FAYETTEVILLE -- They say if you fall off a horse you should get right back on it.
Especially if you've proven you can ride tall in the saddle.
So if Monday night at Baum Stadium the Arkansas Razorbacks play a third game of their best 2 out of 3 Super Regional starting tonight then Sunday afternoon against the South Carolina Gamecocks, expect Coach Dave Van Horn again to ride with Isaiah Campbell like he did the last rubber game vs. South Carolina.
Back on April 12 at Baum, the Gamecocks won 3-2 followed by a rainout condensing the final day into a seven-inning games doubleheader.
Kacey Murphy threw a 1-hit shutout through six, and Campbell threw a 2-hit shutout through five for 2-0 and 3-0 Arkansas victories, winning that SEC series.
Presumably, the Gamecocks will think of that Campbell, the 6-4, 225 fireballing third-year sophomore from Olathe, Kan., in complete command, if they meet Monday.
For while they were winning the Greenville Regional to advance to Super Regionals, the Gamecocks only heard about but obviously didn't see Campbell at Baum as a reeling right-hander yanked three batters into Sunday night's Fayetteville Regional championship game against Dallas Baptist. Van Horn abruptly pulled Campbell upon two laborious full-count walks and a bases-loading single.
Winning long reliever Jake Reindl salvaged that foreboding first trailing only 1-0. Arkansas eventually won 4-3 advancing to this Super Regional with a College World Series berth at Omaha at stake.
It was a joyous victory yet for Van Horn tinged with regret.
"I hated to make that move," Van Horn said postgame. "I'll be honest with you, I didn't feel good about it. I didn't want to hurt Isaiah Campbell, who's a big part of our team, but I felt like in the big picture that's what we had to do."
From pitching well without complaint as a freshman on a 2016 Razorbacks team losing its last 13 games, to rebounding from arm problems causing him to redshirt in 2017, Campbell has won his team's respect. Indelible respect despite some outings similar to last Sunday's.
"Sometimes you either have it or you don't," Van Horn said. "And it just didn't seem like Isaiah had it. The reason we took him out, we just went off of history."
That even bigger game similar Arkansas history was first made by Coach Norm DeBriyn back in 1979 at the Razorbacks' first-ever College World Series game.
Rich Erwin, the fiery senior pitcher who opened every Southwest Conference series, was getting pounded by Pepperdine in the first inning at Omaha. DeBriyn pulled the visibly enraged right-hander for No. 2 starter Steve Krueger.
Krueger won 5-4. Erwin beat Arizona starting the next game.
That's the history that Van Horn seeks Campbell to repeat.
"I still have confidence in him," Van Horn said. "He'll get the ball again if everything goes like it could go."
Sports on 06/09/2018