FAYETTEVILLE — The SEC has six teams in the top 10 of the preseason USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll, and the league has recruited a seventh.
Texas is No. 1 in the preseason poll after losing in the national semifinals last year. Along with Oklahoma, the Longhorns will join the SEC by the 2026 baseball season.
The addition of those teams will reinforce the SEC’s position as the best conference in the game, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn indicated last week. The Longhorns have made 37 trips to the College World Series — a national record — and have won six national championships, most recently in 2005.
Oklahoma, while down last season and unranked this preseason, also has a strong baseball tradition. The Sooners have played in 10 College World Series and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
“You’re not just bringing in just two teams,” Van Horn said last week at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club. “You’re bringing in two good universities in all sports.
“It’s like it just gets stronger and stronger. Everybody says, ‘I want to coach in the SEC.’ I’m like, ‘Come on over. See what it’s all about.’”
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Arkansas is well acquainted with both programs. The Razorbacks and Longhorns fought for supremacy of the Southwest Conference in the 1980s, and played each of the last four seasons, including in the opening round of the 2018 College World Series.
Oklahoma and Arkansas played in 2020 and 2021, and have played 27 times since 1970.
Texas will provide the SEC another opportunity to boast one of the biggest fanbases and facilities in the sport. The Longhorns’ Disch-Falk Field has a listed capacity of 6,985.
In 2019, the most recent full season without capacity limits due to covid-19, Texas was the only non-SEC program that ranked in the top seven nationally in average attendance. The Longhorns trailed LSU, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Ole Miss and South Carolina in that category, and finished just ahead of Texas A&M.
Van Horn said he welcomes the addition of teams that are closer in proximity to Fayetteville. He said he is hopeful the league keeps divisions after the change to the 16-team conference.
“We need to keep our divisions,” he said, later adding, “I feel like if they do split it up, (Oklahoma and Texas) will be on our side (in the SEC West). Are they going to send the two Alabama schools to the East? They’re never going to split up those two (Auburn and Alabama).”
Van Horn said coaches have regular conference calls with SEC associate commissioner Herb Vincent. Van Horn said that on each call there are discussions about how to format the league, and he said the SEC has hired an outside consultant to assist in the process. In addition to divisions, the league must decide how to incorporate the new teams into a regular-season schedule and how to format the league tournament.
“I said just keep (the SEC schedule) at 30 (games) and try to rotate it,” Van Horn said. “They’ve said there would be times student-athletes would never see another campus. That’s OK, too.
“When those two schools come in, SEC baseball — and probably all things — it just got stronger and stronger. It’s going to be amazing.”
Hogs 4th in coaches poll
Arkansas is No. 4 in the preseason USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll, which was released Thursday.
The Razorbacks, who received four of 31 first-place votes in the poll, are ranked behind top-ranked Texas, No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 3 Mississippi State. Stanford is ranked fifth.
Arkansas’ schedule includes 16 games against teams ranked in the poll, including 12 games at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks are scheduled to host Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Ole Miss (6) and LSU (7) this season, and will play at No. 10 Florida.
Stanford and Arkansas are scheduled to play at the Round Rock Classic on Feb. 26 in Round Rock, Texas.
The SEC leads all conferences with eight teams ranked in the poll. Tennessee is ranked 16th and Georgia is 17th.
The No. 4 ranking is Arkansas’ highest in the preseason coaches poll since 2013, when the Razorbacks began the season No. 1.
Arkansas has been ranked in the top 12 of the preseason coaches poll for the past five seasons. The Razorbacks have been ranked in 62 consecutive poll updates dating to 2017, and spent most of last season ranked No. 1.
The coaches poll is the ranking of record used by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Razorbacks are ranked between No. 2 and No. 20 in five other prominent national polls this preseason.
Arkansas is ranked No. 2 by D1Baseball; No. 4 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association; No. 8 by Baseball America; No. 9 by Perfect Game; and No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to open the season with a three-game series against Illinois State beginning Feb. 18 in Fayetteville.
Swatter’s Club scheduled
The Swatter’s Club, a monthly luncheon featuring comments from Van Horn, will resume Monday at noon.
The February meeting will be held virtually. A determination about in-person or virtual luncheons will be made on a month-by-month basis. Luncheons are also scheduled for March, April and May.
For more information, contact the Razorback Foundation at 479-443-9000.
Rawlings agreement
Arkansas is in its first season under an agreement to use equipment provided by the Rawlings brand.
Rawlings will supply gloves, batting gloves, batting helmets, catcher gear and backpacks to the Razorbacks. According to a team spokesman, the Rawlings agreement also includes special pricing for the purchase of bats, but players are free to use whatever bat brand they prefer.
Team jerseys and hats will be provided by Nike, which has an apparel contract with the Razorbacks.
Arkansas played the 2021 season without an equipment agreement for baseball. Previously, the team used Easton equipment through a personal equipment contract between Easton and Van Horn.
Moore All-America honors
Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore has been included on every major preseason All-America team.
One day after Baseball America and D1 Baseball named Moore a second-team preseason All-American, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named him to its preseason All-America second team Tuesday. Moore was previously listed on the second team by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the third team by Perfect Game.
Second baseman Jace Jung of Texas Tech was ahead of Moore on all five preseason teams. Jung, who was a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy as national player of the year in 2021, is rated by Baseball America as the best collegiate prospect in this year’s MLB Draft.
Moore is Baseball America’s No. 8 college prospect for this year’s draft.
HS All-Americans
Five Arkansas signees were included in an expansive preseason All-America team for high schoolers Wednesday by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
The first team included shortstop Jayson Jones of Braswell, Texas; first baseman/third baseman Reese Robinett of Kennett, Mo.; and a pair of utility players, Cooper Dossett of Springdale Har-Ber and Cole Phillips of Boerne, Texas. Dossett and Phillips are listed as right-handed pitchers and outfielders.
Carter Boyd, a right-handed pitcher from Lewisville, N.C., is the Razorbacks’ signee on the second team.
Jones is ranked by Baseball America as the eighth-best high school prospect in this year’s draft and Phillips is ranked 49th.
Milestone year
Van Horn is entering his 20th season as Arkansas’ baseball coach.
Only five other Razorback head coaches are believed to have had a tenure of 20 or more seasons, including Norm DeBriyn, Van Horn’s mentor who preceded him as the Razorbacks’ baseball coach for 33 seasons from 1970-2002.
Van Horn is one of two current coaches who have been at Arkansas that long. Women’s track and field/cross country coach Lance Harter is in his 32nd season and will retire in June 2023.
John McDonnell, the men’s track and cross country coach who won 40 NCAA championships, worked for the Razorbacks from 1972-2008; Robert Cox, a men’s tennis coach, was at Arkansas from 1987-2013; and Glen Rose coached the Razorbacks’ basketball team for 23 seasons over the course of two tenures from 1933-42 and 1952-66. Rose was also the football coach at Arkansas for two seasons from 1944-45.
Frank Broyles was the Razorbacks’ football coach for 19 seasons from 1958-76. Broyles also served as athletics director through 2007 to conclude a 50-year career at the school.