NCAA Stillwater Regional report

Van Horn: There was no pressure

STILLWATER, Okla. — University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van said he doesn’t believe his baseball team struggled coming into the NCAA Tournament because of high expectations.

The Razorbacks, ranked among the top five nationally in polls for most of the season, are the No. 2 seed in the Stillwater (Okla.) Regional after going 4-8 in their last 12 games. They have lost four consecutive games for the first time this season.

“I don’t feel like the team felt a lot of pressure,” said Van Horn, whose Razorbacks play Grand Canyon today. “I just think that we played some teams that played better than us.

“We didn’t play great and it happens, but we didn’t try to put pressure on [the players]. We never really talked about winning the West. We didn’t talk about winning the overall [SEC title].

“We just talk about playing good that day and we had to finish on the road.”

Vanderbilt took two of three games at Arkansas, then the Razorbacks lost two of three games at Alabama and went 0-2 in the SEC Tournament with losses to the Crimson Tide and Florida.

“Those days are over with,” Van Horn said. “This is a new season. Nobody’s got a batting average here in a regional or has pitched.

“It’s all right there in front of us. Our thing is it doesn’t matter any more what we did. You guys [in the media] keep bringing it up. Who cares? That’s the way I look at it.

“It’s all about from here on in. Whoopee. That was then. This is now, man.”

Arkansas Cowboy

Oklahoma State sophomore shortstop Marcus Brown, who played at Shiloh Christian High School in Springdale, is batting .306 with 4 home runs and 26 runs batted in.

“Marcus is a great player,” Cowboys Coach Josh Holliday said. “He’s a hard worker. He’s very committed to this team and very committed to doing the right things both on and off the field.

“So he’s a great role model and he’s a great teammate. He’s been a great influence on a lot of the younger players in the program. He’s obviously played well on the field. Marcus is a very fine allaround person.”

Brown said that after he decommitted from Kentucky, he drew recruiting interest from Arkansas, but he ultimately decided Oklahoma State was his best choice.

“It’s been a true blessing to play over here,” Brown said.

Brown said he knows several of the Razorbacks from playing summer ball with them and that he and Arkansas third baseman Cayden Wallace are best friends.

“I have a lot of respect for those guys, and they play really good baseball over there,” Brown said. “I know their coaches. They’re good people.

“I want to welcome them to Stillwater and I’m ready for a fun weekend.”

Wallace, a sophomore from Greenbrier, said he was a summer ball teammate of Brown for seven years.

“He’s a competitor and one of the hardest workers that I have ever seen,” Wallace said. “He’s just a really good dude.”

Brown was asked about the possibility of Oklahoma State playing Arkansas after the Cowboys open against Missouri State tonight.

“You play whoever’s in front of you, and Missouri State’s a really good team,” Brown said. “All eyes on them first. But the opportunity to play Arkansas would be pretty special.”

Something to prove

Grand Canyon Coach Andy Stankiewicz said he expects Arkansas to have extra motivation after losing its last four games, which cost the Razorbacks a shot to host a regional.

“I’m sure they’d love to be at home, it didn’t quite work out, but they’ve probably got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder wanting to show people that they deserve to host,” Stankiewicz said. “They’re going to come in with something to prove I would think, because they weren’t strong down the stretch.”

Frequent foes

Arkansas is no stranger to playing in a regional field that includes Oklahoma State and Missouri State.

The Razorbacks and Cowboys have been paired in the same regional field nine times since 1983 — five times in Stillwater, three times in Fayetteville and once in Lubbock, Texas. Arkansas is 1-5 against Oklahoma State in the postseason.

Arkansas won the Stillwater Regional in 2015 and Oklahoma State won the Fayetteville Regional in 2007.

The teams were at the same site but did not play each other in regionals at Stillwater in 1983 and 1986, or Fayetteville in 2017.

This is the third time Arkansas and Missouri State have been sent to the same regional. The Bears won a regional championship against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville in 2017, and also won a game over Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1999.

The Razorbacks and the Bears also played in the 2015 super regional in Fayetteville, which Arkansas won in three games. The Razorbacks have an all-time record of 3-4 in postseason games against the Bears.

Refreshed

Arkansas players said they feel refreshed heading into their NCAA regional against Grand Canyon.

The Razorbacks (38-18) have not played since a 7-5 loss to Florida last Friday at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., and have played just two games since a series at Alabama concluded May 21.

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said players had the option to take last weekend off after the return from Alabama.

“I felt that was just common sense to give them a break,” Van Horn said.

“Mentally, they knew they didn’t have to be anywhere and could go golf and fish and hang out, relax, just get ready for this week. I think it was a good thing.”

Perhaps most beneficial to Arkansas, the low number of games in the past two weeks has given pitchers time to rest. The series finale at Alabama was the Razorbacks’ 36th game over an eight-week span.

“Anytime you get a little off time, you get to relax a little bit,” said Connor Noland, who will start today’s game against Grand Canyon.

Third baseman Cayden Wallace said the week off has created a “good bond” within the team, but said players are ready to get back to competition.

“We’ve had a little downtime and it’s been kind of nice, honestly,” Wallace said, “getting our feet underneath us.”