Why Dave Van Horn Doesn't Mind Playing UALR, UCA In Fall Ball, Regular Season

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will welcome Central Arkansas and Little Rock to Baum-Walker Stadium on April 6 and April 13/14, respectively, but the Razorbacks will also face their in-state opponents this fall.

Arkansas will play UALR at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening in the first of three fall ball games against opposing teams. The Razorbacks will then welcome in UCA on Oct. 23 for their final game of the fall.

Head coach Dave Van Horn explained why he's not worried about facing two teams he'll see in the regular season this fall during a call with reporters on Thursday.

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Mark Brissey (14) throws a pitch during the eighth inning against the Georgia Bulldogs at Baum-Walker Stadium. Georgia won 26-14. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"The way I look at is, the teams you're talking about, we're going to see them in the midweek," Van Horn said. "They wouldn't see a lot of these pitchers they're going to see in these scrimmages. The same with us, we'll get to see their weekend arms hopefully if they're healthy, at least a little bit. We're not going to throw our guys much, 1-2 innings max. Nobody will go more than two. We'll see how that turns out.

"I think it's good for us to see maybe some of the higher-end arms of the teams. It's a little different come fall ball. Depending on where you're at in the season, how desperate you need a win or don't need a win, depends on who you throw a lot of times. Development is big. You gotta give guys an opportunity. You gotta win some games. But sometimes, you gotta give one up to get some guys better for down the road."

Saturday will see the Razorbacks Trojans play two six-inning contests with a break in between, according to Van Horn.

The Razorbacks will trot out two different starting pitchers for each of those contests, though Van Horn did not reveal who those starters were.

In the Razorbacks' Sept. 18 Red-White game, sophomore Mark Brissey and junior Steele Eaves got the starts for the red and white teams, respectively.

Other notes ahead of Arkansas-UALR

The Trojans feature two former Razorbacks on their roster — redshirt freshman RHP Grant Wren and redshirt sophomore RHP Tag Andrews.

Chris Curry's squad is coming off of a Super Regional appearance in 2026, and while Saturday's scrimmages won't officially count, they're a big opportunity for UALR to play against the Razorbacks.

"They've done a tremendous job the last couple years," Van Horn said. "Regionals, Super Regional... they have [former Razorback] Evan Lee on the staff now. There's some former Razorbacks there. There's a couple of our former players are on their roster. It's good having them in-state. It's great competition in the spring.

"The opportunity to play them in the fall, it's going to be a real good opportunity for both teams to showcase some guys [and] kind of see where we're at at this time, what we need to work on."

First pitch between Arkansas and Little Rock is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, roughly an hour before the Razorbacks kick off in College Station against Texas A&M (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2, Razorback Sports Network). Arkansas softball will also play on Saturday when it hosts Tulsa and former UA assistant DJ Gasso inside Bogle Park at 12:30 p.m.

The Razorback baseball team will scrimmage at approximately 1 p.m. Sunday following Saturday's game, with the Hogs' next fall ball game scheduled for Oct. 17 against Dallas Baptist.

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