Dave Van Horn evaluates the SEC's showing in College World Series

Arkansas baseball coach Dave Van Horn had high praise for the way that the SEC showed out in the College World Series. The conference boasted four teams who made it to Omaha to compete against four ACC school, with Texas A&M and Tennessee making it down to the final series.

Van Horn, whose team bowed our in Regional play, spoke on the toughness of the SEC in a recent press conference to close out the season. He had high praise for the Aggies, calling the the “best team” the Razorbacks faced this season (they did not play Tennessee), as well as Florida, which advanced despite beginning as the No. 3 seed in its Regional.

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“Looking back at the teams that made it to the series, I thought Texas A&M, we played them and it was the best team we played all year by far,” the coach said. “I thought Florida was really talented, they just weren’t playing great. I did make the comment after they left here that that was a team don’t be surprised if they get to Omaha. Just because of how physical they were and the arms they had. The wins weren’t adding up to the talent and they got it going late. A&M, like I said, was probably the best team we played all year.

“…I think Tennessee might have the best pro talent. Somebody sent a survey out to all the SEC coaches on who do you think will win the series. I said Tennessee. I said that because A&M had lost their No. 2 starter (Braden Montgomery). They had lost their switch hit and three-hole hitter that had 80 RBIs and they still played good. They pitched really well there. If you throw in their No. 2 starter, they might have won it. But that’s the way it works.”

Van Horn also had high praise for Kentucky, an SEC team which made the College World Series for the first time in program history. The Wildcats got their behind coach Nick Mingione, who was named the National Coach of the Year.

Kentucky also set a record for the most SEC wins in school history with 22 this season. It finished as co-champions of the conference in the regular season for only the second time ever.

“I thought the SEC did a great job,” Van Horn said. “Kentucky was really solid. They were good at everything. They could feel, they could hit, they could pitch well. They’re just really hard to beat. Coach Mingione and his staff did a great job putting that team together. That was a good mix of transfers and some kids that came through their program. But a lot of kids that came in and transferred after their junior year and maybe even their freshman year and they were still there and did a tremendous job.

“…The league that we play in is amazing. To try to get through it every year and finish at the top is very hard. Sometimes, like this year, we just didn’t play well at the end of the year. No talking around it. That’s just the way it was. We didn’t play good. We didn’t pitch good. We had a couple of games we hit the ball extremely hard, but it was disappointing the way it finished.”

Arkansas finished 44-16 this past season but lost in Regional play for the second straight year. The Razorbacks most recently finished runner up in the 2018 College World Series and will look to make it back this coming season.