Dave Van Horn explains why TCU has Arkansas' number this season

A 12-4 loss to TCU on Monday in a winner-take-all regional final sent Arkansas home from postseason play of the NCAA Tournament, but they didn’t have to go far as they were the hosts of the Fayetteville Regional.

The Horned Frogs may have gotten the best of the Razorbacks when it mattered most on Monday, but they also defeated them resoundingly the two other times they’ve squared off this season. And after their most recent and final loss of the season, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn explained why TCU has had their number.

“They’re just good, I throw the one in Arlington out the door,” Van Horn said. “I mean they beat us 16-6, we beat Oklahoma State 18-3 the next day, they made us mad, it was early, you never know but we saw the talent.”

Arkansas squared off with TCU in the second game of the season as a part of the third annual College Baseball Showdown, and the Horned Frogs actually won 18-6. And Van Horn may not want to count that game, but when you couple all three of their matchups, the Horned Frogs were responsible for 50 total runs, 52 hits, and nine home runs versus the Razorbacks this year.

“Now the ones here, they whipped us yesterday because we didn’t get off to a good start on the mound and they just are swinging the bats extremely good,” Van Horn said. “Today, I think (Cody) Adcock gave us an inning, fighting it, behind in the count a lot and I thought Hagen Smith pitched great today coming off of getting ready for a game mentally, pitching yesterday throwing 36 pitches and he just pitched lights outs.”

Smith pitched in both of the Razorbacks’ regional matchups versus TCU, pitching one inning in their first game and 3.2 innings on Monday in their final. The First-Team All-SEC and Collegiate Baseball All-American selection couldn’t slow down the Horned Frogs on Sunday, but only allowed three hits and one run in his efforts on the mound Monday.

“I think, he’d probably tell you, he made one mistake and that was on the 0-2 pitch to the hitter that singled up the middle. Other than that he was awesome, really talented guy and we got to take care of him,” Van Horn said. “And he probably could’ve gone another inning or two, but we didn’t feel like that would be very smart on our part.”

The Razorbacks were no slouches, sharing the SEC regular season title behind a 42-13 regular season record which included 20 conference wins. But the hot hand got the upper hand, as the Horned Frogs will be looking for their 10th straight win when they host Indiana State Friday in the Super Regionals.

“So what do I think? I just think they’re really good at every position, and they have a lot of pitching depth, and they’re playing really well right now, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence. If they play like they did this weekend they’re going to be hard to stop by anybody in the country, maybe Wake Forest,” Van Horn said.