STILLWATER, Okla. — For the second consecutive season, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn might see one of his former players in the opposing dugout during the NCAA regional.
Last year, Van Horn’s Razorbacks defeated Nebraska in a tightly contested regional at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The Cornhuskers were coached by Will Bolt, a player for Van Horn at Nebraska from 1999-2002.
Oklahoma State hitting coach Justin Seely was Bolt's teammate in 2001 and 2002. Seely transferred to the Cornhuskers from Northeast Texas Community College before his junior season and started at various positions on two College World Series teams at Nebraska.
Seely was hired at Oklahoma State last year after working 13 seasons at Texas A&M.
“He’s done an outstanding job,” Van Horn said. “He's a worker, tireless recruiter and loves to work with hitters, so I'm happy for him and his family.”
The Cowboys (39-20) are the host for this week’s regional and the No. 7 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks (38-18) are the No. 2 seed after they spent most of the season ranked in the top 10 of the national rankings.
It isn’t guaranteed Arkansas will play Oklahoma State. The Razorbacks open the regional with a game Friday against Grand Canyon, and the Cowboys will play Missouri State later that night. The regional format is double elimination.
Bolt and Seely coached several times against Van Horn teams while they were assistants at Texas A&M, but Seely said potentially seeing his old coach in a regional setting has a different feel.
“This one, we may play once, we may play twice, but regardless, it’s probably going to end someone’s season at some point,” Seely said. “From a competitive standpoint, it’s going to be different.”
Several of Van Horn's former Nebraska players have full-time jobs in Division I. In addition to Bolt and Seely, Southeast Missouri State is coached by Andy Sawyers, Sam Houston State is coached by Jay Siarianni and R.D. Spiehs is the pitching coach at Illinois State.
"When you're a good coach and you've done it for a long time at a high level, I imagine you're going to have some guys out there who are coaching and they're going to be pretty good at it, too," Seely said.
Seely, who is also Oklahoma State's recruiting coordinator, said he sees Van Horn and Arkansas’ coaches frequently on the recruiting trail. Because of the close proximity between their campuses, the Razorbacks and Cowboys tend to recruit many of the same players.
“We overlap quite a bit, and that’s a good thing for us and that’s a good thing for them because we’re both good teams,” Seely said. “It means we’re recruiting the right guys.
“I think we probably look at players similarly…and we’re going to recruit a lot of the same type players. I think we probably see baseball very similarly.”
After conducting a practice inside Oklahoma State’s second-year O’Brate Stadium on Thursday, Van Horn said recruiting against the Cowboys “just got harder.”
Told of that statement later in the day, Seely quipped: “I hope I make his job a lot tougher, too….I want him to cuss me under his breath a little bit at times.”