Lost LSU series bugs Van Horn
FAYETTEVILLE — Dave Van Horn was still rankled late Sunday afternoon after his Arkansas Razorbacks lost the final two games of a three-game series at LSU.
Sunday’s 7-5 loss, on the heels of the Razorbacks’ blown 3-2 lead in the late innings of Saturday’s 6-4 loss, made that series follow the same pattern of 2-1 series losses at No. 1 Florida and No. 4 Ole Miss after his team took Game 1.
So when a reporter at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge said something about him looking irritated, Van Horn did not argue the point.
“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t like to lose. What’s your question?”
The crowd at Monday’s monthly Swatter’s Club meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn found the humor in Van Horn’s typically blunt
re-enactment of the encounter.
From Van Horn’s perspective, the Razorbacks — who dropped two spots to No. 6 in Monday’s USA Today coaches poll — lost those series against the Gators, Rebels and Tigers by giving away one game each weekend.
And yet, he said, in the big picture the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (33-15, 1410 SEC) continues to lead the SEC West by one game over Ole Miss and Auburn and by two games over this weekend’s opponent — Texas A&M — and LSU in pursuit of its first division title since 2011.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all where it’s at,” Van Horn said to reporters after his talk. “I look at where we are, and one minute you’re frustrated because you feel like you should win more games. But then you take a step back and say, ‘I’d probably like to be there.’ ”
The Razorbacks’ seventh consecutive series loss at LSU featured a couple of deficiencies that have been running themes for these Hogs’ road woes — defensive lapses and lack of production with runners in scoring position. Van Horn also pointed out that a healthy relief ace Matt Cronin, who might return from a bout with mononucleosis by Sunday, probably would have netted another win in Baton Rouge.
He also said the platoon situation at first base, with Jordan McFarland and Jared Gates both struggling, probably will lead to changes for this weekend’s series against the Aggies. Van Horn suggested
Hunter Wilson, Jack Kenley or even outfielder Heston Kjerstad might get a shot at first base to try to improve the defense at the spot.
Van Horn still was agitated with the details of Saturday’s 6-4 loss. The Razorbacks hit 3 for 13 (.231) with runners in scoring position, 0 for 2 with the bases loaded and 5 for 23 (.217) with runners on base. For comparison, LSU was 6 of 17 (.353) with runners on and 4 of 14 (.286) with runners in scoring position in that game.
Arkansas pitchers Kacey Murphy and Jake Reindl also had throwing errors on bunts that rolled through wet areas in front of the plate, which led to four unearned runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
“That was the game that we had them,” Van Horn said. “Whether we were going to win or not, we should have scored another four or five runs. Just make contact, stay out of the double play, hit a sac fly, take a walk. We just didn’t do it.
“It is frustrating because we wanted to win the game, but we wanted to win the series. That could have won it and made Sunday a little bit easier for us. We could have relaxed and maybe it would
have gone better. But instead of doing that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and didn’t win.”
The Razorbacks are 3-9 in SEC road games at parks in which the home teams — Florida (25-5), Ole Miss (25-4), Mississippi State (147) and LSU (25-7) — have a combined .794 winning percentage. Arkansas, which is an SEC-best 27-3 at home, could not be out front in the SEC West without dominating at Baum Stadium with a 11-1 record in SEC games.
“We’re better than what we’ve shown on the road,” Van Horn said. “And we’ve played some good people on the road though. But there’s a few games we should have gotten.”
The Razorbacks still look to be in strong shape to finish with one of the best RPI rankings and strengths of schedule in the nation, as they finish up with three games against No. 20 Texas A&M and three games at No. 15 Georgia before the SEC Tournament.
“It’s just going to probably go down to those last two games of the regular season to figure it out, and that’s what I’ve thought all along,” Van Horn said.