Meet The Razorbacks Slated for Feb. 1
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas baseball team will hold its annual Meet The Razorbacks Day on Saturday, Feb. 1, at center court of the Northwest Arkansas Mall from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Entering its 25th year, the event will feature Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn and the 2020 Razorback baseball team. Fans are encouraged to get autographs and take pictures with members of the team. Autographs are limited to one item per person. The Razorback Diamond Dolls, RBI Girls and Ribby the Mascot will also be available for pictures and autographs.
The Razorbacks are coming off a 46-20 season that produced an SEC West division title and the program’s 10th trip to the College World Series in 2019. Head coach Dave Van Horn, entering his 18th season at the helm of the baseball team, has more appearances in the CWS than any active coach in the nation with eight.
Arkansas returns a number of veterans with experience on the mound, including two-thirds of last year’s rotation in sophomores Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander. Noland and Wicklander were among the top freshmen arms in the conference in 2019, as the duo combined for a 4.16 ERA, nine wins, 145 strikeouts and only 51 walks. Noland was named a Perfect Game Freshman All-American while both garnered SEC All-Freshman honors.
Offensively, the Razorbacks return plenty of firepower, including last year’s top hitter in Matt Goodheart, who finished with a .345 batting average as the team’s designated hitter. Along with Goodheart, the Hogs bring back two of the top bats in the nation in juniors and preseason All-Americans Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin. Kjerstad hit .325 or higher in each of his first two seasons, matching his hit total (87) from 2018, while driving in another 51 RBIs to go with 17 home runs. As for Martin, he hit more home runs (15) and had more RBIs (57) than his freshman season, finishing with 81 hits overall last season.
The 2020 slate kicks off with Eastern Illinois for the second-straight season, beginning on Friday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
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