UA to play six games vs. in-state foes
FAYETTEVILLE — The Uni- versity of Arkansas released a 54game baseball schedule Tuesday, one month before the Razorbacks are scheduled to open the season with games against Texas, Texas Tech and TCU in Arlington, Texas.
The schedule is two games short of the maximum number of 56 regular-season games allowed by the NCAA. Arkansas might add more games to its schedule, which was being adjusted as recently as Monday.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play their first game Feb. 19 against Texas at Globe Life Field, the second-year home of the MLB’s Texas Rangers. Arkansas is scheduled to play Texas Tech there on Feb. 20 and TCU on Feb. 21.
All three games are being played as part of the inaugural State Farm College Baseball Showdown — a six-team event that will also include Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The nine games at Globe Life Field that weekend will match a team from the SEC against a team from the Big 12, but no teams from the same conference will play one another in Arlington.
This is the first season since 2007 the Razorbacks are scheduled to open the season away from home. Arkansas is scheduled to open its 33-game home slate Feb. 25 with a four-game series against Southeast Missouri State at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to host Murray State for three games the following weekend (March 5-7) and close nonconference weekend play with a series at Louisiana Tech on March 12-14.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to open SEC play with a three-game series against Alabama beginning March 18. Arkansas’ other home SEC series are scheduled against Auburn (April 1-3), Texas A&M (April 16-18), Georgia (May 7-9) and Florida (May 20-22).
The three-game Florida series will be the Razorbacks’ final regular-season games. Arkansas has not concluded the regular season at home since 2011.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play at Mississippi State (March 26-28), Ole Miss (April 9-11), South Carolina (April 23-25), LSU (April 30-May 2) and Tennessee (May 1416) in SEC play.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play a record six games against in-state teams — two games against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (April 6-7) and University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (April 13-14), and a game apiece against the University of Central Arkansas (March 30) and Arkansas State University (May 11). All six games are scheduled to be played at Baum-Walker Stadium.
It is the third consecutive season Arkansas has scheduled UALR and UAPB, although last year’s games were not played. The Razorbacks lost to UALR and defeated UAPB two years ago.
The games against UCA and Arkansas State would be the first for the Razorbacks against those programs. Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek lifted a decades-old all-sports scheduling ban against UCA and Arkansas State last summer, and Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn scheduled both teams within a matter of days.
“I think that playing each other will grow our game and help make it more popular,” Van Horn said of playing in-state teams last year. “I think playing the other schools is going to be great. Obviously, it’s going to be a battle playing those guys on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between conference series. But at the same time, it’s just good for everybody involved.
“I’m just appreciative that we get to do it now.”
The six in-state games are part of an 11-game midweek schedule for the Razorbacks at home. Arkansas is also scheduled to host Memphis twice (March 23-24), and host single midweek games against Oklahoma (March 16), Grambling State (April 20) and Missouri State (April 27).
Absent from the Razorbacks’ schedule is a game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. The Grambling State game originally was contracted to be played there, but was moved to Fayetteville to limit travel during the coronavirus pandemic.