Dave Van Horn shares importance of playing well at home

Arkansas Razorbacks baseball leader Dave Van Horn can’t get enough of his team finding success at home.

Over the weekend, Van Horn’s squad played well against No. 6 South Carolina. Currently the leaders in the SEC, the Arkansas coach shared his belief that showing out in-front of your fans is essential to success while speaking with the media.

“This year we’ve played great at home, and the crowd has been great, especially the second half of the season,” started Van Horn. “I think with all the injuries, you know everything that was going on there, they were kind of waiting to see what we were going to be, waiting to see when the weather was going to get better, but second half of the season has been amazing. Last year we played great at home.

“This year I think, there’s good and great, we’re probably somewhere in-between there. That’s how we’ve played here. Guys are comfortable here.”

Alas, fans will keep showing up as long as Van Horn’s squad keeps giving them a ton to cheer for. With their play over the weekend, Arkansas improved to 38-13 (19-8) SEC on the season and holds a 0.5 game lead against LSU in the SEC standings.

That makes this upcoming series against Vanderbilt pivotal for the Razorbacks as they hope to lock up the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, which begins May 23 in Hoover, Alabama.

Dave Van Horn has given Arkansas fans a lot of cheer over the 2023 season, but he’s hoping the Razorbacks are just scratching the surface of their potential at the moment.

Dave Van Horn addresses Arkansas’ hitting, need for rest after this weekend

Continuing, during his postgame press conference, Dave Van Horn praised the team effort while also stressing the need for the team to rest up Monday ahead of their season finale series against Vanderbilt.

“It’s just the team,” he said of the hitting. “They’re just pulling for each other and they fight now. That’s the way it works. Honestly, I kind of feel like our hitters are just a little bit tired. We got to back it off on our swings and we’re not gonna let anybody hit tomorrow at all. Lock the batting cages. They’re not hitting when I’m around anyway.”

Dave Van Horn will make sure his team is well-rested to give its all in the final series of the regular season. The first game is set to take place at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday in Nashville.

“I just think they need to rest,” the coach said. “Maybe light on Tuesday. We need to get it going. I thought we played in really hot weather last weekend. Hot again. Gotta get acclimated. Obviously, I feel like Nashville will be hot. Then Hoover’s always hot. It’s probably be December and it’s hot in Hoover.”