Dave Van Horn confident in Arkansas' chances to win Fayetteville Regional: 'Not a problem, we can do it'

Kansas State upset Arkansas 7-6 on Saturday night, sending the Razorbacks into the losers bracket of the Fayetteville Regional.

Arkansas must now beat Southeast Missouri State on Sunday, then beat Kansas State once Sunday and once Monday, to advance to the super regionals.

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Even with Arkansas needing three wins in two days, Dave Van Horn is confident in his club. He was asked about his team’s pitching depth and if the Razorbacks can hold up following the loss to Kansas State. Needless to say, he thinks his pitching staff can.

“Not a problem. We can do it,” Dave Van Horn said. “Everybody’s Mr. ‘Oh poor ole me’ negative. We can do it. We might not do it. But we can.”

Kansas State jumped out to a 6-2 lead on Arkansas thanks to a big six-run fifth inning. The Wildcats chased Arkansas ace Hagen Smith from the game after he allowed the six runs. Smith entered the NCAA Tournament with a 1.48 ERA.

“Just a really good job by K State putting a big inning together in the fifth,” Van Horn said. “That ended up being the difference, obviously.”

Arkansas battled back to cut the lead to 6-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, before Kansas State added an insurance run. The Razorbacks then scored a pair of run in the top of the ninth to cut the lead to 7-6, but Peyton Stovall struck out to end the game.

“I really liked the way we fought back and almost caught them,” Van Horn said. “Obviously that was a big swing for them with two outs in the eighth to hit that home run to get it back to three. We had a couple of chances in the seventh and the eighth to punch in a couple more, but we didn’t put the bat on the ball or get the ball out of the infield.”

Despite the loss, Van Horn was pleased with the way his team played and competed. He’s hoping for more of the same but with a better result over the next couple of days.

“I thought we played really good. We didn’t make any errors. If you look at the line score, it looks like we should’ve scored more runs than they did – 13 hits, 6 runs, no errors. That’s usually going to be enough to get you a W, especially when Hagan’s on the mound,” Van Horn said. “But again, hats off to K State for putting together a really good inning against him.”