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Who Arkansas faces in final Field of 64 projections

A look at the teams Arkansas is expected to face in the final Field of 64 projections from D1Baseball, Baseball America and On3 sports.

The final field of 64 projections for the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament were unveiled by D1Baseball and Baseball America Sunday evening and Monday morning.

Neither showed any change to Arkansas’ projected regional, or where coach Dave Van Horn’s team figures to be seeded. D1Baseball and Baseball America still have the Razorbacks as the No. 5 overall seed among the top-eight national seeds.

Like Sunday, D1Baseball sees Arkansas welcoming Louisiana Tech (45-17), Kansas State (32-24), and Summit League Champion Oral Roberts (27-30-1) to the Razorbacks’ four-team, double-elimination regional at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Baseball America forecasts Arkansas’ regional to include Louisiana Tech, as well. Southland Conference champion Nicholls State (34-20) and Ohio Valley champion Southeast Missouri (34-25) are Baseball America’s picks to head to the Fayetteville Regional.

On3 also has the Diamond Hogs as the No. 5 national seed. Their final projections ahead of the tournament have Arkansas hosting Nebraska, TCU and Southeast Missouri.

Both D1Baseball and Baseball America’s projected top five national seeds were the same: Tennessee at No. 1, Kentucky at No. 2, North Carolina at No. 3, Texas A&M at No. 4, and Arkansas at No. 5.

Official seeding and regional matchups for the tournament will be announced during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show Monday at 11 a.m CDT on ESPN2.

Arkansas one of five SEC teams set to host NCAA Baseball regional

Arkansas will be one of the 16 regional hosts for the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Diamond Hogs will learn their official seeding for the tournament Monday at 11 a.m. CDT.

To no one’s surprise, the Arkansas Razorbacks were named one of the 16 teams that will host an on-site regional for the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the NCAA announced Sunday night.

It’s the 11th time in program history that Arkansas will host a regional and the sixth time since 2017. The regional round of the postseason will begin Friday, May 31 and run through Monday, June 3 (if necessary).

Super Regional play is scheduled for June 7-9 or June 8-10. The opening day of the College World Series in Omaha is scheduled for Friday, June 14.

Official seeding for the 64-team NCAA Tournament, and which teams Arkansas will welcome to the Fayetteville Regional, will be unveiled Monday at 11 a.m. CDT on ESPN2.

The Razorbacks (43-14 overall) entered Sunday as a consensus top-eight national seed in Field of 64 projections from both D1Baseball and Baseball America. Both had the Diamond Hogs as the No. 5 overall seed.

If those projections hold true, the Razorbacks would host a best-of-three Super Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium, if they win their four-team, double-elimination Fayetteville Regional.

Arkansas was one of five SEC teams that were announced as regional host sites for the tournament. As expected, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Georgia were named regional hosts, as well.

Tennessee, which won the SEC Tournament Sunday with a 4-3 win over LSU, is considered a lock to be the No. 1 overall seed for the tournament.

As for Arkansas, the Razorbacks fell to South Carolina and Kentucky on back-to-back days at the SEC Tournament last week but are currently No. 5 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, the primary metric used for NCAA Tournament seeding.

Follow us @RazorbacksWire on Twitter/X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Arkansas Razorbacks news, notes and opinions.

Arkansas baseball to host these teams in Sunday Field of 64 projections

Here’s an updated look at the teams Baseball America and D1Baseball project Arkansas to host in the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Tournament. The projections were released Sunday.

The Arkansas Razorbacks are projected to welcome a pair of conference tournament champions to Baum-Walker Stadium for the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

That’s according to Baseball America’s updated Field of 64 projections for the tournament, released Sunday morning. Baseball America sees the Razorbacks (43-14 overall) hosting Nicholls State (34-20) and Southeast Missouri (34-25) in Arkansas’ four-team, double-elimination regional.

Nicholls State defeated McNeese State, 15-1, in seven innings on Saturday to lock up the Southland Conference’s automatic bid. Southeast Missouri defeated Morehead State, 9-6, to earn the Ohio Valley Conference’s automatic bid. Louisiana Tech (45-16) joins those two teams in Baseball America’s Fayetteville Regional.

Over at D1Baseball, the Diamond Hogs are projected to host Louisiana Tech, Kansas State (32-24) and Oral Roberts (27-30-1). Oral Roberts earned an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the Summit League Tournament.

