FAYETTEVILLE -- Off a February baseball weekend in Houston, it seemed some Razorbacks fans were ready to make College World Series repeat reservations for Omaha, Neb., in June.
Maybe some of his Razorbacks did, too, Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn recently pondered aloud.
Coming off a 45-20 record -- 17-12 in the SEC -- in 2015 that ended in Omaha, Van Horn's Razorbacks completed an 8-0 February by sweeping three at the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park from the 24th, ninth and 23rd ranked Rice, Houston and Texas Tech.
Too often they have stumbled since. The Hogs approached Friday night's start of a three-game SEC West series with LSU in Baton Rouge at 26-19 overall and 7-14 in the SEC.
"There was pretty good turnover with this team," Van Horn said Wednesday after Arkansas' third consecutive defeat. "And I think some guys, when it was going good early, it was easy, and they thought it was going to be easy. Then when it didn't start going well, they didn't handle it real well."
Maybe. But then Van Horn contradicts himself. Not surprising at all considering this is such a contradictory season in the always successful coaching careers of Van Horn and pitching coach Dave Jorn.
Among Van Horn's pitchers, it's the ones who helped the Hogs get to Omaha last year, not the ones that weren't there, puzzling him the most.
"This year, the pitchers that were older and supposed to be the look-up-to guys, the go-to guys, they haven't been there," Van Horn said. "That's been the biggest frustration for me. We're having to turn and look to all these young guys to get it done in the middle of league play, and it's a little difficult. That's the biggest difference. Just look at the numbers on the mound."
Going into Friday night's game in Baton Rouge, the Razorbacks' team ERA for their 21 SEC games was a horrendous 6.19.
Their overall ERA of 4.81 contrasts to last year's 4.08.
Returning starting pitchers Dominic Taccolini and Keaton McKinney -- along with Zach Jackson, last year's All-American closer who was inserted into the rotation after others struggled -- have mitigating circumstances as to why they have struggled.
Throwing too many pitches has hindered Jackson's control of his explosive fastball. The trouble is more pronounced as a starter when he throws over a half game's worth of pitches into the third inning.
Taccolini (blood clot surgery), McKinney (offseason hip surgery) and James Teague (another veteran shut down last summer by arm problems) all periodically flash brilliance. But they have lacked the consistency deprived by rehabbing more than improving in the offseason.
It's difficult to perform consistently when preparation is hampered by past injuries.
Sports on 05/07/2016