Thirty Games into Season, Hogs, Van Horn's Consistency on Display Again

Razorbacks rolling through early part of the season with back end of SEC play approaches

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn yells from the dugout in a game against the Florida Gators on April 27, 2024, at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas fans are spoiled once again.

They are spoiled by the ease that coach Dave Van Horn cruises through the early part of the schedule.

The Hogs are sitting pretty at 27-3 with eight straight wins in SEC play after opening with a loss to Ole Miss and in a three-way tie for first with Georgia and Tennessee.

It's easy to just sit and act jaded because of the past. The elephant is still in the room and with each passing year, it only gets bigger. 22 years no titles and a pair of clumsy exits in a home regional.

There's been exactly one time that Arkansas has fallen flat under the tutelage of Van Horn, the 2016 season when the team finished with a losing record. Other than that, Arkansas has been pretty good at not giving fellow SEC fan bases any schadenfreude ammunition to work with, a task that is easier said than done.

Through three weekends of SEC teams, Florida and Texas A&M, a pair of preseason top 5 teams, are aa combined 2-16 in conference play. Michael Earley's honeymoon lasted less than two months as the team unceremoniously fell from preseason No.1 to fighting for its tournament lives six weeks later.

Even the unflappable Kevin O'Sullivan with the Gators, who is Van Horn's closest in terms of pure consistency, is off to a second straight slow start, floundering with just one conference win

Yet, there Van Horn is, looking down from atop the SEC standings as April begins and the home stretch is upon us, with another winning start to conference play. It's the eighth straight year that the Hogs enter the month of April above .500.

Equally as impressive, the Razorbacks have just 11 losses in Febuary and March over the past three seasons, a hallmark of the team's dominance over small mid-major schools in the non-conference slate.

The ability to grind out a win with half the starting lineup sitting in an unfamiliar ballpark that the newcomers are playing in for the first time is a symbol of the consistency. Grambling isn't the toughest midweek opponent, but a comfortable 7-4 win where the team never felt at risk of losing is a hallmark of a Van Horn coached team that fans have become accustomed to over for 22 of Van Horn's 23 seasons and at times, taken for granted.

"I know they were tired and emotionally spent after that big weekend on the road in a tough place [Vanderbilt]," Van Horn said. "You can just kind of tell as a coach. If you're feeling a little bit tired [as a coach], you know the players are a little tired. I just told them I was proud of them for finding a way to get it done."

For an athletic department whose defining characteristic is inconsistency, Van Horn has shown his immunity with unparalleled consistency.

Arkansas will look to bank another three SEC wins against Missouri, the only team yet to get on the board in the SEC, after finishing 9-21 last year. The Hogs have won four straight against the Tigers and haven't lost in the overall series since 2022. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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