Arkansas remained the projected No. 5 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament in both Baseball America and D1Baseball’s updated projections. Tennessee was the projected No. 1 seed.

The 16 regional host sites for the tournament will be unveiled at 7:30 p.m. CDT Sunday. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air live on ESPN2 Monday at 11 a.m.

Column: Arkansas baseball, Dave Van Horn, are a lot better and smarter than you

Most of the people griping about Arkansas’ frustrating end to the season don’t actually understand college baseball.

Dave Van Horn knows it. Hagen Smith knows. Peyton Stovall knows it. Anyone who has watched Arkansas baseball over the course of the last three weeks is fully aware.

The Diamond Hogs are not at the top of their game right now.

A fan base so used to frustration – and one that doesn’t understand how significiantly baseball is different than football and basketball – has suggested that not only have Arkansas’ struggles perhaps knocked them out of national seeding territory, but maybe out of hosting duties for the NCAA Tournament at all.

This, my dear reader, is nonsensical. Arkansas is 1-4 in its last five games, a disappointing mark on its surface. But consider all those games came against SEC foes all of which will make the Big Dance, too. Also consider that two of losses were by one run and two of the losses were almost wholly insignificant.

Van Horn, who has coached Arkansas baseball for more than 20 years and has made eight College World Series with the Diamond Hogs, knows what he’s doing. Being a top-16 is important. It allows teams to host regionals. But a top-eight seed? A nice-to-have. No, if every team that is supposed to win its regional wins, you won’t host that way. But when is the last time every team that is supposed to win its regional won its regional?

The odds are miniscule that Arkansas falls out of the top eight when the NCAA Touranment field is announced Monday. They’re non-existent that the Diamond Hogs will fall out of the top 16. Non-existent.

Sub-par football and men’s basketball seasons have turned casual fans into cynics, haters almost. They’re casual fans, though. They don’t really watch baseball. Not really. Few do. It’s understandable that those who root for the name ‘Arkansas’ on the front of a jersey no matter what are going to grow scared and blame their team as a defense mechanism. It’s the American way, after all: blame others for what you’re feeling.

For everyone else, don’t fall into their muck and mire. Read the experts. Baseball America. Kendall Rogers’ outfit. Even here if you want something local. Because that guy on the internet calling for Van Horn’s job?

Yeah, maybe he’s not the most reliable of sources.

Where Arkansas baseball ranks in updated Field of 64 after winless SEC Tournament

Both D1Baseball and Baseball America kept Arkansas as the No. 5 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament in new Field of 64 postseason projections Saturday morning.

Where do the Arkansas Razorbacks rank as a projected national seed for the postseason after making a quick exit from the SEC Baseball Tournament?

In case you were beginning to sweat top-eight national seeding for the NCAA Tournament, fans of the Diamond Hogs can breathe easy according to D1Baseball’s latest Field of 64 projections for the postseason.

As of Saturday morning, veteran college baseball minds Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt kept Arkansas as the No. 5 overall seed for the tournament in D1Baseball’s projections.

It’s the same projected seed the Razorbacks had entering the week before suffering losses to South Carolina and Kentucky on back-to-back days at the conference tournament in Hoover.

Joining Arkansas in D1Baseball’s projected Fayetteville Regional are Louisiana Tech, Kansas State, and Oral Roberts. Baseball America had the Razorbacks as the No. 5 overall seed in their latest projections Saturday, as well.

Tennessee remained the projected No. 1 overall seed as of Saturday morning. Kentucky was the projected No. 2 seed with North Carolina the No. 3 seed by D1Baseball.

Baseball America had the Tar Heels as the No. 2 seed with the Wildcats as the No. 3 seed. Texas A&M held as the No. 4 seed in both D1Baseball and Baseball America’s updated projections.

The unveiling of the 16 NCAA Tournament regional host sites is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CDT Sunday. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air live on ESPN2 Monday at 11 a.m.

Follow us @RazorbacksWire on Twitter/X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics.

Column: Arkansas’ two-and-out at SEC Tournament is irrelevant

What is with some Arkansas fans right now? You’re so miserable. Do you just *want* to be mad or something?

Do Arkansas fans just prefer being miserable? Or are they so beaten down by life and Razorbacks disappointments that they’re just basically Randy Quaid’s character in Major League 2?

