This is the first of a two-part series previewing the 2009 Razorback Baseball team.
If the recent “crash and burn” of the Razorback basketball team has done nothing else, it has given fans a yearning to look forward to other things. Coach Dave Van Horn’s Diamond Hogs will be filling that void starting this Friday as they host Washington State on Opening Day.
The Razorbacks start the year ranked #22 by Baseball America, and expectations are extremely high. Players and coaches still seem to have a bad taste in their mouths after last year’s 0-2 showing in the NCAA Regional at Stanford. Van Horn and others have openly talked about the improved “chemistry” on the 2009 squad, and we get the feeling that this is more “his kind of team”…hard-nosed, fight you to the death types.
Last year the Hogs went on the road in the pre-conference portion of the schedule and played the likes of Nebraska, Arizona State, and Texas A&M. This year, several of these teams return the favor with a game (or games) in Fayetteville, thus making the 37-game home schedule the most attractive in recent history. Season and single-game attendance records are likely to fall.
If the Hogs have moderate success playing the likes of Washington State, Kansas, California, Nebraska, Arizona State and Oklahoma on top of the murderous SEC schedule, they should have a top 10 RPI, and a shot at hosting one of the 16 coveted NCAA Regionals at the end of the year.
The schedule though isn’t the big news of the pre-season. Van Horn announced last week that, after 19 seasons, he is giving up coaching third when the Hogs are at the plate. Hitting coach Todd Butler will coach third this season.
“I just feel like I can control some more things over there in the dugout, looking at the players eye to eye and face to face,” Van Horn said. “I might get a better feeling for some things, like being able to talk to kids when they come back from hitting.”
Does anyone else think he’ll make a return to the field if the Hogs lose a few in a row?
Basically all of the position players from the 2008 squad return, with an exciting freshman third baseman to bolster the troops. A few new arms have joined in the pitching parade too. On Thursday, we’ll take a position-by-position look at the Diamond Hogs, and make some prognostications on what the 2009 season has in store.