have a great fall, you know, nothing special, not bad, but just nothing that really lit you up and.
Yeah, and then now it's like the light came on the last couple of weeks and confidence, you know, once you got those two doubles in that midweek game, couple offensive field hits and you know, he's just been swinging the bat a lot better.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: It was three doubles against UAPB actually. And you know, when and, and I mentioned this at the time, you don't always celebrate walking off UAPB and a, you know, eight inning run rule, but when you saw all the players run out and you know, rip his shirt off and douse with water and everything, it just shows what they think of him and you know, that they notice what has, you know, what he's gone through just in terms of, you know, not playing a whole lot. And I don't know, it's a real cool story. The fact that he stuck around because he just, you know, like, like you heard him ask there. You just don't see that very often now.
[00:37:56] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think it's cool that the, the, the team recognizes that and you can see it. Like you said, one of the coolest thing Matt was being, you know, going down and do the interview after the sweep, seeing the energy in the dugout. I mean the guys are so excited. I mean obviously you just swept number one team in the nation. It's not that. It's Texas. It's the number one team in the nation to those guys and you know, give him a high five. Like I went to give Kuhio high five and he hugged me and I about broke my ribs. Dude. So strong. But they're just super excited and yeah, it's, it was really, it was really cool to see but I love to see I always pull for the underdog and so it's really good to see a guy like Reese Robinette and I hope he can keep it up. Hope he gets a chance to play. I would have said, you know, early in the year he's a guy that's got slider bat speed. I think he's done a lot better of shortening up that swing, getting a little bit quicker. So hopefully he's a guy that'll get some more bats down the road.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: Arkansas is the only team in college baseball now to have 40 wins in eight years in a row. That's a pretty cool stat after this weekend. Of course mentioned earlier, Arkansas the first team to 40 this year.
Looking around the SEC real quick over the weekend, we mentioned that Tennessee lost its series to Auburn, mentioned that A and M beat LSU, some other ones. Georgia swept Missouri. Missouri's Owen 24.
They've got a and M and I forget who else left, but they got A and m next. So Owen 30 watch continues from Missouri going into next week. Mississippi State swept Kentucky after Chris Lemonis got fired, walked him off in game three or game two. I'm sorry but they, they won the series three to nothing. Vanderbilt. Did you see what Vanderbilt did Alabama yesterday? Have you heard about this?
[00:39:45] Speaker C: No, what's that?
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Vanderbilt scored seven over the final two innings and hit a walk off home run against the SEC's top or the, the top saves man in the SEC.
[00:39:55] Speaker C: I did see that. I saw the, I saw the, the final. This the last home run.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: Vanderbilt's getting better. Yeah, they're they're like, they're a lot better now than a month ago when Arkansas went to Nashville, Florida swept South Carolina, and, oh, you won two of three over Ole Miss going back to Arkansas in the rankings. I think one of the things that's hurting Arkansas with some of the pollsters is that they look at Florida and they look at A and M and they say they both got 10 and 14 SEC records and you lost to both of those teams. But to me, if you look at the SEC or even college baseball at large over the last month, you're going to have a hard time finding two teams that are playing any better right now than Texas A and M and Florida. I mean, A and M, they beaten Arkansas on the road. They just beat LSU at home. Those are two top five teams. Florida, they're playing really well. I know, you know, South Carolina's not anything to write home about this year, but they're playing well. I think they've won 10 of their last 12 SEC games and they go to Austin next week and it'll be very interesting to see how they play down there.
[00:40:58] Speaker C: Yeah, and that's, that's the crazy thing about it, you know, people. So we lost three series in a row, but if you go back, even all to Georgia, we could have easily swept them. You go to Florida, a swing or two there, we win this series. I mean, A and M at home, same thing. Just one swing, one pitch, and it changes that whole series. So, you know, I don't know. I think it's. I think it's frustrating to me. You say the pollsters and how they view Arkansas is. If you don't look at Florida and A and M and see a whole bunch of talent, then you're not watching the right things. You need to go back and rewatch what's going on because those two teams are very talented. I mean, Florida's got ridiculous talent up and down the lineup and, and so, so say and M. But I mean, those teams were. Look at their preseason ranking, how high they were. They don't. You typically don't miss it that bad. But. So the posters need to go back and re. Review kind of what they're seeing there because it's. They're totally wrong. Either one of those teams could win a national championship. They really could.
