FAYETTEVILLE — Dave Van Horn gave fans a preview of sorts in Arkansas baseball’s annual Fall Classic on Friday night.
It’s never wise to put too much stock into an intrasquad scrimmage more than four months before the regular season, but the Razorbacks’ veteran coach opted to load up one side for the first time this fall.
The result was a sneak peak at the potential Opening Day lineup and an easy seven-inning 10-2 win for the starter-laiden Cardinal over the backup Grays in front of a couple thousand fans at Baum-Walker Stadium.
“I thought they put a lot of pressure on the other team,” Van Horn said. “I was really pleased with what I saw. They looked like they really enjoyed being out here. That’s what we’ve gotten out of these guys this fall, is they show up, man. It hasn’t been super easy out here, and they’ve met every challenge.”
Arkansas’ starters were dominant, combining to go 11 for 30 with five home runs, four walks and six stolen bases. That made things particularly tough on the Gray’s pitchers.
“In their mind, they’re thinking, ‘Man, they’ve got him after him and that one’s coming after this one,’” Van Horn said. “It starts to bother you. It wears on you a little bit. The lineup is pretty deep. Guys will fight you at the plate, but at the same time, they can hit it a long way.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Cardinal lineup was freshman Brenton Clark hitting ninth and starting in left field. Ranked No. 367 overall in the Class of 2024, he didn’t exactly have a ton of hype following him from Pleasant Grove High in Texarkana, Texas.
It helped that potential starters Kendall Diggs and Rocco Peppi were out with injuries, but those who have seen him play this fall know Clark was certainly deserving of the nod. According to unofficial stats compiled by reporters, he entered the day slashing .556/.581/.963 in 27 at bats.
Clark went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts Friday night, but if he keeps hitting like he has this fall, he’ll be in the mix for legitimate playing time as a freshman.
“I always tell the guys, I don’t care how old you are or what year you are, if you’ve earned a spot to start, either a walk-on or a scholarship kid or whatever, it doesn’t matter to us,” Van Horn said. “I’ve got to stand behind that.”
The entire “stacked” lineup looked like this:
- CF — Charles Davalan (transfer from FGCU)
- SS — Wehiwa Aloy
- RF — Logan Maxwell (transfer from TCU)
- 3B — Brent Iredale (transfer from JUCO)
- 2B — Nolan Souza
- C — Ryder Helfrick
- 1B/DH — Reese Robinett
- DH/1B — Kuhio Aloy (transfer from BYU)
- LF — Brenton Clark
Here are a few other takeaways from the Fall Classic…
Battle at First Base for Arkansas Baseball
Outside of the final spot in the outfield that Brenton Clark filled Friday, the other position seemingly up for grabs right now is first base. Redshirt sophomore Reese Robinett got the starting nod in the Fall Classic, but he and BYU transfer Kuhio Aloy rotated between first base and designated hitter.
It’s seemingly a very close race. Van Horn actually said it could have easily gone the other way, with Robinett getting a slight edge because of his experience.
Aloy — the younger brother of shortstop Wehiwa Aloy — was going to be in the lineup one way or the other because of his bat. After a slow start to the fall, he had turned a corner recently, homering in each of the previous four scrimmages. That didn’t continue in the Fall Classic, though, as he notched the dreaded golden sombrero by going 0 for 4 with four strikeouts.
“He’s been killing it,” Van Horn said. “Today, not so good… Probably a really good learning experience for him. He’s been good. His exit velocity has been the best on the team. If you take every swing, it’s 105 mph when he hits it, even when he mishits it’s 100. He’s very strong, incredible bat speed. He’s only a sophomore. He’ll have a night like this, like everybody might, but he’ll have a night where he might hit four (home runs).”
Robinett has been somewhat the forgotten returner because he redshirted last year, but Arkansas baseball fans probably remember him for his big extra-innings home run at LSU as a true freshman in 2023.
Although he had a good summer in the NECBL, Robinett has been a bit streaky this fall. That said, there have been some encouraging signs, such as the 360-foot home run he pulled down the right field line.
