Dave Van Horn previews LSU game, facing Paul Skenes
Dave Van Horn knows Arkansas will have their hands full with the LSU Tigers and starting pitcher Paul Skenes on Thursday.
The LSU flamethrower has developed into one of the top arms in the entire nation, if not the top arm. The Razorbacks will have to find a way to get to him if they’re to find victory, and Van Horn knows that’s no easy ask.
“Well, they were really good when we played them, and I think they’re really good now. I think they’re as talented as any team in the country, and they’re dangerous. They’re very offensive,” explained Van Horn. “I imagine they’ll throw Skenes tomorrow, I don’t know, but he’s incredible. They’ve got a lot of good arms.
“No lead is safe. If we have a lead, we know that we’ve got to keep scoring. But they’re obviously a really, really good team, number one, pretty much 88, 85, 90 percent of the season, and I just think it’ll be a good ballgame. I think both teams are looking forward to playing each other.”
LSU took care of business pretty handily against South Carolina on Wednesday, while Arkansas had some serious trouble with Texas A&M, needing extra innings to find victory. Time will tell if that extra energy expended will hurt the Razorbacks, especially with Paul Skenes looking to end their SEC Baseball Tournament run.
Dave Van Horn reveals injury to backup catcher changed extra innings decision
Dave Van Horn shed some light on his catching situation that explained some late-inning drama in Arkansas’ victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday.
Evidently, Van Horn was thinking about pinch-hitting for catcher Parker Rowland in an important late-inning at-bat, but backup catcher had some kind of illness. That led to Rowland remaining in the game and bunting, and it didn’t work out for the Razorbacks, as the bunt caught his bat the wrong way.
“Yeah, I was definitely thinking about pinch-hitting for Rowland. My backup catcher was throwing up all night and this morning, been on IV. And he said he could catch,” answered Van Horn. “It’s just one thing after another. That was a little bit of my issue. I did call the bunt, and we’ve worked on it a lot. We weren’t supposed to bunt it to the third base side. I don’t know if the ball ran away, got his bat wrong. He got it down, but he didn’t bunt it the right way. If I pinch-hit for him, I’ve got to bring in another catcher, and I get that, but if I pinch-hit for him, then I don’t know what they’re going to do.
“We had runners at first and third I think at the time, I don’t remember — second and third. My thinking at the time was they’re probably going to walk him if I bring up my best pinch hitter and then taking a shot with one out also sets up a double play. Let’s just bunt him in and go home. It didn’t happen. Luckily we found a way to win.”
As Van Horn later admitted, he was thankful to still get the dub, even with the drama behind the plate. It would’ve been a shame to see an impressive run for Arkansas come to an end in that fashion, but Dave Van Horn’s squad found a way to win.