Van Horn Feels Good About Second Base Despite Stovall Injury

Arkansas coach believes infield holds up while Stovall heals broken foot

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Adversity is not a foreign concept to Arkansas' baseball program over the past few years. 

When it comes to the injury bug, the Razorbacks' star players seem to be more than prone to dealing with some sort of ailment. Baseball begins Friday against James Madison with junior second baseman Peyton Stovall rehabbing for 4-6 weeks from a broken foot he suffered last week in a scrimmage.

Coaches always have a master plan on what needs to be done in case something like this happens. Luckily, in a dark sort of way, the scenario happened just a few months ago when Stovall tore his labrum. Greenwood native Peyton Holt, who quickly became a fan favorite in place of Stovall last year, will move over from his spot at third base to solve the problem for the short period.

"Holt will play [second base] and played there the last third of the [2023] season and did a great job," Van Horn said. "You know, he was going to be our starting third baseman."

After playing his first two seasons of college baseball at Crowder College at the JUCO level, Holt received an opportunity to play for his home state school. He played in 31 games with 19 starts, mostly down the stretch, batting a team-high .392 and boasting a .589 on-base percentage. Holt was electric from his second base spot, turning multiple double plays during his limited time there.

Jared Sprague-Lott is the next man up at third base with Holt moving over. The former Richmond Spider has played a lot of ball throughout his career and started all 53 games he played in last season at multiple infield positions. He led Richmond with 13 home runs last season with a .314 batting average and always seemed to find himself on base at nearly 56% of the time. Sprague-Lott will have plenty of time throughout non-conference play to iron out any wrinkles from old habits. He committed 15 errors and held a .920 fielding percentage last season. 

"Sprauge-Lott, who was probably going to play a little bit everywhere will start [at third]," Van Horn said. "He's started in college for a few years. So, I feel good about those guys defensively.

For Van Horn, the story of Stovall's injury history offered up an opportunity to raise the spirits of a talented second baseman. Instead of allowing him to dwell on a bang-bang play, Stovall is encouraged to remain mentally engaged with a return date that may come in April.

"For me personally and for Peyton [Stovall] and I think our team feels really bad for him," Van Horn said. "I mean, he was upset about it when he found out. It's just you know, 'why me? Why does this keep happening?' Last year, he was really swinging the bat well and playing good, too. So, I just told him, 'You know, you're the strongest, one of the stronger guys mentally. You can handle this. That's why it was put on you.' I think he'll be even more ready to go once he gets going."

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