The biggest news of concern for Arkansas fans isn’t the final score of its SEC Baseball Tournament game against Texas. It was the news Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn delivered during a TV interview in the middle of the fourth inning.
“It’s not fractured,” he said, and with that, Arkansas fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Van Horn was talking about the right foot of starting pitcher Hunter Dietz, the best starter Arkansas has. Dietz threw just 21 pitches Friday against the Longhorns before a line drive traveling 105 mph drilled his foot.
It was the type of line drive that could’ve caused serious injury. Alas, Dietz didn’t break anything and will be good to go for the NCAA Regionals.
An argument could be made that Dietz, if needed, could make another appearance in the SEC Tournament. He wasn’t on the mound for very long Friday. If Arkansas makes it to Sunday’s championship game, he could be used.
Compared to the injury to Kuhio Aloy that might be more significant and long-term, this is great news for Arkansas.
What’s just as good is the Razorbacks might be peaking at the right time. They haven’t looked like some of the past teams this season, but they are now.
Camden Kozeal is red hot at the plate. He now has three home runs in Hoover after hitting a pair of bombs against Texas. His second Friday went 449 feet and likely damaged some outfield speakers in the process.
OH MY CAM. 449FT BOMB. 🥵@RazorbackBSB x 📺 @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/LDB4j1EWsu
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 22, 2026
The rest of the lineup is getting on base, too, which sets up players like Kozeal, or Ryder Helfrick or TJ Pompey or Zack Stewart. All have home run power. Kozeal was the only one to send balls over the outfield fence against Texas, but the power is there.
Also consider what Arkansas did on the mound after Dietz left suddenly.
Steele Eaves was able to quickly warm up and got out of a two-out, bases-loaded situation with just one run crossing home plate via a walk. After that, he shut down the Longhorns and recorded five strikeouts in the process.
After Eaves, the Razorbacks sent Gabe Gaeckle to the mound and held Texas scoreless through six innings of work. He allowed just four total base runners (three hits, one walk) and struck out nine batters while throwing 76 total pitches.
Arkansas fans can be forgiven for being skeptical. In baseball, not many fan bases have been tortured as much as the Razorbacks’ fans. But it’s also hard to deny these Razorbacks are playing like a team that can make a lot of postseason noise.
To the semis we go 🐗 pic.twitter.com/lV5ozAHlkV
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 23, 2026
Pitching Decisions
- WP: Gabe Gaeckle (4-3), 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 9 K, 76 TP
- LP: Cody Howard (0-1), 2 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HP, 51 TP
Arkansas Batting Leaders
- Camden Kozeal: 3-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR, 1 BB
- TJ Pompey: 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B
- Nolan Souza: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Next Up
Arkansas moves on the SEC Tournament semifinals and will face the winner of No. 6-seed Auburn and No. 3-seed Texas A&M. It’s the seventh appearance by Arkansas in the tournament’s penultimate round since 2013.
The Razorbacks lost their weekend series against Auburn in early April, but didn’t face the Aggies this year. If the trend is Arkansas beating teams its seeing for the first time this season (2-0 already), then there should be some temporary Texas A&M fans in the Natural State on Friday night.
