By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Completing his first week of fall baseball practice, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn was asked Friday his approach to the two fall scrimmages the NCAA allows for his Razorbacks to play against the Oklahoma Sooners and Wichita State Shockers.
The Razorbacks, coming off their 2018 national runner-up at the College World Series, will scrimmage the Sooners at noon Sept. 22 in Norman, Okla., and on 6 p.m. Oct. 5 at Baum Stadium host the Shockers head coached by Todd Butler, a former Arkansas assistant to Van Horn.
Admission is $5 at Norman and will be free at Baum for the baseball Friday night preceding Arkansas' Oct. 6 Saturday SEC football game against the reigning national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
Van Horn said the Razorbacks and Sooners will be under the gun in Norman to wrap things up before OU's 6 p.m. football game against Army.
Still he's hoping for 14 to 15 inning scrimmages in Norman and Fayetteville.
"Probably the first nine innings do all you can to try and win the game," Van Horn said of the approach to the fall scrimmages between Division 1 teams that the NCAA is allowing for the first time.
"You are not going to not try to win. But the main thing we're trying to do is get guys in the right situation and see how they can handle it a little bit. The second game with Wichita State we'll probably try and do the same thing, play 14 or 15 innings and go the first nine with our more experienced guys or maybe the better guys. We'll see by then."
Van Horn said the games, with the practice time in between and still time to wrap the fall campaign with Arkansas' intrasquad version of the World Series, "breaks the monotony" of fall ball.
"I think it's a good mix," Van Horn said. "It can get a little monotonous scrimmaging against yourself. It also gives coaches an opportunity to throw a team out there that possibly has more of a starting lineup. It opens some eyes."
Regarding his Razorbacks, Van Horn said 2018 seldom-used pitchers Jacob Kostyshock and Zebullon Vermillion and Angus Denton, redshirted last year, opened eyes with how they pitched in summer ball.
"They had really good summers," Van Horn said.
With All-American Blaine Knight turned pro, Van Horn counts on fourth-year junior Isaiah Campbell to be the starting staff ace.
All-SEC Freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad now is the right fielder with 2018 junior Eric Cole turned pro.
"So far so good," Van Horn said. "I talked to him in the summer that I’d kind of like him to go over there."
Van Horn said left field will have open competition or possibly be a platooned position while he expects returnees Dominic Fletcher and Kjerstad to be his every day center fielder and right fielder.
Bryant native Trevor Ezell, a graduate transfer from Southeast Missouri State, is among those battling for the second spot as for now 2018 All-SEC freshman Casey Martin of Lonoke remains at third base.
Senior Hunter Wilson of Spiro, Okla., invaluable as a 2018 utility infielder but wanting to go beyond that role that Van Horn said likely would be his again this season, will leave at semester as a graduate transfer seeking an opportunity to play full time.
"Everything’s good between us," Van Horn said. "He (Wilson) just looked at it, he saw that we got a transfer (Ezell) in and a couple of guys coming back and a couple of young guys.
"He didn’t get to play two years ago because he had the (season-ending) injury on his knee. He's a guy that brings a lot of energy and wants to play every day and I don’t blame him."