Arkansas Opens 2026 Campaign in Shriners Children’s College Showdown, Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field
ARLINGTON, Texas – Seventh-ranked Arkansas, the winningest college baseball program in the country since 2017 with 383 total victories, makes its way down to Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers, to open the 2026 campaign against a trio of Big 12 foes Oklahoma State, No. 10 TCU and Texas Tech in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown before concluding the season-opening weekend against Tarleton State in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.
First pitch in the season opener between the Razorbacks and Cowboys is 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, on FloCollege with Tyler Denning (play-by-play) and Ty Harrington (analyst) on the call. Arkansas clashes with TCU at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, on FloCollege with Ben Wilson (play-by-play) and Pat Combs (analyst) in the broadcast booth before closing out the three-day tournament against Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, on FloCollege with Scott Sudikoff (play-by-play) and Harrington (analyst) on the call. Arkansas’ game against Tarleton State at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, will not be streamed.
This year’s season-opening weekend in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown and Amegy Bank College Baseball Series marks Arkansas’ fifth appearance (2021, 2023-26) in the Arlington-based tournament. The Razorbacks are 9-3 all-time at Globe Life Field, including a perfect 3-0 record in 2021 as well as 2-1 records in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Arkansas enters this season on the heels of a successful 2025 campaign in which the team went 50-15 overall and 20-10 in SEC play to clinch its sixth 20-win SEC campaign and make its 12th College World Series appearance in school history. Led by 24th-year head coach Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks are the winningest team in the nation since 2017 with 383 total victories, and are the only SEC team as well as one of only two teams in the country to win 40-plus games in each of the last eight full seasons: 2017 (45), 2018 (48), 2019 (46), 2021 (50), 2022 (46), 2023 (43), 2024 (44) and 2025 (50).
Schedule
Friday, Feb. 13 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
Oklahoma State vs. #7 Arkansas – 7 p.m. – FloCollege – Listen – Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 14 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
#7 Arkansas vs. #10 TCU – 7 p.m. – FloCollege – Listen – Live Stats
Sunday, Feb. 15 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
Texas Tech vs. #7 Arkansas – 2:30 p.m. – FloCollege – Listen – Live Stats
Monday, Feb. 16 – Amegy Bank College Baseball Series
#7 Arkansas vs. Tarleton State – 2 p.m. – Listen – Live Stats
On the Mound
Friday, Feb. 13 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
Oklahoma State – LHP Hudson Barrett (2025: 1-0, 1.93 ERA)
Arkansas – RHP Gabe Gaeckle (2025: 4-2, 4.42 ERA)
Saturday, Feb. 14 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
Arkansas – LHP Hunter Dietz (2025: 0-0, 54.00 ERA)
TCU – LHP Mason Brassfield (2025: 5-1, 3.56 ERA)
Sunday, Feb. 15 – Shriners Children’s College Showdown
Texas Tech – RHP Connor Mohan (2025: 1-2, 7.34 ERA)
Arkansas – LHP Colin Fisher (2025: 3-0, 4.62 ERA)
Monday, Feb. 16 – Amegy Bank College Baseball Series
Arkansas – TBA
Tarleton State – TBA
Tune In
All three of Arkansas’ games in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown will stream on FloCollege. The Razorbacks’ Monday matchup against the Texans in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series, however, will not be streamed.
All four games of the season-opening weekend series at Globe Life Field can be heard on the Razorback Sports Network from Learfield, including locally in Fayetteville on 92.1 FM or through the Razorback app. Phil Elson has the call for all three games of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown, while Scott Garner takes his spot in the radio booth Monday.
A full list of radio affiliates is available here.
History Lesson
Arkansas is 24-48 overall against Oklahoma State, including a 3-7 record at neutral sites. Under head coach Dave Van Horn, the Hogs are 8-7 overall and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Cowboys, including a 1-1 mark at Globe Life Field.
Arkansas is 49-22 overall against TCU, including a 3-1 record in games at neutral sites. Under Van Horn, the Razorbacks are 5-3 overall and 3-1 at neutral sites against the Horned Frogs, including a 2-1 record in games at Globe Life Field.
Arkansas is 49-15 overall against Texas Tech, including a 5-2 record in games at neutral sites. Under Van Horn, the Hogs are 7-1 overall and 4-1 at neutral sites against the Red Raiders, including a 1-0 record in at Globe Life Field.
Arkansas and Tarleton State, meanwhile, will meet on the diamond for the first time in history when the two programs square off Monday afternoon at Globe Life Field in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.
In the Polls
Arkansas enters 2026 as a consensus preseason top 10 team. The Hogs are listed in all five major polls, checking in at No. 4 by Perfect Game, No. 5 by the NCBWA and USA Today Coaches, No. 7 by D1Baseball and No. 10 by Baseball America.