[00:42:07] Speaker B: I agree. I agree with that. And Florida's doing this without Colby Shelton. They're going to get him back and they're going to get stronger. Arkansas, you look at them at home this year, they have outscored teams by a Combined margin at home, 131 to 48. Now it's really good on the road, too. They've out. They've outscored teams, I think by 32 runs on the road. But the 131 homes or the 131 runs at home, and I know Missouri factors into that, I feel like that's always a caveat, I have to mention. But I mean, they did it to South Carolina. South Carolina's not real good, but they did it to Texas. Even the A and M weekend, I thought that they had a.
It was their worst weekend offensively, but it wasn't a terrible weekend offensively.
What do you think it is about being at home that brings us out of.
[00:43:00] Speaker C: So as a hitter, there's no place that's better than your home batter's box. And it's, it's crazy to think about it, but it's different when you step in your home batter's box. I, I remember every season I played a baseball, I always hit better at home.
It just feels right. You're used to the atmosphere, used to the batter's eye. You see the ball better in your own home ballpark. Everything about it's more conducive.
Well, back in the day, I had the hyper building out there, you know, George Cole Field. I've made it a little tougher, but you know what I mean. It's just something about being in your home batter's box feels right. You see the ball well and it's all about seeing the ball. Our guys see the ball well at home and it helps that you got the fans behind you and all that. But other than that, it's just the way you see the ball out of the pitcher's hand is so much better in your home ballpark.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Does it help that the pitchers seem to throw better at home? Like in terms of, you know, you're not coming to the plate feeling a lot of pressure because like even you mentioned, you know, Texas. It felt like the heat was on them from the second inning on. Like in the game three, they get a three to nothing lead, but there wasn't any time for them to exhale because 10 minutes later, Kahila Loy's had a two run home run. And you know, I guess where I'm going with this is like it. Does the hitting feed off of what the pitching and the defense seems to be better at home?
[00:44:24] Speaker C: Absolutely. I think it's all contagious right there. If you're a pitcher like Zach Root got him off the field Quick got him back up to the plate, and I think that had a huge effect on it. Riojas just, you know, he wasn't getting a whole lot of time to rest in the. In the dugout on Thursday night. And I just think it's all contagious. Feeds off of, you know, the. The pitching and the defense kind of feed off each other. The hitting, they all. They all kind of work together, and it's all contagious. And so, yeah, I mean, it's. We're a team that. We've said it in the past, but there's something different about this team at home, and they're. It's pretty special.
[00:44:59] Speaker B: Yeah. I mentioned the rankings and how there's not really a team that's pulled away. And you and I talked about this last week. There's not a player who's pulled away in the national Player of the Year race either. And I think what Vijiva Aloy is doing right now is I think you've squarely got to put him in the conversation for SEC Player of the Year. And when you're in the conversation for that, you're going to be in the conversation for the Golden Spikes to Kauser Trophy.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: I think if you watch Vaheva play day in and day out, you realize how good he is. You know, it's hard to just look at a stat sheet and say, okay, this is our guy. But if you watch him play, Matt, look at everything that he brings to the field, brings to the table, I think he's our guy. I mean, I don't. I don't know another guy in the. In the country that's doing more than what he's doing right now. Offensively, defensively. I mean, he's just a complete, total package on the bases. The way he runs the bases, Watching him go from first to home, you don't realize how fast he is. The Duke can run, too. I mean, he. He doesn't get credit for the way he runs the bases.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: His third to home speed is amazing. Oh, it really had a number of times this year.