“A lot of his home runs, it goes the other way and it backspins the ball,” Van Horn said. “A lot of the time on the pull side, he top spins the ball. He did hit a ball earlier this fall that shot out of here with backspin to the pull side. It kind of got us excited. He hasn’t had a super fall out here like we thought he would maybe offensively, but it’s been solid, been better.”
It’s worth noting that Robinett has actually spent much of this fall playing third base, but is capable of playing either corner infield spot.
The other guy who’s played a lot of first base, and started there for the Gray, is Rhode Island transfer Michael Anderson. He was coming off a monster weekend in which he homered three times, but went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts and a HBP on Friday.
Iredale Lives Up to the Hype
One of the biggest surprises of the summer for Arkansas baseball was getting Brent Iredale through the MLB Draft and on campus. Considered one of the top JUCO prospects in the country, he easily could have been drafted and skipped playing in the SEC.
Luckily for the Razorbacks, he has more than lived up to the hype so far, seemingly locking up the starting job at third base.
“He’s better than I thought he would be, because he’s a better defender,” Van Horn said. “He really listens. That’s helped a little bit on that end, but he came in good. … I don’t know if he’s made but maybe one error all fall, and made a couple of really nice plays.”
Where the Australian is going to make the biggest impact, though, is at the plate. He entered the day with a team-high five home runs this fall, but Van Horn said he just wants him to hit and drive in runs.
That’s just what he did by going 3 for 4 on Friday. All three of his hits were singles, but the first of those came in the first inning and opened the scoring, driving in two runs in a two-strike count and with two outs.
The performance raised Iredale’s unofficial fall batting average to .452 (14 for 31) and gives him a team-high 16 RBIs.
Young, Old Guys Sharp on the Mound
The Razorbacks threw 12 pitchers in the Fall Classic and arguably the four best pitchers included the two oldest players on the team and a pair of the youngest.
When asked afterward if any of the arms particularly impressed him, Dave Van Horn singled out right-hander Dylan Carter, the sixth-year super senior out of Bentonville.
One of only two pitchers who worked more than an inning, he finished with three strikeouts in two scoreless frames against the starters. He did allow four base runners (two walks and two hits), but he erased one of the walks by picking off Wehiwa Aloy and neither of the singles were well hit — one was a blooper that found grass by Logan Maxwell and the other was an infield single by Brent Iredale.
All of that actually happened in one inning, as Carter started his day by striking out Kuhio Aloy, Brenton Clark and Charles Davalan in order.
“Last year didn’t go quite as good because he was a year out of Tommy John,” Van Horn said. “The control a lot of times is the issue, the command. His velocity got up last spring, but the command was there today and what I’ve seen this fall, he’s been commanding the ball and still throwing the fastball in the mid-90s. He can pitch. He did a great job.”
The other old guy was fellow sixth-year super senior Will McEntire. The right-hander has been up-and-down this fall, much like he was last year, but looked really good Friday night.
In his lone inning of work, McEntire struck out Justin Thomas Jr. and Carson Boles. Those were sandwiched around a fly out by Cam Kozeal.
“He knows that he’s got to work to establish his role on this team and he’s done it,” Van Horn said. “I thought he threw the ball really well tonight. He wasn’t overpowering, but he really pitched.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, right-hander Carson Wiggins was another heralded signee the Razorbacks were lucky to get to campus.
He has been a bit inconsistent this fall, but has flashed the talent that has led to some saying he’s further along in his development at this stage of his career than his older brother, former Arkansas pitcher and second-round pick Jaxon Wiggins.
On Friday, it all came together for an impressive outing in which he struck out Kuhio Aloy and Clark before getting Davalan to ground out and cap a perfect 1-2-3 frame.
“He’s gotten hit a little bit, but his stuff’s been amazing in our scrimmages,” Van Horn said. “Tonight, they didn’t hit him. Fastball is 97-98 mph, throwing strikes, got a good breaking ball. Looked like a guy that can help us right away tonight.”
Although he projects to eventually be a starter, Wiggins will likely begin his career out of the bullpen.
That’s probably the case for fellow freshman Cole Gibler, too, but the left-hander might actually be closer to starter-caliber right out of the gate.
