Hogs, Bears set for next chapter
FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and Missouri State coach Keith Guttin have combined to win 2,434 games in 68 years as Division I head coaches.
The veteran pair squares off again today at 6:30 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium in the final non-conference game of the regular season for the Razorbacks (34-10, 14-7 Southeastern Conference), who rose a spot to No. 3 in the USA Today coaches poll released on Monday. The Bears (21-19, 5-7 Missouri Valley) had a six-game winning streak snapped in Sunday’s 8-1 loss at Indiana State.
The Razorbacks and Bears, whose campuses are separated by a mere 121 miles, share a rich history that includes recent postseason matchups and Van Horn’s acquisition of former Missouri State assistant Nate Thompson as his hitting coach and recruiting coordinator after the 2017 season.
“I think it’s a good rivalry,” Van Horn said after his monthly Swatters Club appearance on Monday. “It’s a couple, three hours away, and we always see them when we’re out recruiting.
“We recruit a lot of the same kids. We get into Missouri. I’m sure the Missouri schools don’t like that, but we have to. I think coach Guttin and his staff have done a great job.”
Guttin described the Razorbacks as a triple threat: A great team in a great stadium with great fan support.
“They’re not going to change a great deal from year to year,” Guttin said. “They always play fundamentally sound and have great pitching. Their hitting coach Nate Thompson was here for three years, so I know they’ll be very well drilled. You always play a very good team when you go down there.”
Van Horn played the Bears twice during his season as the Arkansas second baseman in 1982 and helped the Razorbacks sweep a doubleheder 9-8 and 6-2 in Fayetteville. The teams played all but one year between 1998 and the COVID-shortened year of 2020.
Arkansas and Missouri State met 37 times between 1998 and 2019, with the Razorbacks holding a 22-15 edge during that stretch.
Van Horn recalled the Bears’ run to the 2003 College World Series, when they were called Southwest Missouri State, in his first season as head coach at Arkansas. The Razorbacks won 5-4 that season.
“They had a lot better team than we did that year, but we found a way,” he said. “It just seemed like ever since then I knew what we were getting into when we played Missouri State. It was going to be a fight ’til the end. … There’s been some crazy games.”
Both teams won postseason series in that span, with Arkansas taking the 2015 NCAA Super Regional at home when the Bears were a national seed but could not host the supers at Hammonds Field due to the Double A Springfield Cardinals being at home there that weekend.
Missouri State won two of three from Arkansas and eliminated the Razorbacks at the 2017 NCAA Fayetteville Regional, a wild postseason ride that featured a rain-delayed game that ended at 3:10 a.m.
“Well, 2017 is a long time ago,” Guttin said. “I’m always more concerned with the next game than I am with games in the past.
“But any time you can go somewhere and beat a very, very good team, you’re not going to forget about it. But none of those players who are playing in those games are playing now.”
Not by much. Kevin Kopps, last year’s Golden Spikes Award winner and SEC pitcher of the year, started the marathon game on June 4, 2017, that ended the next morning in an 11-10 Arkansas victory. The Bears advanced to the super regionals with a 3-2 win later that day.
Van Horn hired Thompson away after the Bears finished their 43-20 season with a super regional loss at TCU the following week.
“I think I went about it the right way,” Van Horn said. “I called Keith before I did anything and didn’t try to sneak behind anybody’s back. I went straight to him, told him what I was thinking, gave him an opportunity to talk to his coach before I contacted him and the rest is history.”
Van Horn said Guttin’s work has been impressive.
“I think he’s done a great job,” he said. “He’s taken it from one level to a higher level. He’s had some great teams.
“You look at some of the players that have gone through there, they’re big leaguers. And they’ve done it maybe with less resources than a lot of teams they’re playing against in their league or definitely out of conference, and they compete every year.”
Guttin, who has a 1,330862 record in 40 seasons at Missouri State, ranks 18th in all-time Division I wins and third among active coaches behind Minnesota’s John Anderson (1,343) and Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall (1,339).
He laughed when the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked him how long he intended to coach.
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” he said, chuckling. “No, you know, probably as long as they want me is the best way I can say it.”
The Bears, who have six regulars hitting .300 or better, recently got second baseman and team captain Mason Hull back from injury, along with a couple of bullpen arms. Guttin thinks the team’s improved health helped key the recent sixgame winning streak.
“We got (Hull) back and he’s kind of helped solidify our infield defense,” Guttin said. “He’s a captain and his presence has really helped us. We’ve gotten a few bullpen arms healthier, which has allowed us to shorten the time we’re going with some of the other guys in the pen, which we had to extend while we were struggling.
“Truthfully we’ve gotten a little healthier and we’ve played better defense and our bullpen has been better the last couple of weeks.”