The answer must be yes on one of those two questions. Little else explains the disgust such so-called fans are showing on social media over the last week. Arkansas softball, long the doormat of the SEC, was beaten in the Fayetteville Regional and Arkansas baseball, with eight College World Series appearances under Dave Van Horn, went two-and-out at the SEC Tournament.

Check, for example, the comments to our articles about these items and you’d think Van Horn is worthless, a show pony who only gets good results in the regular season and his teams suck in the postseason. And Courtney Deifel? “Well, she can’t get us over the hump.”

First, you aren’t playing. Don’t go first-person.

Second, it’s absurd.

Deifel needed six years to become Arkansas all-time winningest softball coach, a testament not only to her quality but how awful the softball program was before her arrival. Hosting a regional is a success in and of itself. Does she want more? Yes. Do you? Yes. Does it mean not getting more is an abject failure? Get out of here.

The baseball assertions are even more brain-dead. Arkansas makes the College World Series, on average, one out of every three years. They’re one of the best eight teams in baseball 33% of the time. There may not be an SEC team that is more consistent, that always has the shot at the national title the way Arkansas does.

One-off results happen.
Slumps happen.
Down seasons happen.
Multiple down seasons deserve scrutiny.
Too many down seasons and it’s time to exit.

Van Horn and the Razorbacks are in step one. Maybe step two. Arguments can be made for it. But a team that just spent half the season ranked No. 1 in the nation is not having a down season. No down season and then no talk should be had about disappointment. All the games count the same. Had the Razorbacks struggled out of the gate and finished strong, instead of vice versa, no one is saying anything.

The softball team may be in Step 2. Back-to-back losses at hosted regionals stings. But they’ve also hosted regionals in back-to-back seasons. Not exactly child’s play. And expecting something grander is folly.

But, no, this is what want in America now. Forget slow-and-steady. Forget consistency. Gimme the magic pill. And if you can’t, we’ll replace you with someone who can. Or at least says they can.

Sheesh. Fine. Stay miserable, then.

Razorbacks make early exit from SEC Baseball Tournament

Ryan Waldschmidt hit two home runs and Trey Pooser threw five scoreless innings as Kentucky eliminated Arkansas from the SEC Tournament with a 9-6 victory Thursday afternoon.

Third-seeded Kentucky built a 6-0 lead after five innings en route to a 9-6 victory that gave second-seeded Arkansas a quick boot from the SEC Baseball Tournament at the Hoover Met Thursday.

Now the wait for the real postseason begins. Arkansas will learn its fate for the NCAA Tournament on Selection Monday beginning at 11 a.m. CDT. The Selection Show will be televised by ESPN2. The Razorbacks are a projected top eight national seed by D1Baseball and Baseball America. Both had the Diamond Hogs as the No. 5 overall seed in its Field of 64 projections entering the week.

Both teams took a different approach to Thursday’s game.

Arkansas starter Hagen Smith pitched only two innings, while Kentucky starter Trey Pooser threw five scoreless frames to earn the victory for the Wildcats, whose bats shined early and often.

Ryan Waldschmidt drew a five-pitch walk to open the bottom of the first and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt from Smith. Emilien Pitre followed with a single that put runners on first and third. Waldschmidt scored on an RBI groundout from Devin Burkes for the game’s first run.

With Nick Lopez batting, Pitre stole third and scored when an errant throw from Hudson White sailed into left field for a 2-0 Kentucky lead. Smith recovered in time to strike out Lopez and Mitchell Daly but not before throwing 20 pitches in the inning.

In the top of the third, it became evident that Smith’s day was done when he was seen leaving the dugout after a discussion with coach Dave Van Horn.

Smith threw 36 pitches in two innings of work, allowing two unearned runs on two hits. He struck out four and walked one, finishing a shortened afternoon with 36 pitches, 21 strikes.

“That’s about what we wanted him to throw right there — 35, 40 pitches, two to three innings max,” Van Horn told reporters afterwards. “We thought, ‘Hey, that’s enough.’ So give him a little opportunity to have a couple days’ rest more than normal leading into next weekend.”

Ryan Nicholson padded Kentucky’s lead with a 421-foot solo home run to right-center in the fourth inning off Gage Wood. It was Nicholson’s 18th blast of the year and it gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.