Dating back to 2017, Arkansas has been ranked in 126 consecutive USA Today Coaches Polls, marking the longest active streak in college baseball. The Razorbacks have been ranked in the top 10 for 77 of the past 80 polls.
Hogs at Globe Life Field
Arkansas, 9-2 all-time in games played at the Globe Life Field, is set to make its fifth appearance in the Arlington-based tournament this weekend. The Hogs also competed in tournaments at Globe Life Field in 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The Razorbacks went undefeated in the inaugural State Farm College Baseball Showdown in 2021, sweeping the state of Texas by steamrolling through a loaded field that included Big 12 opponents Texas Tech, Texas and TCU. Arkansas went 2-1 in the Higginbotham College Baseball Showdown in 2023 with wins against Big 12 foes Texas and Oklahoma State.
The Hogs also went 2-1 in the Kubota College Baseball Series in 2024, defeating Oregon State and Michigan. That year’s Arlington trip was highlighted by Hagen Smith’s legendary pitching performance against the Beavers on Feb. 23, 2024, in which he tied a then-program record with 17 strikeouts. Smith’s 17 strikeouts also broke a Globe Life Field single-game record, which was held by Oklahoma’s Chazz Martinez, who fanned 14 vs. Northwestern State on Feb. 27, 2022.
Smith needed only 18 outs and 78 pitches, including 59 strikes, to tie Arkansas’ then-single game strikeout record, which had stood for nearly 17 years. It was held by Jess Todd, who struck out 17 South Carolina batters in 118 pitches over eight innings during Arkansas’ 6-0 win against the Gamecocks on May 24, 2007, in the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
Smith, who tossed six scoreless innings while working around just three hits and one walk in his legendary outing at Globe Life Field, recorded 15 consecutive outs via strikeout to begin the ballgame. Seventeen of the 18 total outs that Smith recorded came via strikeout, and he racked up 15 of his 17 strikeouts using his slider. Smith fanned Oregon State star Travis Bazzana, who would go on to be selected first overall by the Cleveland Guardians in the 2024 MLB Draft, three times on the night, as the Razorback pitching staff’s 23 total strikeouts in the ballgame broke the program record.
The following night, Arkansas broke its single-game program record for strikeouts for the second game in a row against Oklahoma State on Feb. 24, 2024. In front of a crowd of 16,271, the Razorbacks and Cowboys battled it out for 14 innings, marking the longest game ever played — collegiate or professional — at the home of the Texas Rangers, which opened in 2020. The Arkansas pitching staff, which had racked up 23 strikeouts against Oregon State the night before to break the previous program record of 18, tallied 25 strikeouts against Oklahoma State to eclipse the record.
In total, Arkansas pitchers allowed just six earned runs on 19 hits over 31.1 innings across three games in the Kubota College Baseball Series in 2024, striking out a program-record 59 in total while walking only 10 across three games.
Most recently, the Razorbacks went 2-1 in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series last season with wins against TCU and Michigan. Kuhio Aloy’s pinch-hit two-run double in the seventh inning against the Horned Frogs on Feb. 22, 2025, led the Hogs to a 2-1 win in front of an announced crowd of 17,994 fans, which marked the second-largest crowd for a college baseball game in Globe Life Field history behind a crowd of 20,295 set during the Arkansas-TCU game on Feb. 18, 2023.
Get the Gack
Gabe Gaeckle, getting the Opening Day start for the second year in a row, will take on the mound against Oklahoma State in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. The junior right-hander enters the 2026 campaign with preseason All-America honors from Baseball and Perfect Game, preseason All-SEC praise from the league’s 16 head coaches and preseason watch list consideration for Baseball America’s pitcher of the year award as well as the Golden Spikes Award.
The Aptos, Calif., native made 19 appearances with nine starts on the mound as a sophomore last season, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.42 ERA and two saves in 71.1 innings of work. Gaeckle racked up 92 strikeouts while limiting opposing hitters to a .235 batting average during the 2025 campaign, turning in his best outing of the year at the College World Series with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball in relief against LSU. Prior to Gaeckle, the last Razorback pitcher to make season-opening starts on the mound in consecutive seasons was Hagen Smith in 2023-24.
Gaeckle has pitched at Globe Life Field twice before, making his Arlington debut against Oklahoma State on Feb. 24, 2024, in the Kubota College Baseball Series before earning the start against Kansas State on Feb. 21, 2025, in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series. Gaeckle pitched in relief against the Cowboys, striking out six in 2.2 scoreless innings of work, and threw 5.2 innings of two-run ball with a pair of strikeouts in in his start against the Wildcats last season.
For complete coverage of Arkansas baseball, follow the Hogs on Twitter (@RazorbackBSB), Instagram (@RazorbackBSB) and Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Baseball).
