SEC coaches say Hogs’ slide a blip

FAYETTEVILLE — If any baseball coach in the SEC can relate to what Arkansas’ Dave Van Horn endured this season, it’s Mississippi State’s John Cohen.

Cohen’s Bulldogs, who swept Arkansas last weekend to win the SEC championship, last season were where Van Horn’s Razorbacks are now — dead last in the 14team conference.

Mississippi State finished 21-9 in SEC play after going 8-22 last year. The Razorbacks, one season removed from playing in the College World Series, finished 7-23.

“I think there’s about an inch difference between us and Arkansas and the socalled bottom of this league to the top,” Cohen said. “You could tell they’re a very talented group that was off just an inch.

“Quite frankly, if they were in many other leagues in America, they’re probably at .500 or above and in the NCAA Tournament. But if you’re an inch off in the SEC, you’re going to get punched in the mouth a lot.”

The Razorbacks (26-29) lost their final 13 games, the longest streak for an Arkansas team according to records going back to 1960.

Arkansas went 1-17 against six SEC teams ranked in the top 10 of the coaches poll:

No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Mississippi State, No. 7 LSU, No. 9 South Carolina and No. 10 Ole Miss.

The Razorbacks’ lone victory against those SEC powerhouses was 9-5 over Texas A&M on April 30 in the opener of a doubleheader. That also was Arkansas’ last victory of the season.

“It’s such a tough league, and if you get sideways in a couple of areas, it can really build in a hurry and then all of sudden it just becomes a real challenge to win games,” said Alabama Coach Mitch Gaspard, whose team swept its series at Arkansas. “When you get on the wrong side of those two or three weekends in a row, it really plays on the kids mentally.”

Arkansas lost its second game against Texas A&M 11-8 in 11 innings after leading 6-2 through three innings.

Other tough SEC losses included:

8-6 at South Carolina when the Razorbacks led 6-1 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

5-4 at Kentucky when they led 4-3 going into the bottom of the seventh of a seven-inning game.

10-9 in 10 innings at LSU when they led 9-1 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

7-4 to Alabama when they led 4-3 going into the ninth.

“They found a lot of different ways to lose,” Texas A&M Coach Rob Childress said. “But at the end of the day, I would say the pitching was the most inconsistent thing for them.”

Arkansas, last in the SEC with a 5.02 ERA, officially will see its NCAA Tournament streak end at 14 years when the 64-team field is announced next week.

The Razorbacks had the SEC’s longest NCAA Tournament streak and fifth longest in the nation behind Miami (43), Florida State (38), California State-Fullerton (24) and Rice (21).

“It was a tremendous streak,” Ole Miss Coach Mike Bianco said of the Razorbacks’ run ending. “Unfortunately, it happens to all of us. It happened to Arkansas this year.”

Van Horn suffered his first losing record in 28 seasons as a head coach.

“This year is an aberration for him,” LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said. “Things turned south and he had a lot of bad breaks.

“It’s hard to explain except for the fact that he’s coaching in an extremely challenging and difficult conference, and this has happened to a lot of people.”

South Carolina had its streak of NCAA Tournament appearances end at 15 years last season when the Gamecocks were 13-17 in SEC play.

“No one has more respect for Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas program than we do,” South Carolina Coach Chad Holbrook said. “We certainly know how things can get away from you in this league and snowball as it did to us last year.”

South Carolina came back this season to go 20-9 and win the SEC East title.

“We just played better baseball,” Holbrook said. “I think we had a more cohesive locker room. We had kids that held themselves accountable.”

Holbrook said the Gamecocks benefited from an influx of talent but also had strong leadership from returning players motivated by what happened last season.

“We had a group of individuals returning that didn’t want to go through that again,” Holbrook said. “I think ultimately that was the difference.”

Van Horn had a streak of coaching in 17 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including his last four seasons at Nebraska and his first 13 at Arkansas.

“When you can go 10, 15 years in a row out of the SEC, you can say you’re a great baseball program,” Holbrook said. “That’s what Arkansas can say.

“There’s no question in my mind Arkansas will be back among the nation’s elite real soon.”

Van Horn has a combined six College World Series appearances since 2001: two at Nebraska and four at Arkansas.

“This year is a little blip on their radar,” Cohen said. “Dave will make them great again real quick.”

Childress was Van Horn’s pitching coach for 10 seasons at Texarkana College, Northwestern (La.) State and Nebraska.

“Dave’s not only my best friend, he’s one of the best coaches in the country,” Childress said. “Without question he’ll have Arkansas back.

“He’s a great recruiter, he’s a great motivator and he’s a winner. You throw those three things in the mix, it’s a pretty simple answer.”