Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
College World Series report
Van Horn: Texas not rival today
OMAHA, Neb. — A reporter asked Coach Dave Van Horn at Friday’s news conference at TD Ameritrade Park, which also featured Texas Coach David Pierce, Florida Coach Kevin O’Sullivan and Texas Tech Coach Tim Tadlock, if Texas was still the No. 1 rival for the Razorbacks.
“I would say maybe for adults over 50 they might be,” Van Horn said, triggering laughter. “Our players, you know they want to beat LSU and Florida and Mississippi and I could go on and on. But I think a lot of our fan base, they still see it that way.”
The Razorbacks beat Texas 13-4 and 7-5 on March 13-14 at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville to drop the Longhorns to 9-9. The Horns would go 33-12 the rest of the way and face the Razorbacks on Sunday at the College World Series.
“We had nice crowds, big crowds,” Van Horn said. “If we played them on a weekend, we’d have SEC crowds, because that’s the way a lot of the fans feel about it.
“And when I say SEC crowd, anywhere from [9,000] to 12,000 a game. Doesn’t matter what the weather’s like.”
Van Horn, who was a conference rival against the Longhorns as an infielder for the Razorbacks in 1982, said he didn’t see Texas as a rival now.
“It’s just a storied program, and they beat up on a lot of people back in the Southwest Conference days, and so a lot of people liked beating Texas back then.”