FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn will be on familiar ground when the No. 12 Razorbacks play Nebraska in a doubleheader today at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Neb.
Van Horn, in his 11th season at Arkansas, was Nebraska’s coach for five seasons from 1998-2002 and led the Cornhuskers to a 214-92 record with four NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the College World Series in 2001 and 2002.
“Coach Van Horn, he basically built what we have, what we’re standing on,” Nebraska Coach Darin Erstad told reporters Sunday as he stood in Haymarket Park, which was built in 2001. “I think it’s just awesome he’s coming back.
“I’m sure the fans would like to give him a good shout out, and he’s bringing in one of the top teams in the country. That’s just another great opportunity for our guys to compete at the highest level.”
The Razorbacks and Cornhuskers were scheduled to play tonight and Wednesday afternoon, but the decision was made to play a doubleheader today with inclement weather forecast Wednesday.Today’s opener will start at 3:05 p.m. The second game won’t start before 6:35 pm. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
Van Horn is making his second trip back to Nebraska since taking the Arkansas job. The teams split a two game series in Lincoln in 2008 and split two games at Baum Stadium in 2009.
Nebraska (14-19, 8-4 Big Ten) played 19 of its first 24 games on the road, a stretch that included the Cornhuskers going 0-4 at Cal State-Fullerton, 0-3 at Texas, 1-2 at Louisiana Tech, 1-2 at Cal State-Irvine and 0-1 at Southern California. They swept two games at home against New Mexico, which split at doubleheader at Arkansas last Tuesday.
Nebraska is batting .283, led by senior outfielder Chad Christenson (.400, 2 home runs, 20 RBI) and sophomore second baseman Pat Kelly (.322).
“They can really hit and they have a good mixture of right- and left-handers in the lineup,” Van Horn said. “They played an extremely tough out-of-conference schedule. They’ve been all over the place.
“They got behind the eight ball as far as wins and losses, and then they made it up in conference play. They’re a good team.”
Nebraska is 8-2 at home after losing 2 of 3 games to Ohio State last weekend. Arkansas lost 2 of 3 to No. 1 LSU, including a 5-3 loss in 10 innings Sunday when Van Horn was ejected for arguing a call at first base.
“It’s obviously disappointing, but we also know it’s early in the season,” Arkansas freshman outfielder Tyler Spoon said of bouncing back from the LSU loss. “We still have two months left.
“We’ve got Nebraska, and we need to get after them and just keep going from there.”
Van Horn shuffled the infield Sunday, moving Dominic Ficociello from second base back to first - his primary position the previous two seasons - while giving freshman Jordan Farris his first SEC start at second and putting Brett McAfee back at shortstop with Brian Anderson going to the outfield.
The moved worked well as McAfee made several good fielding plays and Farris went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, including a home run.
“I thought Farris did a great job,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t look scared or intimidated playing in front of 9,000 people.
“I’m proud of him. He’s a good kid, a tough kid. I’m glad he had a good day.”
Van Horn said last week he might give Farris a start against LSU.
“I wasn’t too surprised,” Farris said. “I was sort of excited and had to calm down a little bit, but I was ready to go.”
Van Horn has 1,015 victories as a head coach at Texarkana (Texas) Community College, Central Missouri State, Northwestern (La.) State, Nebraska and Arkansas.
“He was doing it before he got here, too,” said Erstad, the former Nebraska All-American who played 14 seasons in the major leagues. “The man just knows how to win, knows how to put a team together.”
ARKANSAS AT NEBRASKA WHEN Doubleheader today: first game 3:05 p.m. Central; second game won’t start earlier than 6:35 p.m.
WHERE Haymarket Park, Lincoln, Neb.
RECORDS Arkansas 25-12, 9-6 SEC; Nebraska 14-19, 8-4 Big Ten RADIO Razorbacks Sports Network. Check local listings.
TELEVISION Second game will be shown on Big Ten Network INTERNET www.arkansasrazorbacks.com PITCHING MATCHUP First game, Arkansas: Trey Killian (RHP 3-2, 2.67 ERA); Nebraska: LHP Kyle Kubat (LHP 0-0, 0.00). Second game, Arkansas: Tyler Wright (LHP 1-1, 0.00); Nebraska: Brandon Pierce (RHP 1-3, 5.74 ERA)
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/16/2013