Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn with the media after an 8-0 win over the Missouri Tigers at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 We did make a couple plays and where he didn't get a call,
00:03 he just goes back on the mound and goes to work.
00:05 It's fun to watch.
00:06 So, really glad to see our two younger pitchers
00:12 come in and finish that up.
00:13 And, you know, Cooper there in the ninth,
00:16 you know, through seven pitches, and they were all strikes.
00:19 And that got us off the field, so that was really good.
00:24 But, you know, some clutch hitting.
00:26 We took advantage of a couple mistakes,
00:30 a couple tough in-between hop errors that,
00:33 you know, we scored those innings.
00:37 And that's a sign of a good offense.
00:39 If you get four outs an inning, you score.
00:41 And we did that.
00:44 But, again, really, the pitching was the key tonight.
00:50 And then just three or four really good swings
00:52 that, you know, gave us a good lead.
00:55 So, like I told the guys, it was a good win.
00:58 But, you know, you got to enjoy it for a little while.
01:01 You got to move on. You got 29 more to go.
01:05 Dave, you all haven't hit as many home runs this year.
01:07 But you get four of them tonight.
01:08 Was this something maybe you saw coming?
01:11 Well, I think we know it's in there.
01:13 You know, it's just it hadn't happened yet,
01:16 whether it's guys aren't going yet or, you know,
01:19 every now and then it's wind knocks the ball down
01:22 or whatever the case may be.
01:25 But we feel like we can hit for some power.
01:28 And we've got a few other guys
01:30 that obviously didn't hit them tonight
01:32 that they can leave the yard as well.
01:34 So it's nice to be able to have that,
01:39 you know, to be a threat, really, one through nine,
01:41 hit the ball out of the park, at least over somebody's head.
01:44 And, you know, it was --
01:47 obviously, it was a big part of the game tonight for us.
01:50 The two of those were hit by Nolan Suzie, your freshman.
01:52 Just you gave him the start of D.H.
01:54 Just what have you seen from him?
01:56 What did you make of his performance tonight?
01:58 Well, I mean, it was unbelievable.
02:01 I mean, you're talking about a true freshman,
02:02 first SEC at bat, he hits a home run,
02:05 gives us two-nothing lead there in the second
02:09 with one of the best pitchers around on the mound.
02:11 So it was a big swing for us.
02:15 And then that was pretty impressive
02:20 because that was a breaking ball kind of down.
02:23 Went down and got it and hooked it out of the park
02:25 and hit it a long way.
02:26 So, you know, he's a really good athlete,
02:29 strong, as you can see,
02:31 and, you know, brings a lot to the batter's box
02:35 because he's got a pretty good eye.
02:37 He can run, and obviously, he's got some power.
02:40 So you're just good for him.
02:42 How much do you think that meant to him?
02:52 Well, yeah, I mean, it was a big swing for us,
02:55 and he did a great job in that at bat.
02:59 Think he took maybe a two --
03:02 Well, he swung through a changeup earlier in the bat.
03:06 He got to two-two count, threw another changeup,
03:08 and he took it for a ball.
03:10 So he said he was coming fastball there, and he did,
03:13 and he hit it a long way.
03:15 You know, all of a sudden, from two to five,
03:18 that's a big lead with our pitching staff.
03:21 And, yeah, I mean, it probably meant a lot to him,
03:25 but, you know, I think more than anything,
03:29 it's just I thought --
03:30 From my perspective, I saw what he did.
03:32 He laid off a tough pitch,
03:35 and he knew what he was getting, and then he hit it.
03:36 And, you know, I'm not going to say he put the game away,
03:40 but it gave us a lot of breathing room there
03:42 where, you know, we could relax a little bit.
03:46 It was like last year, five innings was kind of the most --
03:49 There was like a wall for Hagan.
03:50 He didn't quite get over and get to that sixth inning.
03:52 How good was it to see him finish the outing strong
03:54 the way he did and get up?
03:55 I'm assuming 100 was about the limit for him.
03:57 Yeah, it was great.
03:59 You know, 100 was going to be --
04:01 That was going to be his last hitter.
04:04 And I think it was, what, two-two full count,
04:07 whatever it was.
04:08 It came with, I think, a slide or something,
04:10 struck him out.
04:12 You know, if it was later in the season, Hagan wasn't done.
04:18 I mean, he could have got another 20 pitches.
04:19 He was fine.
04:21 But, you know, we're just doing the right thing.
04:24 But, yeah, I mean, last year, it's just development.
04:30 It's like I said earlier, I mean, he's a pitcher.
04:32 You know, you don't just throw.
04:33 We pitch us, and he has great stuff.
04:36 So, you know, really excited to see his development
04:40 over the last, you know, 12 months.
04:43 It's been pretty much what we thought would happen.
04:46 Obviously, he doesn't have to face your pitching a lot,
04:49 but Nolan Souza struggled at times in the offseason
04:51 against, you know, his own pitching.
04:52 And then how much do you think he's evolved
04:54 over these last few months of just kind of figuring out
04:56 how to hit arms at this level?
04:58 And it seems like it's working out pretty well for him.
05:00 He came back in January,
05:01 and it just seemed a little bit different to me.
05:04 You know, he's still a freshman.
05:05 He still asks a lot of questions and such a really polite,
05:09 really polite kid, love him.
05:12 But you could just tell
05:14 there was a little more confidence in there,
05:16 and his batting practice was good,
05:20 driving the ball the other way,
05:21 and the ball was just jumping off his bat.
