Arkansas Baseball: 2016 Ends on a 13 Game Losing Streak
By Cory Thone
The Mississippi State Bulldogs put the Arkansas Razorbacks out of their misery on Saturday night with a 9-4 win over the Hogs in Starkville. The win capped off a dream season for the Bulldogs, who just clinched their first SEC title since 1989. For the Hogs, the sweep put a period on the end of a nightmare season where nothing ever worked and no one really knows why.
The Arkansas baseball team started the season ranked in the top 25 in pretty much every national poll. They had a lot of returning talent, and were supposed to have one of the better bullpens in the SEC. They were fresh off a College World Series appearance, and many experts across the nation saw the Hogs as a team to watch for the season.
How was everyone so incredibly wrong about this team?
There is no easy answer to that question. This isn’t like last season’s football struggles, where injuries decimated the roster and left the coaches scrambling to try new things. And this wasn’t the 2016 basketball Hogs either, where the team is having to replace every single starter.
No, this was something different. The struggles for this team can’t be tangibly found. It was a problem at a base, emotional level. It’s hard to describe, but the best way I can explain it is that this team never understood each other, and no one seemed to be able to translate.
We saw a similar problem last year, especially early in the season. But with the help of seasoned vets and incredibly talented underclassmen, the team was able to rally around each other. That never happened in 2016.
Think back to the movie “Remember the Titans”. I know it’s a football movie, but sports movies all follow the same structure, so it works. Think about the scene where the team has a secret meeting, and they work out their problems by singing and clapping. (It’s not a musical, though, I promise.)
More razorbacks: 2017 Basketball Expectations
At the end of the scene, everyone is on the same page with each other. Except for Ray…jerk. The team goes out that Friday night and they dominate their opponents and all that stuff. Now, imagine that the Titans are the Razorbacks, and instead of having that secret meeting where everybody gets on the same page, they all just went to Whattaburger or something.
More from Razorbackers
- Nike’s latest Arkansas Razorbacks shoes are a must-have
- Believe it or not, Arkansas football has never played these FBS teams
- Arkansas vs UConn Prediction and $1,000 BetMGM Promo
- Arkansas vs. UConn, NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: How to watch, odds, predictions
- When was the last time Arkansas won the NCAA Tournament? (Odds to win March Madness)
That’s what 2016 felt like. And that’s certainly what this team looked like on the field.
The Arkansas baseball team just had their worst season in…well…a super long time. The Hogs fell from a CWS team to 14/14 in the SEC. Their conference record of 7-23 is the WORST in school history. 26 total wins for the Hogs is the fewest since the new millennium. It was truly a catastrophe of a season.
As a whole, 2016 has not been great so far. It started off strong with a Liberty Bowl win, but then we got the 16-16 basketball team and the 26-29 baseball team. Let’s hope that Bret Bielema and the football team can close out this season just as strong as they opened it.
And when it comes to the Arkansas baseball team, it’s no surprise that fans are disappointed and sad, but I think it says something about the pedigree of Dave Van Horn’s work at Arkansas that there is absolutely zero talk of coaching changes or hot seats. Which is pretty rare for Hog fans, given our fickle nature.
Bad seasons happen, but they don’t happen often for Arkansas baseball or Dave Van Horn. I expect the Diamond Hogs to be back next year, and to have a huge chip on their shoulders. If Mississippi State can go from worst to first, then what’s to say Arkansas can’t do that as well?
Woo Pig.