Dave Van Horn reveals injury to backup catcher changed extra innings decision

Dave Van Horn shed some light on his catching situation that explained some late-inning drama in Arkansas’ victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday.

Evidently, Van Horn was thinking about pinch-hitting for catcher Parker Rowland in an important late-inning at-bat, but backup catcher had some kind of illness. That led to Rowland remaining in the game and bunting, and it didn’t work out for the Razorbacks, as the bunt caught his bat the wrong way.

“Yeah, I was definitely thinking about pinch-hitting for Rowland. My backup catcher was throwing up all night and this morning, been on IV. And he said he could catch,” answered Van Horn. “It’s just one thing after another. That was a little bit of my issue. I did call the bunt, and we’ve worked on it a lot. We weren’t supposed to bunt it to the third base side. I don’t know if the ball ran away, got his bat wrong. He got it down, but he didn’t bunt it the right way. If I pinch-hit for him, I’ve got to bring in another catcher, and I get that, but if I pinch-hit for him, then I don’t know what they’re going to do.

“We had runners at first and third I think at the time, I don’t remember — second and third. My thinking at the time was they’re probably going to walk him if I bring up my best pinch hitter and then taking a shot with one out also sets up a double play. Let’s just bunt him in and go home. It didn’t happen. Luckily we found a way to win.”

As Van Horn later admitted, he was thankful to still get the dub, even with the drama behind the plate. The Razorbacks skipper revealed Arkansas doesn’t really have a third-string catcher, and it would’ve been second-baseman Peyton Holt getting the call in an emergency, but Van Horn is thankful it didn’t come to that.

“I don’t really have a third string catcher,” added Van Horn. “It’s probably Holt, but he’s playing second base now.

“So I asked a couple guys at practice the other day about emergency catcher, and we had him catch a little bullpen, but that’s kind of where we’re at.”

It would’ve been a shame to see an impressive run for Arkansas come to an end in that fashion, but Dave Van Horn’s squad found a way to win. Now, they’ll face the LSU Tigers in what should be a doozy of a game.