SEC Tournament report

Vitello, Van Horn clear air

University of Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and Tennessee coach Tony Vitello shook hands and spoke on the field briefly between games Saturday at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Ala.

Today, Van Horn's Razorbacks and Vitello's Volunteers will meet with the SEC Tournament title on the line. Arkansas defeated Ole Miss 3-2 and Tennessee defeated Florida 4-0 in the semifinals.

Saturday's interaction was the first in public since the men had a testy exchange 13 days earlier after the Razorbacks' 3-2 victory over the Volunteers in the series finale in Knoxville, Tenn. Vitello, who coached four seasons under Van Horn at Arkansas from 2014-17, has taken responsibility for the exchange after that game.

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On Saturday, Vitello said he and Van Horn had communicated since the series. He also attempted to shed a little more light on the confrontation that took many by surprise.

"Coach Van Horn is a mentor for me, and he's also a gracious winner, and he just wanted to say good job, and I didn't want to chat," Vitello said. "He was frustrated I didn't, so he made a point to say it. That's when I said something that really should be handled away from the field. So his reaction, I don't think was out of line, and that's what kind of stirred the attention.

"Then I said the hell with it, might as well try and sort it out here while the emotions are going, but that's not a good idea because, again, there's emotions going. It doesn't take a genius to figure out we lost that game because they beat us. I worked under him and have learned a lot, and it's not good to be an easy loser, and he's not and I'm not, and that's the end of it.

"He's a guy, like I said, that has sent me information and congratulations and things like that."

Van Horn said he had a good conversation with Vitello.

"I feel like we're good," Van Horn said. "It's just two guys that want to win, two competitors. It's all good."

The Razorbacks' and Volunteers' coaching staffs share several ties. Tennessee hitting coach Josh Elander was a volunteer coach at Arkansas in 2017, and former Razorback player Luke Bonfield is a graduate coach at Tennessee.

Vitello and Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs were college teammates at Missouri.

"Matt Hobbs is like a brother," Vitello said. "I would hope he would say the same thing."

VERMILLION UPDATE

Arkansas relief pitcher Zebulon Vermillion left Saturday's game after throwing three pitches in the fifth inning.

Van Horn said Vermillion has been suffering from cramping in his biceps. Vermillion motioned for a trainer from the mound and removed himself from the game.

MONKE STRUGGLES

Arkansas reliever Caden Monke has struggled to throw strikes in two outings at the SEC Tournament.

The left-hander was thrust into Saturday's game when Vermillion was injured, and he walked three batters, including one intentionally, and gave up a two-run double.

Monke has thrown just 13 strikes in 39 pitches in Hoover, including 7 of 22 pitches for strikes Saturday.

LINEUP CHANGE

Matt Goodheart played in left field Saturday for the first time during his three-year career at Arkansas. Goodheart played the position at San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College in 2018, but his time in the field has been limited at Arkansas due to a shoulder injury.

Lakeside grad Ethan Bates started in right field and Cayden Wallace started at third base for the second consecutive game, and Cullen Smith shifted from third base to first base in place of the injured Brady Slavens. Charlie Welch was the Razorbacks' designated hitter, a role typically filled by Goodheart.

SLAVENS UPDATE

Slavens was in the dugout Saturday, two days after he was told to stay at the hotel to rest his sprained right ankle he suffered Wednesday against Georgia.

During an in-game interview with the SEC Network, Van Horn said Slavens spent six hours Friday rehabbing and is "doing everything he can to get back as quick as he can."

The timeline for Slavens' return was set at one to three weeks.

"That ankle is every color under the rainbow right now," Van Horn said.

TEXARKANA SHOWDOWN

Both starting pitchers Saturday were from Texarkana.

Arkansas right-hander Caleb Bolden is a fourth-year junior who played high school baseball at Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana, Texas. Ole Miss right-hander Cody Adcock is a true freshman from Texarkana on the other side of the border.

It was the second time in the past two tournaments Ole Miss threw a Texarkana native against the Razorbacks in Hoover. Left-hander Zack Phillips started the first of two meetings between the teams in Hoover in 2019.

TITLE GAME HISTORY

Arkansas is in the SEC Tournament championship game for the fifth time.

The Razorbacks have an 0-4 all-time record in the championship game. Arkansas lost 7-5 to Auburn in 1998, 9-3 to Alabama in 1999, 7-4 to Vanderbilt in 2007 and 4-2 to LSU in 2017.

Tennessee has never played in the championship game under the current tournament format. The Vols won the SEC Eastern Division Tournament three consecutive seasons from 1993-95, and lost SEC Tournament championship games in 1982 and 1984.

68 AND COUNTING

Saturday's game was the 68th meeting between Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco and Van Horn -- the most for any two SEC head coaches. Their teams have played at least three times each season since 2003, and 12 times since the 2019 season.

Earlier this year, Van Horn and Bianco broke the previous record of 66 meetings between Skip Bertman and Ron Polk. Bertman coached at LSU from 1984-2001, while Polk coached at Mississippi State and Georgia between 1976-2008. Polk and Bertman are the two winningest coaches in the history of the SEC.

Bianco leads the all-time series against Van Horn with a record of 39-29, but Van Horn has won five of the past seven games.

Bianco (808) and Van Horn (745) rank third and fifth, respectively, on the SEC's all-time wins list.

BEST AGAINST BEST

Arkansas improved to 19-4 this season against 10 teams -- Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and Louisiana Tech -- who are in the running to host an NCAA regional.

Eleven of those wins came on the road and five others were at a neutral site. Arkansas' only home games against that group of teams came last weekend when the Razorbacks swept Florida.

The NCAA will announce its 16 regional host sites Sunday night. Twenty potential regional sites were announced earlier this month.

SHUTOUTS

Tennessee became the fifth team in SEC Tournament history to record shutouts in back-to-back games. The Vols' 4-0 win over Florida on Saturday followed an 11-0 victory over Alabama in seven innings Friday.

Tennessee has allowed six hits in its last two games.

QUICK HITTERS

• Arkansas is attempting to become the third team since the SEC expanded to 14 teams in 2013 to win the SEC regular-season championship and tournament championship in the same season. Vanderbilt won both titles during its national championship season in 2019, and LSU won both during its national runner-up season in 2017.

• Smith is 4 for 11 with 2 home runs, 1 double, 5 RBI and 5 runs scored at the SEC Tournament.

• Christian Franklin walked twice Saturday to bring his total to seven walks in three games in Hoover.

• Heston Tole has pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief at the SEC Tournament.

• Ole Miss failed to make the championship game of the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2017. The Rebels won the tournament in 2018 and were runners-up in 2019. No tournament was played last season.

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