Dave Van Horn updates health of team heading into Arkansas baseball scrimmages
The Arkansas baseball team will face some outside competition this weekend with scrimmages against Little Rock and Friday and Dallas Baptist on Saturday.
The weekend competition will be nine-inning scrimmages, regardless of the score. The game against Little Rock will be played at 6 p.m. Friday and the Diamond Hogs will play Dallas Baptist at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn said it’ll be pretty relaxed in terms of substitutions and the flow of the game.
“I think each team will hit 10, probably,” Van Horn said Thursday. “They don’t have to, but we talked about that. If someone has an injury or, for example, say one of your hitters has a little bit of a hamstring issue, if he gets on base, you can run for him. Free substitution, whatever. Not that big a deal. We’ll probably hit 10 and substitute here and there.”
Van Horn said a pair of lefties — sophomore Cole Gibler (vs. Little Rock) and junior Colin Fisher (vs. Dallas Baptist) will start the games. Both will probably get about two innings of work depending on pitch count.
Dave Van Horn updates health of his team
Arkansas’ presumed ace will not throw this weekend, and he hasn’t thrown all fall. Gabe Gaeckle has been resting and lifting, along with some light bullpen work, which has been good for his mental state, according to Van Horn.
“He’s strong right now, really strong,” Van Horn said. “Resting the arm, obviously, but he’s throwing now. He threw a bullpen the other day, not full speed just 90 mph-type bullpen. 88, 91 instead of 95-96. Just slowly ramping back up, I think it was really good for him, probably good for his psyche, the mental part of it just knowing you get to rest a little bit.”
As for the rest of the team, they’re all mostly healthy. Freshman infielder Carson Brumbaugh had an oblique injury recently, but Van Horn said it wasn’t as bad as initially thought and he should be able to go this weekend.
“He practiced the last couple of days, looks like he’s going to be available,” Van Horn said. “We’ve just cut down on his swings in batting practice, things like that. We’ve had a couple kids that are sick that missed a day or two, but normal stuff.”
Nolan Souza progressing well after surgery
Another player that hasn’t seen action in quite some time is infielder Nolan Souza. The Honolulu native injured his shoulder sliding into third base against Georgia and required surgery that sidelined him for the back half of last season.
Souza hasn’t participated in any of the fall scrimmages, but Van Horn said two weekends ago he had just been cleared for overhand pitching and he’s getting more swings in as the fall progresses.
“Souza’s not going to play, but he is taking batting practice with the team now,” Van Horn said. “He’s not supposed to hit live pitching, just regular-arm pitching, BP and maybe off a machine, where he knows what’s coming. He’s coming along really well. So I feel, yeah, pretty good shape.”
Prior to his injury, Souza appeared in 32 games with 28 starts last season and slashed .250/.374/.427 with four home runs, 22 RBI and five doubles.
Hunter Dietz making waves in the fall
One piece of Arkansas’ pitching room for next year has battled injuries for what feels like his entire time with the Hogs. Hunter Dietz is heading into his third season at Arkansas, but has only made four appearances in that time because he’s been hurt.
Through the fall, Van Horn said Dietz has played well. In the Fall Classic on Sept. 26, he touched 99 mph on several occasions, and he’s as confident as ever.
“I thought it’s been really good for his confidence, just to see his velocity jump up. When he gets on top of that curveball, it’s nasty,” Van Horn said. “When he’s got two pitches going, plus now he’s got a third, he’s got conference starter written all over him right now. That’s what I see, and good for him. He had a great first couple of weeks his freshman year in the fall, we were like, ‘wow, this guy’s going to be special’. Then the injury he had back in high school came back. Ended up missing the whole year.
“Last year, still building it up, up-and-down. You know, went out in summer ball and just got better every weekend. He’s come in here and I think he’s made a statement. Hopefully pitches well this weekend and can build off of that, but his stuff is really good.”
