FAYETTEVILLE — Being the nation’s No. 1-ranked baseball team for the first time in three seasons didn’t go to the Arkansas Razorbacks’ heads.
The Razorbacks were focused and did not overlook Missouri in sweeping a three-game series against the Tigers to open SEC play last weekend at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Dave Van Horn, in his 22nd season as the University of Arkansas coach, downplayed the No. 1 ranking.
The Razorbacks (17-2, 3-0 SEC) were ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ poll — recognized as the poll of record by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — on Monday for the second consecutive week.
Last week Arkansas was voted No. 1 in the coaches’ poll for the first time since the end of the 2021 regular season, though the Razorbacks have been ranked in the poll for 98 consecutive weeks going back to 2017.
Van Horn was asked Sunday after Arkansas’ 9-1 victory over Missouri about how his team handled the No. 1 ranking. Some of the Razorbacks were in the back of the room waiting to talk with media members after their coach was finished.
“We’re No. 1?” Van Horn said, addressing his players as well as the media. “I haven’t talked to the team one time, have I?
“We haven’t talked about it. We don’t talk about it. We just play.
“I guess to answer your question, we won all three games, so it went good. I guess it’s an honor for somebody to rank you No. 1 because they think you’re that good.
“But somebody’s got to be there right now.”
The Razorbacks outscored the Tigers by a combined 23-1 score, including 8-0 on Friday night and 6-0 on Saturday.
Missouri (9-11, 0-3) was picked by conference coaches to finish last in the SEC East and Arkansas was picked to win the overall and West titles. But voters in the coaches’ national poll were impressed enough by the Razorbacks’ sweep that they were unanimously the No. 1 pick.
Arkansas received all 31 of the coaches’ votes in Monday’s poll after getting 18 votes the previous week when they moved from No. 3 to No. 1 ahead of previously top-ranked Wake Forest and LSU.
The Razorbacks also are ranked No. 1 this week by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
“I don’t think the rankings really matter, because at the end of the day, you’ve got to play the games,” said Razorbacks junior catcher Hudson White, a transfer from Texas Tech. “I think we have 40-something games left. So being ranked No. 1 doesn’t really mean anything. We just want to win ball games.”
Arkansas junior left-hander Mason Molina, also a transfer from Texas Tech, had 10 strikeouts and didn’t allow a run in 5 1/3 innings against Missouri on Sunday.
“I think the best way to put it is, play like you’re unranked,” Molina said. “It doesn’t matter where you are, where they put you.
“I think if you can play with that chip on your shoulder no matter where they put you, it’s going to be hard to beat us.”
Wehiwa Aloy, a sophomore shortstop who transferred to Arkansas from Sacramento State, drove in three runs on Sunday with a two-RBI single and sacrifice-fly.
“It feels the same as being unranked,” Aloy said of playing for the No. 1 team. “We don’t really pay attention to that.
“We just go out and play. Competing, having each other’s back on the field.”
Missouri batted .096 (8 of 83) and scored its only run of the series on a home run by Thomas Curry in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against freshman reliever Colin Fisher.
Arkansas pitchers held the Tigers to 8 hits and 10 walks and had 38 strikeouts.
“They’re still a good team, they still fought,” Molina said. “They had good at-bats. They’re all good players. They’re in the SEC for a reason.
“But I think we just kept the foot on the gas and did the best we could. They got a swing off Fisher, but other than that, I think the guys did a great job this weekend.
“Really trying to stack innings and pitches on top of each other in at-bats. We’re quick with the hitters. I think we did a pretty good job of getting after it and continuing to fight the whole weekend.”
The Razorbacks didn’t commit an error during the Missouri series. They batted .247 (23 of 93), but hit 8 home runs, 3 doubles and 1 triple.
“I think they did what they were supposed to do,” Missouri Coach Kerrick Jackson said. “I don’t think they did anything exceptional.
“I think they played the game the way it was supposed to be played. Pitchers competed and they played good defense and they had quality at-bats.
“If we would have played clean baseball — if we’d have had quality at-bats, if we’d have thrown strikes consistently, if we’d have played good defense — I don’t think the result is the same.
“That doesn’t mean we would have necessarily won, but I don’t think the result is what it was on the scoreboard.”
The Razorbacks have 14 errors on the season, but none in the last five games. They lead the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.64 with 255 strikeouts and 55 walks.
“I told the team the other day, ‘If you want to win in the SEC, you pitch, you throw strikes, you don’t walk people and you field,”https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/mar/18/arkansas-baseball-hogs-receive-every-no-1-vote-in/” Van Horn said. “Some days you hit, some days you don’t.
“To score in this league, it’s hard to get three hits in one inning. So if you can hit it over their head, that helps, and we did all that. That’s why we won all three games.
“We fielded, we didn’t walk very many and we hit some home runs, hit some doubles and we took care of business.
“The defense was outstanding. A lot of times when you have pitchers that strike out a lot of people, [defensive players] can get on their heels a little bit.
“But our guys, I think they did a great job. Made a couple diving plays, flipping balls, turning double plays.”
Arkansas opens its first road series of the season at No. 24 Auburn (13-6, 0-3) on Thursday night. The Tigers were swept at No. 3 Vanderbilt last weekend.
“We’re going to be challenged this weekend by Auburn,” Van Horn said. “We’re going into a tough environment against a team that’s fighting.”