Long road trip could help Diamond Hogs down the road

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn walks toward the dugout during a game against Arizona on Friday, March 3, 2017, at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas.

— At Monday's Swatter's Club luncheon, Dave Van Horn indicated that he felt a little sorry for taking his team on a weeklong road swing last week.

Van Horn acknowledged his players were spent by the end of Arkansas' 8-3 loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday in Frisco, Texas. They were even more so when the team bus rolled into the Baum Stadium parking lot around 1 a.m. Monday - seven days after the Razorbacks had left for the five-game swing through Louisiana and Texas.

Arkansas went 2-3 on the trip, splitting a pair of games at Louisiana Tech and losing two of three at the Frisco Classic near Dallas.

But Van Horn wasn't sorry for the experience the Razorbacks gained. Not only did Arkansas play good teams (Arizona and Louisiana Tech both are in the top seven of this week's NCAA RPI), but the Razorbacks also got a feel for other things they might see in the postseason.

Arkansas played at a packed stadium at Louisiana Tech, providing a glimpse of the atmospheres that could be in store if the Razorbacks are sent on another road trip in the NCAA regional round.

And Arkansas overcame a long delay Saturday at the Frisco Classic to beat Nebraska 15-5. The game was delayed more than an hour because the preceding game between Oklahoma State and Arizona took more than four hours to complete, another common occurrence in conference and national postseason play.

The extended road trip was the first of what could be many for the Razorbacks this season.

Arkansas will play five games away from Fayetteville during a seven-day span in April - against Memphis at North Little Rock's Dickey-Stephens Park on April 19; three games at Auburn from April 21-23; and against Kansas State at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on April 25. The team will sandwich a charter flight from Auburn between three-hour bus trips to North Little Rock and Kansas City.

Depending on its seed in the SEC Tournament, Arkansas could face another long road swing in May. It concludes the season at Texas A&M on May 18-20 and the SEC Tournament begins in Hoover, Ala., on May 23.

The Razorbacks had a similar regular season to postseason turnaround in 2015 and were gone for 12 straight days. Several players that year credited a long road trip earlier in the season for having them prepared.

The biggest takeaway, one player said: Pack plenty of socks.