FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Dave Heeke sat in the bleachers in the sprawling Randal Tyson Track Center near the University of Arkansas campus Friday night, about an hour before first pitch. It’s across the hall from the Fowler Family Baseball and Track Training Center, which features a full-sized infield diamond. It’s across the street from Baum-Walker Stadium, which features a 1,775-square-foot video board and the 49,000-square-foot J.B. & Johnelle Hunt Family Baseball Development Center.
It’s hard not to feel envious.
But Heeke is a realist. When it comes to athletic investment, the Pac-12 isn’t the SEC.
Still, during Heeke’s time as athletic director, Arizona has opened the Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center, upgraded the east side of Arizona Stadium and refurbished the UA clubhouse at Hi Corbett Field, among other projects. More work is needed on the venerable home of Wildcats baseball, Heeke acknowledged.
“Hi Corbett’s like a beautiful, old home that you always wanted to purchase,” Heeke said. “Then you buy it, and you love it. But you realize that there is an abundance of upkeep and repairs. You need to bring it to a new standard.
“So we have a lot of things that need to be done and a lot of things that people don’t see in the infrastructure of the facility that need to be addressed as well, because it is an old, old facility. But there’s no better place, I think, for college baseball in the West. And we want to keep enhancing that for not only our team but for our fans. So we’ll keep making small changes.”
The state of Hi Corbett was just one baseball-related topic Heeke discussed in a conversation with the Star before Arizona’s opener in the NCAA Tournament’s Fayetteville Regional — a 12-4 loss to TCU that pushed the Wildcats into the losers’ bracket. The UA’s elimination game against Santa Clara was delayed six hours because of inclement weather and scheduled to start at 6:06 p.m. Arizona time Saturday.
Here’s the best of the rest:
Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke, left, said he’s pleased with the way Chip Hale has adapted to the changing landscape of college sports during his two seasons as the Wildcats’ baseball coach.
On the Wildcats’ up-and-down 2023 season: “I give a lot of credit to the coaching staff, to Chip (Hale), to our guys for not letting that real tough stretch (10 straight Pac-12 losses) derail the entire year. Those are tough things. In baseball, you run into those stretches that can get hard. It’s part of the sport, and you’ve got to find your way through it and hope you get to the other end. I thought we did that. We righted the ship, playing really good baseball here at the end of the year. It’s an invigorated group of players that want to keep playing, and that’s all you can ask for this time of year.”
On Hale’s first two seasons as UA coach: “I think he’s done a really nice job with our program. If you think back, and we’ve talked about this with some of our other programs, when we were hiring Chip (in July 2021), it was different. The transfer portal had not exploded like it is today. NIL hadn’t mushroomed to where it is now. The pressure around that and the changes and the transition that that has all caused is very different.
“I like how Chip has pivoted a little bit and managed that and began to look at the new way of building rosters. It’s not like football; it’s a smaller roster. (But) you’ve got to look at your roster each and every year. There’s going to be movement. You’re going to add some players, and you’re going to lose some players. I like his approach to it.
“I’m really happy with the job that Chip has done. I like him in our leadership position. And I like the way he’s handled our baseball program.”
On the value of the Pac-12 Tournament for bubble teams like Arizona: “It was very beneficial for us and for any team that could have been in our position, the opportunity to play a few more games, to add on to what we had built up there towards the end of the year, to play high-level teams that were nationally ranked in the league and to get those wins. That helps our RPI. People are paying attention to the end of the year. Obviously, the committee’s paying attention. We made a statement, and the tournament helped us do that. ...
“Overall, it’s good for our conference, and I believe it helps more than it tarnishes. And I think the committee is very good at recognizing teams that are on hot streaks and are playing well.”
On the disadvantages West Coast teams have and the controversial RPI system: “In Western baseball, we have a challenge. Much like a lot of our sports, a lot of the national experts, the announcers, those who are talking about college baseball, don’t get a chance to see our teams play as much. So that hurts us from the get-go.
“I think it’s time to take a good look at the RPI at all levels. Has it become antiquated for current day? (Does) it get artificially inflated in certain leagues or certain parts of the country (and) doesn’t benefit other parts of the country? Are we rewarding teams that are going out and trying their very best to schedule well, yet their geography might limit them to a certain degree?
“You can only play so many midweek games. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to play midweek games, to get on a bus, that are relatively affordable. We’ve got to get on airplanes (to) go play midweek games. That’s tough. So I think there can be a very robust, productive conversation around the RPI, and I welcome that and look forward to that happening.
“I’m disappointed that more teams in the West (didn’t make it). I think that the two teams in our conference (ASU and USC) were deserving of getting in. It’s a hard one for (UC) Irvine as well. That’s a tough blow not to get into the tournament for the record they had (38-17) and the kind of club they had and the kind of year they had.”
RBI king
When he clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning Friday, first baseman Kiko Romero broke Ron Hassey’s UA single-season RBI record, which had stood for nearly 50 years.
Hassey had 86 RBIs in 1974. Romero ended the night with 89 after hitting a solo home run in the eighth.
“RBIs, people sort of pooh-pooh those things, the new statisticians,” Hale said. “But being in pro ball for as long as I have been, it’s hard to do. It’s hard to drive people in. It takes a special kind of hitter, and Kiko’s that guy.”
Hale said the accomplishment was especially impressive because Romero bats behind Chase Davis, who often clears the bases. He has 21 home runs and 74 RBIs.
The view from outside Baum-Walker Stadium during an extended rain delay in the Fayetteville Regional on Saturday afternoon. The Arizona-Santa Clara elimination game was pushed back six hours and started at 6:06 p.m. Tucson time.
Waiting games
The indoor track facility served as a staging area for the Wildcats as they waited out Saturday’s multi-hour rain delay.
Players sat and ate lunch on the oval track. Many lounged on the high-jump landing pads. At one point, several players started mimicking Davis’ and other Wildcats’ batting stances and mannerisms at the plate.
The team arrived about 11:25 a.m. for the scheduled 2:06 p.m. local start. They found out at 6:50 p.m. that they’d be playing.
The winners’ bracket game between TCU and Arkansas was postponed and rescheduled for Sunday.