[00:46:12] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, I just. I just feel like if you watch him play day in and day out, he's your guy. And I feel like people. People fall in love with Lava Let. Because, you know, there's been all the hype the last few years about Lava Lad. He's a good player. I'd put him somewhere in that category, but I still just say ver just brings so much more to the table. Plus, he's playing shortstop. He's Playing a tough position and he plays it well.
[00:46:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought he had a couple of really nice plays defensively. You know, you talked about Robert Moore when he played second base, how he would round to the ball and set himself up for his throw. Like, you're seeing that a lot more with heave this year. And I think that's a byproduct, I'm sure, of working with Van Horn, who's the middle infield coach.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely.
I guess I was talking to Kyle Peterson Thursday night and. And we were talking about coaches being hands on, how a lot of coaches aren't hands on. And I said, I think that's what separates DVH is the fact that he is hands on. You come here early for bp, before bp, when they're taking ground balls. Dave's out there in the middle infield still. You know, this time of year, it's May working with the middle infielders. Just little things, just little. Little bits of information here and there. And it's crazy to watch how much better VE is now than when he first came here.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: I mean, it wasn't a massive weekend for him by any measure, but it wasn't a bad weekend. And I mean, the thing is, is that he was putting himself in a position to be successful. He had five hits over the weekend, scored four runs. He's leading the SEC in runs right now, which to me, that is a byproduct somewhat of what the players are doing behind you. And mostly it's his brother who leads the SEC and rbi. But you got to put yourself in position to be on base, and he's doing it at a really high rate.
[00:48:02] Speaker C: I like the way he approached Dylan Volantis. Couple base hits to the right side, you know, and you think it looks like he's just slapping the ball to the right side. He's hitting it 110, you know, just taking what the pitcher gives him. And that's. I think that's the maturity of him compared to last year. I think Valantis threw him a fastball away, hit the right field 110 for a base hit. I think last year he would have tried to pull that ball to left center and rolled over to short. I just think he's. I think he understands his swing a lot better this year than he did last year, and he's a total package.
[00:48:37] Speaker B: So I asked the players after the game on Saturday, I just asked him, I said, what does Viva Aloy mean to this team? And, like, I mean, it's a fight at the mic between these three guys, this is Dylan Carter, Reese Robinette and Charles Davilon wanting to talk about their teammates. For all three of you, what does Vaheva Aloy mean to this team?
[00:48:56] Speaker E: A lot. He's the best player in the college. Yeah, it's not even close. I mean, he'll do everything. I mean, he plays defense, probably the best in the country, too. And then he's one of the better hitters in the country.
[00:49:09] Speaker C: So he can do it all. Yep, he can do everything.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: And he's a great dude. Outside of baseball, he's so much fun to be around.
[00:49:15] Speaker C: Great guy. You can go get your haircut whenever you want.
Yeah, I think he did a great job. He cut mine a couple weeks ago.
[00:49:27] Speaker B: There are some days where he just pushes the team forward when maybe, you know, sometimes there's not a lot else going on. Do you all see that?
[00:49:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I think that's what the best player in the country does. He just, he'll do a play. You know, even yesterday he did a play in the six hole that just saved what, two runs maybe. And then after, he keeps swinging and. Yeah, I mean, he's the best player in the country. I. For me, that's pretty simple.
[00:49:54] Speaker B: But the golden spikes is.
There's. You got to have some high profile games to win the golden Spikes and you got to have a team that's winning. I mean, Condon, they got to the doorstep of going to the, or going to the College World Series last year. Arkansas's got those high profile games left. I mean, it's. It's Texas this week, it's Texas last week, LSU this week, Tennessee Hoover Regional, whatever else comes after that. I mean, it's. I think there's a chance if Arkansas finishes strong and he's the one, you know, leading them or out front helping lead them. I think he's got a chance to maybe win this thing or certainly be one of the three that's invited to the World Series when it's presented.