He was the other pitcher to work multiple innings, allowing two walks with two strikeouts in two scoreless. The two strikeouts was actually low for him, as he came in with 12 in 5 2/3 innings for a whopping 19.1 per nine innings.
“Gibler’s been amazing,” Van Horn said. “Today was probably the least effective he’s been. … He’s been real reliable. I think he threw five balls in a row. We hadn’t seen that all fall. Then he got it back together. That was good to see.”
Fighting for Starting Rotation Spots
Last season, there was very little mystery surrounding Arkansas’ starting rotation other than the specific order in which they’d throw. That is not the case this year, as there are several legitimate options.
At this point in the fall, four frontrunners have seemingly emerged. That group includes the Razorbacks’ two most effective pitchers so far, both of whom started Friday night’s scrimmage, and their two heralded transfers, both of whom were first out of the bullpen.
Right-hander Gage Wood has probably been the best of the bunch this fall, allowing just one run in seven innings with a team-high 12 strikeouts coming into the night. However, the junior gave up Brent Iredale’s aforementioned two-out, two-run single in the first inning.
Sophomore Gabe Gaeckle allowed four earned runs (via three home runs) before recording an out in the first scrimmage of the fall, but has been dominant ever since. The right-hander hadn’t allowed another earned run in his six innings of work until giving up one on Friday.
Both of those returners have positioned themselves well, which would leave only one spot for the Razorbacks’ two heralded left-handed transfers.
East Carolina transfer Zach Root has really struggled so far, giving up eight earned runs on 13 hits with only three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings coming into Friday. That works out to a 13.50 ERA and 2.63 WHIP. He also got knocked around pretty good in his last outing.
That said, he bounced back by throwing up a zero with a pair of strikeouts in his lone inning of work in the Fall Classic. Van Horn said he busted his fastball in on a couple of right-handers, which is key to making his really good changeup even more effective, while also throwing a pretty good slider.
Those at the ballpark may have also noticed he has a bit of a funky delivery, which Van Horn compared to Vida Blue, the 1971 AL Cy Young Award winner for the Oakland Athletics.
“You used to see that back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, maybe,” Van Horn said. “It’s different. We’ve seen him now a lot and he still got us out tonight, but when a team sees him for the first time, it can be a little different for them for a while.”
Ohio State transfer Landon Beidelschies has been more consistent this fall, but did give up a run in his lone inning Friday when Charles Davalan crushed a two-out solo home run off him.
“I think he didn’t throw his fastball until his third or fourth pitch,” Van Horn said. “It was 95. He can spot it up, quick to the plate with his short arm action, a little different. Got a good slider and good changeup.”
Helfrick the Total Package
Ryder Helfrick has picked up where he left off in the Cape Cod League this summer, continuing his solid play into the fall. That includes a really impressive 411-foot home run to center Friday night.
It was a “wow” moment, but the best part of Helfrick’s game was probably how he handled things behind the plate. He did throw a ball down the left field line trying to get a base stealer at third, allowing the Gray to score its first run of the game, but other than that, he was flawless.
Twice he gunned down potential base stealers at second, making perfect throws both times. He also threw behind Elliott Peterson at one point, but the runner slid back safely — according to the umpire.
“I think he picked off that guy off of first,” Van Horn said. “I asked (Kuhio) Aloy if he tagged him. He said, ‘Yeah, I got him. He was out.’ I thought if he tagged him, he was out. I don’t know if the umpire missed it or what, but Ryder had a really good night.”
On top of what actually shows up in the box score, Helfrick also showed good veteran leadership by twice visiting the mount to calm down a struggling freshman pitcher.
Up Next for Arkansas Baseball
The Razorbacks will scrimmage once more this weekend, taking the field Sunday after an off day for the Arkansas vs Tennessee football game. As is the case for all practices inside Baum-Walker Stadium, it is open to the public.
They’ll wrap up fall ball during the football team’s open date next weekend with a pair of exhibitions against Oklahoma State. Game 1 is set for 6 p.m. Friday, followed by the finale at noon CT Saturday. Both of those games will also be free. No television or streaming will be available for them, either.
Dave Van Horn Interview
Arkansas Baseball Fall Classic Box Score
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