DEUCES WILD

By Harold McIlvain II

Arkansas baseball head coach Dave Van Horn broke a huddle with his players Friday and turned to face the media as he does after every game at Baum Stadium.

Surround by a mass of media cameras and reporters, Van Horn noticed there was a larger than usual swarm waiting to hear from him after a 10-2 opening day win over Ball State.

“What the heck,” Van Horn joked to the crowd of more than 10 people. “There is nothing going on tonight.”

It’s part of the exposure the No. 17 Razorbacks are receiving after making a sixth College World Series appearance and finishing in a tie for third place in the nation last season.

But Van Horn knows that the Diamond Hogs are not the only driving factor for the increased attention – it’s also the game of college baseball as a whole.

And it starts at the top with a new downtown baseball stadium in Omaha, Neb., already in the works.

“I think college baseball is as good as it has ever been,” Van Horn said last week. “You think about the national championship site building a $150 million facility – with four locker rooms so you don’t have to sit in the stands when waiting to play.”

After ESPN signed a 15-year deal with the Southeastern Conference worth more than $2 billion to televise sporting events from the league, the Razorbacks will be getting more and more opportunities to be televised, as more than 40 SEC baseball games will be aired on the ESPN network of channels in 2010.

“TV has gone through the roof,” Van Horn said. “There is a lot of money being made. There are more games being broadcasted on ESPN and different affiliates. You are going to be able to watch it if you want to. And it’s going to get better.”

ESPN executive vice president John Skipper (can’t make that name up) said college sports have been “part of our DNA” for nearly 30 years. The deal, which included rights to every conference sport including baseball, wasn’t too tough to think about.

“We’re thrilled with the historic nature of this deal,” Skipper said to the AP. “It’s not hard to figure why we’d want to be involved with it, given the quality of SEC sports, for 15 more years.”

And that’s what sets the SEC apart, especially with baseball. You never know what kind of talent you will see at Baum Stadium from year to year.

You just might see a talent like David Price, who 16 months after being drafted was pitching in a World Series.

Vanderbilt starter Mike Minor, who pitched against the Razorbacks in Fayetteville last year, was drafted No. 7 overall in the last MLB First Year Player Draft. LSU outfielder Jared Mitchell, drafted No. 23 last year, made an appearance in Northwest Arkansas, too.

And we are not even including the talented Razorbacks who take the field – all for free for students with IDs – every weekend right now – including and not limited to Andy Wilkins, Zach Cox, Brett Eibner and Mike Bolsinger.

But it just isn’t the conference talent that is getting better – even smaller schools are starting to flourish with resources on the field.

“The competition and coaching is getting a lot better,” Van Horn said. “There are players going to smaller schools. They are going to a Ball State or a Kent State and are very, very talented kids.

“Division I baseball is at its best. I think it’s great.”

College baseball fans will notice soon, too.

Harold McIlvain II is an assistant sports editor for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every other Wednesday.