[00:50:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. I don't know who asked that question, but that was a great question by the media right there. I loved it.
[00:50:44] Speaker B: So it's a guy that can't get the mic away from.
[00:50:49] Speaker C: But okay, so here's. I feel like. And I. And I feel like there's not enough promotion of heaven, how good he is. I mean, last year, all we heard of Charlie Condren. Really good player, Caglio. Great player, no doubt. Best college hitter I've ever seen. But they're not, they're not doing what fajiva's doing. They're not playing shortstop. Caglion could hit. He could pitch a little bit, but he could hit. He had home runs, condren home run hitter, but he was doing it all. I wouldn't trade for heaven for either one of those guys you put together. Gaglion maybe.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: So he's doing a double A right now. About knocked down a building in Springfield the other day.
[00:51:29] Speaker C: It's crazy, but the guy is a stud. I can't believe people passed on him in the draft. He should have been the number one pick overall. I don't, I don't get that because honestly, like I try to find holes and swings. No hole in that swing. I've never seen one. But. But I love what they said about Veheva and I just feel like there's not enough. I don't feel like he's talked about enough about how great of a player he is. And you talk about five tool players. I guess if he's a haircut, that's a six tool. He's a six tool player. Right. He cut hair too.
[00:52:00] Speaker B: Royals need to get Caglion up while they can get him and Bobby Witt playing together.
[00:52:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: Because that's. That window is short for them.
Real quick on Carson Wiggins. Good news on the injury front that it doesn't look like there's a tear in his elbow. I still would caution people that think that he might pitch again this year. That, that seems pretty, pretty far fetched. Just know, knowing what I know about elbow strains and how long they take to come back from. And I would suspect that you're even more cautious with someone who throws as violently as he does.
[00:52:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, technically, I guess if you wanted to rehab him and bring him back, you could this year. But I don't think the Razorbacks will. I talked to Corey Wood about it.
I think we'll see him next year. The good thing is, is we're gonna get.
[00:52:49] Speaker B: We can see him.
[00:52:50] Speaker C: We will see him next year.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: And that's the thing, is if there was a tear and he's a draft eligible sophomore, he's already shown what he can do though. I don't think Tommy John, you know, it doesn't. Or elbow injuries, whatever, you know, could be the internal brace. Now none of that scares off the scouts, I think, like it used to, you know, they're. They're willing to take these guys. And so if he had. Had to have had a surgery, I don't think we, There's a very good chance that we probably would Never have seen him pitching a Razorback uniform again.
[00:53:19] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think scouts almost view the Tommy John surgery as a blessing because they know once he comes back, he's going to be healthy. And the way they. The way they do that Tommy John surgery now, it's. They. They almost. They. It's almost like revving up the engine. They tighten stuff up a little bit in there. They can put. They can even put. Yeah, I read about it a little bit. They can even put like a. The internal brace thing. They can even do that over the top of a Tommy John surgery. So it kind of gives it extra cushion. Cushion, I guess. I don't know what the right word.
[00:53:53] Speaker B: But we're not elbow specialists.
[00:53:55] Speaker C: Extra stability, I guess you can say. But yeah, they can make you a lot better. So that doesn't scare people off where it used to be almost a death sentence and now it's like, it's almost a blessing to get it done.
[00:54:04] Speaker B: Now it's the shoulder. Yeah, it's the shoulder that scares you.
[00:54:08] Speaker C: Yeah. So, you know, I'm so glad that we're gonna see him again. I love that kid. And, and boy, he's going to be. He's going to be really good next year. Hopefully. Hopefully he gets everything taken care of. He gets back healthy, rehabs it and see him next year.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: Bubba, appreciate you being in here. You can read all of our Razorback coverage@whole hogsports.com Dave Van Horn is speaking at Swatter's Club today. So we'll have coverage from that and what he has to say. You know, he's going to be in a pretty good mood whenever he walks in there this afternoon. Wholehogsports.com we'll be back with another podcast tomorrow. Hope to see you then.
