After struggling on mound, Razorbacks get inside look at restocking shelf
One of the biggest issues facing the Arkansas Razorbacks this past spring was a lack of consistency and depth within its pitching staff
Beyond Hunter Dietz, who emerged as the Hogs’ ace roughly midway through the season, head coach Dave Van Horn had few men he could ask to take the mound while feeling confident things were about to go well.
Some of this was because Arkansas lost out on key pitching recruits late. In the case of former Little Rock Trojans ace Jackson Wells, he was already deep into the summer workout program with the Hogs when the Houston Astros came calling the day after the Major League Baseball draft with a large stack of digital cash ready to start shipping into the account of Wells and his newly acquired wife.
Arkansas knew it was probably coming, but losing out on a pitcher with a better ERA than former LSU pitcher Paul Skeenes at 1.65 was a difficult blow to absorb. So, while there is no guarantee the Razorbacks will not continue to get outbid on NIL/revenue sharing options or see another player get stolen from his Hogs baseball funded apartment in the dark of night, the naming of Arkansas’ Matt Hobbs as the pitching coach for Team USA offers the promise the Razorbacks will have first-hand insight into potential replacements.
He will spend this summer coaching somebody the greatest pitchers college baseball has to offer in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship as the second leg of a coaching journey that will begin with a series of games on the East Coast before moving to Taiwan in Taichung City Intercontinental Stadium.
That is a long time to develop relationships with various pitchers as well as a seemingly endless opportunity to personally evaluate players and their potential fit at Arkansas.
It also provides the Razorbacks a chance to see key players and reak down their hitting and fielding so Hobbs can give Van Horn what he needs to know, whether that be as a potential last second portal replacement or for a scouting report for a weekend or NCAA Tournament series.
The coaching staff, which will include Hobbs and 13 others, for this year’s Collegiate National Team Training Camp will be split into two teams – Stars and Stripes – for a slate of exhibition games and the program’s annual Stars vs. Stripes series held from June 27 -July 4 at various locations across North Carolina and Virginia.
Following the Collegiate National Team Training Camp, Hobbs is one of five coaches, including Bethune-Cookman head coach Jonathan Hernandez (assistant coach), Michigan head coach Tracy Smith (assistant coach), Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter (assistant coach) and Carlos Muñoz (bullpen coach), set to join Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb (manager) in leading Team USA against Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea in Taichung City, Taiwan, from July 11-15.
Hobbs, who just wrapped up his eighth season with the Razorbacks, is viewed at the national level as one of the best pitching minds in all of college baseball. The 2024 D1Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year, Hobbs has helped develop one Golden Spikes Award winner for best player in amateur, one Dick Howser Trophy winner for the national player of the year, 12 All-Americans, 12 All-SEC honorees, including two SEC pitchers of the year, and 30 MLB draft selections, including 22 chosen in the first 10 rounds since joining Dave Van Horn’s staff at Arkansas.
With Hobbs overseeing development of the Hogs’ pitchers, the Razorbacks have made three trips to the College World Series (2019, 2022 & 2025), clinched a pair of overall SEC championships (2021 & 2023) and won four SEC Western Division titles (2019, 2021, 2023 & 2024). Under his guidance, Kevin Kopps emerged as the best player in the country in 2021, winning both the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy, and Hagen Smith was crowned the unanimous national pitcher of the year in 2024.
2026 Collegiate National Team Training Camp Staff
Dan Hartleb – Stars Manager
Matt Hobbs – Stars Pitching Coach
Jonathan Hernandez – Stars Assistant Coach
Tracy Smith – Stars Assistant Coach
Tom Walter – Stars Assistant Coach
Carlos Muñoz – Stars Bullpen Coach
Rick Eckstein – Stripes Manager
Brad Penny – Stripes Pitching Coach
Rick Ankiel – Stripes Assistant Coach
David Eckstein – Stripes Assistant Coach
Davin Pierre – Stripes Assistant Coach
Joe McGowan – Stripes Bullpen Coach
Mike Scioscia – Senior Advisor
Rob Shabansky – Technical Commissioner
2026 World Collegiate Baseball Championship Schedule
*all games will be played at Taichung City Intercontinental Stadium
Pool Play
Game 1: July 11 – USA vs. Korea – 12:30 a.m. ET/12:30 p.m. local
Game 2: July 11 – Chinese Taipei vs. Japan – 6:30 a.m. ET/6:30 p.m. local
Game 3: July 12 – Japan vs. Korea – 12:30 a.m. ET/12:30 p.m. local
Game 4: July 12 – Chinese Taipei vs. USA – 6:30 a.m. ET/6:30 p.m. local
Game 5: July 13 – Japan vs. USA – 12:30 a.m. ET/12:30 p.m. local
Game 6: July 13 – Korea vs. Chinese Taipei – 6:30 a.m. ET/6:30 p.m. local
Semifinals
Game 7: July 14 – 2nd place vs. 3rd place – 12:30 a.m. ET/12:30 p.m. local
Game 8: July 14 – 1st place vs. 4th place – 6:30 a.m. ET/6:30 p.m. local
Finals
Game 9: July 15 – Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 – 12:30 a.m. ET/12:30 p.m. local
Game 10: July 15 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 – 6:30 a.m. ET/6:30 p.m. local
(Razorback Communications contributed to this story )
