The Arkansas Razorbacks took two mid-week games from the Missouri State Bears. With that, head coach Dave Van Horn saw his team go unbeaten during mid-week games for the 2024 season.
Following the game, Van Horn praised the Razorbacks for their ability to stay focused and play well during those mid-week games.
“That’s what I’ve told the team, that they’ve done a great job showing up in the middle of the week,” Dave Van Horn said. “Maybe coming off a big series, getting ready to play another one, you can say want, it’s the way the mind works. A lot of times, you’re not all there. They’re looking for the next one, and maybe the one coming up.”
During the conference slate, mid-week games are often seen as easier games for SEC schools. However, they’re easy games to lose focus during. That hasn’t happened to Arkansas, though.
“We’ve done a good job of showing up and playing every day. Really, this month or I guess it was last month in April, where we’ve had three, four, five weeks in a row. Maybe we had one off in there, but it’s just a lot of games and for them to come out Tuesday and then win again on a Wednesday, both days, is a real credit to them as a team and then individually showing up getting it done.”
Arkansas still has three regular season series against SEC opponents remaining. However, those are all weekend series before postseason play. That comes after playing 11 mid-week games since the start of March.
A big piece of this success, as Dave Van Horn explained, has come down to the team’s depth and having talented players who are eager to see the field.
“I think the fact that we’ve got three or four pretty good backup guys that wanna play or are into it. Then, the same with the pitching, we’ve got a little depth on the pitching staff that are getting the ball, that deserve the ball, and they’ve come through and done a nice job in the middle of the week.”
Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas Razorbacks currently sit at 39-7 on the season with a 16-5 record in SEC play. That includes an incredible 31-2 home record this season. With that, the Razorbacks are tied with Kentucky for the best record in the SEC.
Next up for Arkansas is a key series against that Kentucky team. That will be played on the road in Lexington. After that, Arkansas still has to see Mississippi State and Texas A&M.
The post Dave Van Horn compliments Arkansas on consistency in mid-week games appeared first on On3.