05:24 And then we put him in the game, you know,
05:27 and he just kind of -- as a coach,
05:29 you just kind of go, "Wow, this guy might be a gamer."
05:32 He just -- he's not scared.
05:34 And it's not by going up there and hitting all the time.
05:38 It's by taking pitches that are borderline balls,
05:41 and you're kind of going, "Wow."
05:44 Sometimes that takes two and three years to figure that out.
05:46 And if you can do that at a young age, you know,
05:49 where you're not swinging at pitcher's pitches,
05:52 man, you can do some damage.
05:55 And that's what he's done.
05:58 I know you can't expect, you know, eight and zero wins
06:02 every Friday night, but how much of a weapon is it now
06:05 if, you know, you didn't have to throw Gacko or McIntyre
06:08 and, you know, those guys that have been --
06:10 some of the more reliable bullpen arms
06:12 are still waiting in the wings,
06:13 and you got some experience for guys
06:15 that haven't had too many innings this year.
06:17 Yeah, I mean, it looks good on paper,
06:19 but, you know, they got to go out and do it
06:22 because those guys have come out of the pen,
06:23 and like you said, in the fifth, fourth, fifth,
06:27 held leads, are giving us a chance to build a lead,
06:30 and, you know, they're still available.
06:33 And, you know, we had, you know, Christian and Cooper
06:37 and some other guys throw on Wednesday live to our hitters,
06:40 and they look good because it was --
06:43 you know, it gets tough trying to figure out
06:45 how to -- who to put on the roster
06:47 because you can only put so many on,
06:49 and those guys got on, obviously.
06:52 And so they threw well Wednesday,
06:53 and they threw well tonight, and, you know,
06:56 we still got some of our guys that have thrown
06:57 maybe more of the inning so far this year,
07:00 but you never have enough, and, you know, these guys are --
07:05 they showed us tonight we can put them out there again.
07:07 It doesn't matter what score.
07:08 It's still Friday night in the SEC,
07:10 and you got to go get people out, and they did.
07:14 Only one for four, but Hudson White
07:16 kind of squared up a couple balls.
07:18 Do you think, you know, he's making some progress here
07:20 as SEC plays get in here?
07:22 Yeah, you know, he got one hit.
07:25 He also lined deep to the left.
07:28 Balls hit on the nose, and it was just good to see,
07:32 and it just makes our lineup deeper, you know?
07:36 You can -- you get down into the 7, 8, 9,
07:39 and you're still feeling good over there,
07:41 thinking this guy can hit a double,
07:42 this guy can get a home run,
07:44 this guy can get on base, steal a base, or whatever.
07:47 It's what you look for.
07:51 It puts a lot of pressure on the other team's pitching staff.
07:54 Just because you go back so far with him,
07:55 was it kind of interesting to see Tim Jamison
07:57 in the opposing dugout again tonight?
07:59 Yeah, you know, Tim and I got to coach together
08:01 in the summer of 2011 with Team USA.
08:04 That's where I really, you know, kind of got to know him
08:06 as a person and I'll feel he's a great guy.
08:08 And, you know, I coached against him
08:10 when I was at Nebraska for five years.
08:13 And so, you know, we've known each other for a long time
08:18 and just a really, really good guy.
08:21 I noticed in Kerick Jackson's bio
08:23 that he played at Nebraska the year before you got there.
08:26 Was there any overlap?
08:27 Not really, yeah, but I knew him
08:29 and talked with him a little bit.
08:30 But, yeah, you've been doing your homework, haven't you?
08:34 That's good.
08:36 But, yeah, but I've known Kerick for a long time.
08:38 And he's honestly one of Coach Hobbs' best friends.
08:42 I mean, they hang out.
08:43 So I'll just leave it at that.
08:48 And then I want to ask you about Lovett.
08:49 You know, he had so many people that have come in here
08:51 for this game because his brother's over there.
08:53 To be able to have that kind of swing,
08:55 you know, with all those eyes watching him,
08:57 I mean, what are your thoughts on that?
08:59 Well, you know, kind of saying it again,
09:01 I was just really impressed with the at-bat
09:03 because, you know, the change-ups
09:05 that he swung through and then took.
09:08 And then he said,
09:09 "He's going to throw me a fastball, three-two."
09:11 He just missed with a change-up or whatever it was.
09:14 And he did miss it.
09:15 And, you know, it's one thing to kind of have
09:18 a really good feeling about what's coming,
09:19 but then you've got to square it up.
09:21 And he did, you know.
09:22 A ball to the gap or single would have been fine,
09:24 but he hit it a long way.
09:27 I'm sure that meant a lot to him.
09:28 And I'm sure his parents have mixed emotions.
09:31 He had a son on one team and one on the other,
09:34 but I'm sure they're, you know, incredibly proud of that.
09:37 And, you know, I mean, he's been swinging the bat well.
09:40 That's why he's in the lineup and driven in some runs.
09:44 And he, you know, he had to wait his time.
09:46 And he did. When he got in, he took advantage of it.
09:48 Another question about Lovich.
09:52 He was another guy that maybe didn't have the best fall
09:54 or preseason, but he's producing in the season.
09:56 Was it just a matter of getting comfortable here?
09:58 Like, what do you think has been the key for him?
10:00 Getting comfortable, kind of getting strong.
10:04 I don't know, you know.
10:05 Just sometimes it takes a little bit of time.
10:07 You know, he's a good player, so.
10:10 He's a good player, and that's why we wanted him
10:11 to come to school here.
10:12 And didn't get off to a great start,
10:14 but he's arrived, so that's good.