Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

1/24/2012 at 11:41am

Arkansas opens the season No. 4 in Baseball America’s Top 25. And it’s not out of the question the Razorbacks finish the year highly ranked.

Coach Dave Van Horn sounded optimistic about his team’s chances when appearing Tuesday on Hog Sports Radio’s The Show. Van Horn said he expected the team’s deep pitching and infield defensive ability could be strong enough for another nationally competitive season.

Arkansas returns 19 letter winners from last year’s 40-22 squad that won the SEC West and advanced to a NCAA Regional.

“I do feel like we’ve got enough that we can contend for a Western division championship again and an overall [SEC] championship,” Van Horn said in the radio appearance. “We can play into June if things go right.”

Arkansas returns 10 pitchers from last year’s team, including junior ace DJ Baxendale. He was named All-SEC as a sophomore after going 10-2 with a 1.58 earned run average. Freshmen all-American picks Barrett Astin (5.2, 2.72 ERA) and Nolan Sanburn (8 saves, 3.62 ERA) are also back from a staff that finished 2011 with a 3.20 ERA.

Offensively the Razorbacks will be led by freshman All-American Dominic Ficociello, who hit .335 and drove in 50 runs.

Winning big will not be easy in the SEC, of course. Arkansas is one of three SEC teams ranked in the Top 5 (Florida is No. 1 and South Carolina is No. 3). There are seven league teams ranked in the Top 25.

Arkansas begins practice Friday with its highest preseason ranking since 2007. The Razorbacks open the season Feb. 17 against Villanova with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m.

“I think we’ll be right in the hunt,” Van Horn told Hog Sports Radio. “Obviously, it’s no secret we’ve got a good pitching staff. When you can pitch a little bit you can be in most every game, every weekend.”

Van Horn is scheduled to meet with media on Friday to preview the opening of practice.

Tagged: Dominic Ficociello, Baseball America, DJ Baxendale, Dave Van Horn