Razorbacks Peaking at Right Time for Another Omaha Trip After All?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas looked like a team left for dead, drifting toward its worst season in a decade just 10 days ago.

The Razorbacks were struggling with a 19-13 overall record, 5-7 mark in SEC play and mired in a 2-7 stretch. Then, a 7-0 shutout of in-state foe Little Rock and a three-game series road sweep of No. 8 Alabama changed the feel inside the dugout.

A shift in the pitching rotation, clutch plays made on defense, and timely hitting has Arkansas surging at the right time.

The Razorbacks defeated its second straight top-10 SEC opponent in No. 5 Georgia, 6-3. The Bulldogs are led by former Dave Van Horn assistant and Arkansas native Wes Johnson.

“I think they’re pretty confident,” Van Horn said of his Razorbacks Friday night. "I feel like they feel like they’re going to win. You’re playing a team like Georgia that’s very, very physical, won 30 games coming in here, leading the SEC outright.

"I felt like our attitude was good. It was calm before the game, but serious. We jumped out to that three-run [lead] and I think they really helped the confidence.”

Dietz Day Dub pic.twitter.com/dzpY6wDiqC
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 17, 2026

Arkansas got ahead early with a three run first inning and never looked back as starting pitcher Hunter Deitz went 5 1/3 innings with two earned runs to notch his fourth win of the season.

His ability to pitch well enough for the Razorbacks to get ahead early has the Razorbacks starting to figure out exactly who they are with roughly a month left in the regular season.

"Well, it's it's it's changed conference weekends," Van Horn said. "The last couple of weekends really because [Deitz] has given us some innings, letting us get into the game and we've had some problems with that.

"We really used a lot of [pitchers] behind in the game. If you use [pitchers] and you're ahead in the game, you win the game. That's fine. We've been talking about this for months to be honest with you. It's not like we didn't think that he could flip to number one if we wanted him to. It's going pretty good right now."

Deitz had arguably his best performance from the mound, throwing 61-of-85 pitches for strikes although he gave up a solo home run to left field. Van Horn shrugged it off, a similar reaction he's had to other starting pitchers over the years.

On a night Deitz needed his teammate's bats to come alive, they found ways to get on base and scattered runs throughout the night to pick up the win.

Whether it was Camden Kozeal, Damian Ruiz, Carter Rutenbar, TJ Pompey or Ryder Helfrick, this is the team Van Horn likely envisioned in Arlington. It just took some time for the Razorbacks to figure things out just before a loyal fanbase hit the panic button on the season.

Carter Rutenbar CRUSHED that pic.twitter.com/iRIsmflbKB
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) April 17, 2026

For years, Arkansas has depended on defense and pitching to help them make runs deep into the summer in Omaha. While errors and strikeouts filled the scorebook, it was a clutch play by Pompey with two outs down and two base runners on in the eighth inning that kept the alarms from sounding.

"At this point in the season, [the team] seems to be playing pretty solid defense," Van Horn said. I mean you know we haven't mentioned the play that Pompey made down the third baseline might have saved the game. You never know ball gets down the line might have been a problem.

"We seem to be making those type of plays and getting some clutch hits. I'd say the team's probably as confident as they've been all year."

First pitch for game two between Arkansas and Georgia is set for 6 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SEC Network+ which is available on the ESPN App.

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