FAYETTEVILLE — I can only imagine how many Arkansas football fans would’ve put on a pot of coffee or chugged an energy drink to stay up and watch a football game if it had been delayed after midnight.
Even though there were still hundreds at Baum Stadium, a majority of fans didn’t see Arkansas’ 11-10 rain-delayed win against Missouri State in the Fayetteville Regional that didn’t end until after 3 a.m. Monday.
They also didn’t see animated Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn give the umpires and an NCAA regional site official the business when they tried to delay the game for a second time after Arkansas spent a half inning on defense battling the pouring rain. He successfully convinced the officials to keep the game going and Arkansas scored four runs to take an 11-8 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
Missouri State won the regional and the Hogs’ season is over, but the 2017 campaign once again proves that the most excitement in Arkansas athletics is on the baseball diamond. The bad thing for Van Horn and his scrappy team is that a lot of Razorbacks fans don’t follow the team.
Many think baseball is too slow. They would pay thousands of dollars to watch mediocre football or basketball before they would pay a fraction of that to watch a winning baseball program. It’s similar to the track programs’ problem. It is easily the most dominant sport in school history, but doesn't get much support because track really isn’t a spectator sport.
Baseball is appealing to some, and thanks to great marketing by the U of A athletic department, the baseball team does pack the stadium for a majority of SEC games. Post-season tournaments also are popular. There is no doubt that some wait until the regional or super regional to take in their first game of the year.
The program has its fair share of die-hards, and more people have become converted baseball fans because of the winning.
The success is a direct result of Van Horn, who is the best coach of a major sport on campus. Playing in the ultra-tough SEC, Van Horn is 595-343 (.635) since his first season in 2003.
"He's one of the best coaches in the country," Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin said after the Bears eliminated the Hogs on Monday.
The Razorbacks have played in four College World Series under Van Horn. He has guided Arkansas to the postseason every year but one. After a disappointing 26-29 finish a year ago, Arkansas rebounded with a 45-19 mark this season.
"I'm just proud of the players," Van Horn said after Monday's game. "That's what I told them in the outfield.
"I told them, 'Walk out of here with your head held high because we weren't projected to do a whole lot this year after having a bad year.'
"We had guys that took it personal and went home last summer and went out and played and got better."
While football and men’s basketball has been hit and miss, Van Horn is consistently successful. He recruits the most talented players, his teams win and play in the postseason and he sends former players into the pros at a high rate.
Arkansas wants to be a football school, but if Arkansas is going to win a national championship in any men’s sport other than track, it will be baseball. For a myriad of reasons, I’m not holding my breath that the Hogs' football or men’s basketball teams will win national titles soon, even though I think Mike Anderson’s talented recruiting classes are going to put his hoops program in a position to make deep NCAA Tournament runs over the next three to five years.
Winning a national title is hard. Van Horn could win a CWS before he hangs it up. He has too many consistently good recruiting classes and teams not to have a shot.
Van Horn and Arkansas deserve all fans’ support, even those who don’t like the sport. They are worth staying up for and won’t disappoint very often.