Why Hogs Like Starting the Season Inside Globe Life Field for New Feel

Arkansas doesn’t open the baseball season in a sleepy college park or some sun-soaked spring training mirage.

The Hogs open it where the Texas Rangers play. That alone tells you something.

For the fourth straight year, Arkansas is heading to Globe Life Field, the same ballpark built for major league expectations, major league comfort, and major league lighting.

It’s where the Rangers work. It’s where college baseball keeps borrowing space in February to pretend winter isn’t real.

This year, the Razorbacks start the season there again, opening in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for the first time since 2023.

Last season began quietly at home with Washington State. The year before that opened against James Madison at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Now it’s back under a roof designed for 40,000 and pressure that doesn’t care what month it is.

Since 2022, Arkansas has gone 6-3 at Globe Life Field. The opponents have blended together over time. Michigan has shown up. Oklahoma State keeps showing up.

Familiar uniforms, familiar routines, familiar reminders that February baseball never tells the truth.

Dave Van Horn knows that better than most. He’s entering his 25th season leading the Razorback program, and he’s learned not to trust the first chapter.

“(I’ve been to) opening weekends when it hasn’t gone well, and when it’s gone really well,” Van Horn said Tuesday. “One tournament, we went 3-0 and we didn’t play very good. One year, we went 1-2 or 0-3 and we ended up in Omaha.”

That’s the part fans don’t love hearing. February wins look nice. February losses feel loud. Neither guarantees anything.

What matters to Van Horn is what the setting reveals.

You can’t hide much in a major league park. The sightlines are clean. The field is perfect. The temperature doesn’t change. If something goes wrong, it’s probably not the weather.

“You just try to figure out a few things,” Van Horn said. “You can scrimmage all you want. Kids get tired of playing against each other. You find out more when you’re playing outside competition.”

Globe Life Field forces that issue quickly. The moment doesn’t feel like a scrimmage. It feels bigger than that, even if the standings say otherwise.

“Next weekend, we’re going to playing really good teams that are every bit as good as we are,” Van Horn said. “You just find out who can compete, who can handle the stage that we’re playing on.”

That stage happens to be one built for the Rangers, complete with controlled climate and a surface that doesn’t forgive sloppy details. It’s baseball without excuses.

“You probably learn more about what you need to work on, the deficiencies, the little things,” Van Horn said. “Compare yourself to other teams and where they are at this time and you try to get better.”

Those lessons didn’t start this week. They started long before the Hogs boarded a bus.

With rosters changing more than ever, Van Horn said fall ball has become critical. That’s when teams figure out who they are before anyone else is watching.

“A lot of things have to happen besides just how we play on the field,” he said. “The guys got to get to know each other. A lot of bonding, relationships need to be built.”

🗣️ HOGS PLAY BASEBALL THIS MONTH! pic.twitter.com/khtvs3sC9i
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) February 1, 2026

That’s the invisible work. It’s not televised. It doesn’t come with radar gun readings. But it shows up later, usually when things get uncomfortable.

Van Horn said this group followed a familiar path.

“I feel like this team has done a really good job of that,” he said. “Last year’s team, we knew three weeks into fall ball that this team was pretty good.”

The reason wasn’t talent alone.

“We knew that they liked to play baseball and they liked each other,” Van Horn said. “So we try to model some of the things we did last year in the fall, early spring with this team.”

That foundation now gets tested in a place built for the majors.

Arkansas keeps returning to Arlington for a reason. The Razorback fan base travels well to Texas, and the setup removes guesswork.

“What you get there is they run it first class,” Van Horn said. “You know you’re going to play, you know what the temperature is going to be, the field is always in amazing shape.”

That reliability matters in February, when uncertainty is everywhere else.

“Hotels are great, food’s great,” Van Horn said. “It kind of reminds you a little bit of being in Omaha, in a way.”

That comparison lingers. Omaha is the destination. Globe Life Field is the checkpoint.

“Just the way of the excitement around the ballpark,” Van Horn said.

For one weekend, Arkansas baseball steps into a big-league shell. The standings won’t matter much. The lessons will.

The Hogs open the season Friday night against Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. CT. The game will stream exclusively on FloSports.

It’s February. It’s indoors. And it’s another early reminder that college baseball sometimes starts where the pros play.

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