In the fifth, Waldschmidt got a pitch from Wood that was down in the zone and drove it well over the back wall in left-center to up the lead to 4-0. Pitre and Burkes followed with back-to-back singles. Both scored when Lopez hit a two-run single that made it 6-0. Wood left after allowing four runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Arkansas made good contact off Pooser but couldn’t push across a run against the right-hander. Pooser’s day was done after throwing 76 pitches in his five scoreless innings. He struck out three, allowing three hits and one walk.

After Pooser left, the Razorbacks’ bats started to awaken in the sixth. Arkansas loaded the bases off Jackson Nove and plated their first run on an RBI groundout from Wehiwa Aloy.

Peyton Holt briefly got the Diamond Hogs back in the game with a three-run homer just past the reach of Waldschmidt’s glove in left. Holt’s blast cut the deficit to 6-4.

Brady Tygart threw a scoreless sixth inning for Arkansas before running into trouble in the seventh. Waldschmidt got his second home run of the day and 13th on the year when he clubbed a hanging breaking ball from Tygart over the wall in left for a two-run shot that extended Kentucky’s lead to 8-4. Later that inning, Daly hit an RBI sacrifice fly off Mason Molina that capped the Wildcats’ scoring and gave them a 9-4 advantage.

Holt hit his second home run of the day when he lined a solo shot over the wall in left to make it 9-5 in the eighth. An inning later, Evan Byers allowed a two-out solo home run to Sprague-Lott, the third baseman’s eighth of the season. Hudson Polk struck out to end the game.

Holt’s two home runs were his fifth and sixth of the season. His four RBIs were part of a 2-for-4 performance at the plate. Stovall (2-4) and Sprague-Lott (2-5) also had two hits apiece for the Razorbacks, who totaled nine in the game and left eight men on base.

Smith (9-1) suffered his first loss of the season with Pooser (5-1) earning the win. Kentucky totaled 10 hits and went 6-for-9 at the top of the order with Waldschmidt (2-for-4), Pitre (2-3) and Burkes (2-2) all notching two hits.

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Diamond Hogs turn to Hagen Smith to save SEC bacon

Arkansas will almost assuredly still host a regional, but a win in Hagen Smith’s start Thursday would help make that a reality.

If you live on social media and follow Arkansas baseball pages there, you might think the Razorbacks are one of the worst teams in the country.

The digital space is not real life.

That bears repeating. The digital space is not real life.

Because out where it matters, the Diamond Hogs are still a top-16 team in the country, which means they will host a regional at the NCAA Tournament next week. They would, however, feel more comfortable about that with a win Thursday. South Carolina beat Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday in the first game the Razorbacks played in Hoover.

To stay alive in the double-elimination tournament, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn is turning to his ace. Hagen Smith, recently named SEC Pitcher of the Year and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, will get the ball Thursday in hopes of cementing Arkansas’ hosting status, Van Horn confirmed after Wednesday’s loss.

Arkansas will get a team in about the same boat next. Kentucky, which led the SEC for most of the year, beat the Diamond Hogs in two of three games in early May.

South Carolina rally stuns Arkansas in Hogs’ SEC Tournament opener

Arkansas left 10 on base and fell to No. 10 seed South Carolina in the Razorbacks’ SEC Tournament opener at the Hoover Met Thursday afternoon.

A two-run home run from Cole Messina in the top of the ninth inning lifted 10th-seeded South Carolina to a 6-5 victory over second-seeded Arkansas in the Razorbacks’ SEC Baseball Tournament opener at the Hoover Met Thursday.

Messina’s home run to straightaway centerfield was his second blast of the day — as well as the first home run allowed by SEC Freshman of the Year Gabe Gaeckle all year — and gave the Gamecocks a 6-4 lead.

Arkansas (43-13 overall) threatened in the bottom of the ninth with three consecutive singles from Peyton Stovall, Hudson White and Ben McLaughlin with one away off South Carolina (35-21) reliever Garrett Gainey. McLaughlin’s single made it a one-run game.

Wehiwa Aloy got ahead 2-0 in the count before grounding out for the second out. Jared Sprague-Lott then flied to left-center to end the game and preserve the Gamecocks’ comeback.

Arkansas will play third-seeded Kentucky in a single-elimination game Thursday in Hoover at 9:30 a.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network. The Wildcats were clubbed 11-0 by LSU in eight innings Thursday.

Ben Bybee started for Arkansas and quickly found himself in trouble. After allowing back-to-back walks to Blake Jackson and Messina with two outs, Parker Noland smoked a single to left-center to give South Carolina an early 1-0 lead.

