Back-to-back College World Series berths raise Hogs’ stakes.
FAYETTEVILLE — The names, methods and motivations might change, but the aim is the same every season for the juggernaut assembled by Dave Van Horn at the University of Arkansas.
After making the first backto-back College World Series appearances in school history, the Razorbacks are pointing toward a trifecta starting with the season opener Feb. 14 against Eastern Illinois.
On a cold Friday afternoon, the Razorbacks sat around their lockers at Baum-Walker
Stadium for media day as talk heated up about the pieces in place for the 2020 season.
“There’s a lot of talk about how this team is supposed to be better on paper than the last two years’ teams, and I’ve seen a lot of things that remind me of the team from our freshman year,” junior shortstop Casey Martin said, pointing out “the power, the pitching depth and the defense.”
Martin and right fielder Heston Kjerstad are preseason All-Americans. Righthander Connor Noland and lefty Patrick Wicklander are
sophomores who project as the top two weekend starters.
Casey Opitz is back as an improved hitter and one of the best defensive catchers Van Horn has coached. Christian Franklin and third baseman Jacob Nesbit provided key contributions as freshmen and project as starters at center field and third base, respectively. The team’s top hitter from 2019, Matt Goodheart, is coming off shoulder surgery but is the likely designated hitter in the three-hole.
Newcomers Braydon Webb, Cole Austin and Robert Moore look targeted for starting spots in left field, first base and second base, respectively.
There’s a plethora of arms — old, new and rehabbed — to fill the third through fifth starter jobs, middle relief and the all-important game-closing roles.
“Look around the room,” said Noland, surveying his teammates from just inside the locker room. “We’ve got two All-Americans, Casey Opitz with [Team] USA, the pitching’s stacked. There’s so much talent.
“So many young guys that not many people are talking about but that have exploded in the fall, and really grown in the weight room and on the field, just doing a good job. I mean the talent is here. It’s just playing games and doing what we need to do.”
The Razorbacks open the season ranked No. 5 in the
USA Today coaches poll and scattered throughout the top 10 in the assortment of other polls. They have Van Horn, who has skippered six CWS teams in his 18th season at his alma mater, along with returning assistants Nate Thompson and Matt Hobbs. It seems Van Horn has refined the mold for developing CWS-worthy lineups. He’s the active leader in college baseball with eight total CWS appearances.
“The keys for us are just doing what we do best, and that’s playing Razorback baseball,” Goodheart said. “Whether that’s playing solid defense, having a competitive offense, having great pitchers year in and year out that are going to keep us in games. That’s just what we need to do.
“I mean, the preseason rankings, they are what they are. That’s other people believing we can be that good. I think we can be even better.”
Said Kjerstad: “We just have to keep getting better and improving throughout the season. Once postseason hits, what you did in the season really doesn’t matter. You have to flip the switch. You have to win those five games to make it to Omaha. That’s the make or break. You go undefeated the whole year, but you lose two games in the postseason and that’s it.”
Those two postseason losses didn’t happen until Omaha, Neb., for the past two editions of the Razorbacks, who have tied for back-to-back SEC West crowns. They were the last two games on the college baseball calendar in 2018, when Oregon State rallied from a 1-0 deficit to claim the championship series over the Razorbacks. They were the first two games at the CWS for last year’s OmaHogs.
The current version has visions of staying longer at the CWS and showing improvements throughout the grind of the season.
“Honestly, based on these past few scrimmages, I think our lineup is going to be just as deadly as the lineup last year,” said Franklin, who is likely targeted to hit fifth. “Last year we didn’t have like all the super-high rankings, and I feel like they have a little more respect for us this year after going to Omaha back-to-back years.
“So I’m excited for this team. We’ve got a good pitching staff, and I think our lineup is going to be really good, too.”
Said Nesbit: “Obviously there have been a lot of highs in this program the last couple of years, and in order to get back you can’t look too far into the future. You’ve got to take it a day at a time and not stray from the course.”
Right-hander Kole Ramage, like fellow juniors Kjerstad and Martin, has only known CWS appearances as a Razorback.
“We just need to be consistent throughout the whole year, and you’ve got to play well when the time is right,” Ramage said. “I think just having the team we have, the depth we have and the team chemistry we have, it’s something that we’re definitely looking forward to, getting to go back there for a third time in a row. And it’s definitely our goal this season.”
Martin said his personal approach — trying to slow the game down to better master pitch recognition, and cut down on his strikeouts and throwing errors — also would be a good guide for the team.
“We need to slow the game down a lot because we have a lot of high expectations,” Martin said. “We don’t need to look into [the expectations] at all. Basically go out and do what we did our freshman year, which is literally taking it one game by one game.
“Hitting the way we know we can, having that confidence rolling into every game, knowing nobody can beat us. And then of course backing our pitchers up. If they throw strikes, we’ve got to play defense, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t put up five-plus runs every game.”
Said Kjerstad: “We have the talent, and we have the depth. We just need to go out there and make it happen.”