Dave Van Horn reveals Arkansas' mindset heading into postseason

Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas Razorbacks have one more series in the regular season before postseason play begins with the SEC Tournament. While that series against Vanderbilt is important, it’s also important to be in the right place mentally come postseason play.

Ahead of that final series, Van Horn broke down the team’s mindset.

“They do go beyond that,” Dave Van Horn said of winning the SEC, “But, obviously, we want to win it. I mean, this is so hard to win. You can have a great team and be in fourth, fifth place this time of the year.”

As of now, Arkansas has the best record in the SEC at 19-8. That’s one game better than the Florida Gators. In the SEC West, LSU is in second place with a 17-9 record.

“Things have fallen into place for us but the guys have made it happen, but our program is one that looks to the future. What I mean by that is two and three weeks down the road, we hope we’re still playing,” Van Horn said.

“We’re gonna do everything we can to win, obviously, and I’m sure Vanderbilt will do the same thing. I’m sure Florida is gonna do the same thing. We’ll just see how it clears come Sunday evening and then go from there, and continue to try to get better at the Tournament and get ready for the next weekend.”

Dave Van Horn on pitching in the final series

With the SEC Tournament just around the corner, Dave Van Horn is going to be cautious with his pitching rotation against Vanderbilt and keep an eye on the conference standings.

“I think you’ll see more teams [revealing their starting lineups] this week that don’t have injuries just looking at the standings and where everyone sits at today and save somebody for the tournament,” Van Horn said.

“We’ll start Hagen [Smith] on Thursday night and then leave it open for the next two days.”

As for Vanderbilt, the Commodores are dealing with injuries and haven’t made their rotation for the weekend clear. So, Arkansas will have to prepare without that knowledge.

“That’s what we’ve done. Just look at a couple of those right-handers and probably going to start the lefty — I think he’s available. There is a chance that Vanderbilt will be without multiple starting pitchers this series, including two lefties. Carter Holton is going to miss the series while Hunter Owen is questionable. Ahead of the SEC Tournament, Vanderbilt will likely be conservative to bring a healthy staff into the postseason,” Van Horn said.

“But, who’s to say? I would, unless they really already know what they’re gonna do, but I’m just assuming that they’re going to tell us later on today who they’re throwing Thursday and maybe leave it open after that. Maybe two of them, but, yeah, just do the best you can. You watch video and look at numbers and matchups and go play.”