The Diamond Hogs tied it in the second inning off Gamecocks starter Eli Jones when McLaughlin singled and later scored on an RBI single from Sprague-Lott.

South Carolina went right back to work in the third off Bybee when Ethan Petry singled following a walk to Austin Brinling. Messina followed with a single up the middle to put the Gamecocks back on top at 2-1.

That was all for Bybee, who parted after 2 1/3 innings. Christian Foutch took over and escaped a bases-loaded jam to end the inning.

Arkansas caught a break in the fourth on a would-be double play ball sent back up the middle. Jones snagged a comebacker but airmailed a throw into centerfield to give the Razorbacks runners at the corners. After Sprague-Lott flied out, South Carolina coach Mark Kingston went to his bullpen and summoned right-hander Ty Good.

Dave Van Horn countered with his own move and removed Nolan Souza for pinch-hitter Ryder Helfrick. The move paid off for Van Horn when Helfrick sent a well-hit sacrifice fly to left to score McLaughlin and tie the game.

Good struck out Ross Lovich with the bases loaded to end the threat and get the Gamecocks out of further trouble. It would be one of several missed opportunities for Arkansas in the game.

South Carolina struck again in the fifth against Parker Coil. Jackson was hit by a pitch before Messina took Coil deep on a pitch up and out over the plate for a two-run home run that traveled 420 feet to dead center for a 4-2 Gamecocks lead.

Will Edmundson led off the seventh with a pinch-hit single for Arkansas. Kendall Diggs followed with a sharp single to right on a 1-2 pitch to put the tying run aboard for the Hogs.

That was all for Good, who departed with the lead after 2 2/3 innings in relief. Gainey came in to face Stovall in a lefty-lefty matchup. Stovall drove an 0-1 pitch over the head of Brinling in center for a double to score Edmundson with Diggs right on his heels and holding at third.

White drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases with no one out. But the Hogs never got the big hit that might have carried them to a victory on this day.

McLaughlin was retired on a fly to right when Petry made a diving catch on a ball that would have landed fair for a bases-clearing double. Diggs scored from third on the play to tie the game, but Petry’s gem to rob McLaughlin of extra bases turned the inning around for South Carolina.

Aloy struck out on four pitches for the second out. Gainey then got out of the inning by retiring Sprague-Lott on a hard-hit fly ball to left to keep it a 4-4 game before Messina’s ninth-inning heroics.

Arkansas outhit South Carolina, 9-8, and left 10 runners on base. Gaeckle (3-3) suffered the loss with Gainey picking up the victory (1-3). Messina’s three-hit, five-RBI day included his 18th and 19th home runs of the year.

Stovall (3-for-5) led the Razorbacks at the plate with three hits, including two doubles.

Arkansas baseball draws these three teams in new Field of 64 projection

Arkansas baseball is a safe top eight national seed in Baseball America’s new Field of 64 projections for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

The ups and downs and overall grind of an SEC baseball regular season have taken their toll on every team.

Through it all, Arkansas (43-12 overall, 20-10 conference) has remained near the top of polls and has survived all the ebbs and flows. The Diamond Hogs are ranked fifth in this week’s USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

As such, Arkansas is considered a safe bet to finish as a top eight national seed for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament with Selection Monday less than a week away on March 27. That’s when the final Field of 64 will be revealed to determine the teams that will compete for a spot in this year’s College World Series in Omaha.

In its new postseason projections released Tuesday, Baseball America has the Razorbacks as a No. 5 national seed, one spot behind Kentucky at No. 4 and one ahead of Clemson at No. 6. Arkansas would host a best-of-three Super Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium, provided the Hogs win their four-team, double-elimination on-site regional.

In Baseball America’s updated projections, Arkansas would host Louisiana Tech, Kansas State and Nebraska-Omaha in the Fayetteville Regional. The Razorbacks haven’t faced any of those teams this season.

Tennessee was projected No. 1 overall among the top eight national seeds by Baseball America. North Carolina was projected No. 2 with Texas A&M at No. 3. The Volunteers have been No. 1 in the coaches poll for three consecutive weeks.

Despite losing two of three games in its final regular-season series at Texas A&M last week, Arkansas won the SEC West division title with a 6-3 victory on Friday. The Razorbacks will face the winner of Tuesday’s Alabama-South Carolina matchup in the SEC Tournament Wednesday in Hoover.