ARLINGTON, Texas — College baseball seasons don’t begin like this often.
The sixth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks open their 2023 campaign Friday with a highly anticipated game against the 24th-ranked Texas Longhorns at the College Baseball Showdown. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m., but the actual start time might be later due to two games — Missouri vs. Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt vs. TCU — on the same field earlier in the day.
Arkansas is also scheduled to play No. 17 TCU and No. 8 Oklahoma State over the next three days at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field. All games will be broadcast by FloSports, a subscription streaming website.
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“These are teams that were in regionals last year and are projected to be there this year,” said Dave Van Horn, who is beginning his 21st season as the Razorbacks’ head coach. “I think the focus, guys are a little more serious about it because they know we’re going to have to play really well to win.”
Every game in Arlington will match an SEC team against a team from the Big 12. Arkansas and Vanderbilt were predicted by SEC coaches to finish third in their respective divisions this preseason, and Missouri was predicted last in the SEC East.
TCU and Oklahoma State were projected to finish first and second, respectively, in the Big 12 coaches poll. Texas was predicted fourth in the conference standings. The Longhorns went 47-22 last year and played in the College World Series for the third time in four postseasons.
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Texas is expected to throw junior left-hander Lucas Gordon in the season opener. Gordon went 7-2 with a 3.05 ERA in 85 2/3 innings last season. He was voted by coaches to the All-Big 12 team during the preseason.
“He throws a lot of strikes,” Van Horn said. “He’ll throw his changeup anytime. It’s a good fastball that is in the low 90s and he can go a little more if he needs to. He’s just a really good left-handed pitcher that knows how to pitch.
“You can’t say enough about a guy that can repeat his delivery and throw the ball where he wants to. He keeps hitters off balance and keeps you guessing.”
Arkansas will counter with sophomore left-hander Hagen Smith, a Bullard, Texas, native who grew up attending games at the Rangers’ old outdoor ballpark across the street from Globe Life Field.
Smith was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper last season when he went 7-2 with a 4.66 ERA and started in 15 of 20 appearances. He will be pitching eight days after his final scrimmage start of the preseason.
“Mentally and physically, I feel really good,” Smith said Thursday after the team went through a workout at Globe Life Field.
Texas and Arkansas are playing in Arlington for the second time in three seasons. The Razorbacks defeated the Longhorns 4-0 at the inaugural College Baseball Showdown in 2021. Smith said he attended that game as a high school senior.
“This is a really cool stadium,” Smith said.
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Arkansas went 3-0 in Arlington two years ago when the Razorbacks also defeated Texas Tech and TCU. That kickstarted a 50-win campaign that saw Arkansas win the SEC regular-season and tournament championships, and earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas had a 0-3 record in its last trip to the College Baseball Showdown. The Longhorns also lost to Ole Miss and Mississippi State, but rebounded to make the semifinals of the College World Series.
“We got popped around, but it made us better even though we went 0-3 in that tournament,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “We have a saying of ‘RTA: Remember the Arlington,’ because we got beat up so bad."
The Big 12 teams have more familiarity playing in Arlington, where their conference tournament is played. The Longhorns had eight games at Globe Life Field in 2022, including a three-game regular-season series against Oklahoma.
“All three teams (Arkansas will play) have used the stadium,” Van Horn said. “You have two teams from Texas that have been in there a little bit….They’ve played a lot more in that ballpark than we have, so to me these are almost like true road games.”
This is the final scheduled non-conference game between Arkansas and Texas before the Longhorns join the SEC for the 2025 baseball season.
The teams first played in 1902, according to the Texas media guide. They were rivals in the Southwest Conference from 1974 — when the Razorbacks joined the league for baseball — until Arkansas left for the SEC following the 1991 season.
Texas leads the all-time series 76-38. This will be the eighth meeting between the teams since 2018. Arkansas has a 5-2 record in the series during that time.
“They’re coming in the league in a couple of years, so I think they’ll jump right back there to maybe the top — at least for our fans — of our biggest rivalry,” Van Horn said. “It’s a storied program that has been around the top forever it seems like in my lifetime.
“I don’t really get caught up in it because we play so many games against so many good programs…so I don't get all hyped up about it. But I guarantee you our fans do, because just about everybody I’ve talked to said, ‘Make sure you beat Texas while you’re down there.’ I just kind of laugh and say, ‘We’re going to do our best.’”