No Baum regional; 4 from SEC to host

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ baseball team, which just returned home from a 12- day road trip, will be traveling again for the NCAA Tournament.

Arkansas ( 35- 22) submitted a bid to host a regional at Baum Stadium, but wasn’t among the 16 sites announced by the NCAA Sunday night.

The Razorbacks, ranked No. 20 in last week’s Baseball America poll, had hoped going 24- 10 the past two months — including 19- 14 against SEC opponents — might be enough to gain a host spot, but their strong finish brought them up to

only No. 34 nationally in the NCAA’s power rankings based on a team’s record and strength of schedule.

The full 64- team NCAA Tournament field will be announced at 11 a. m. today on ESPNU.

Regionals will begin Friday

and go through Monday if necessary.

Arkansas, which recovered from an 11- 12 start, is considered a lock to receive an NCAA Tournament at- large bid. It will be the Razorbacks’ 30th NCAA Tournament bid and 14th consecutive.

The last time Arkansas hosted a regional was 2010, but the Razorbacks might not have to travel too far this year.

Missouri State, which won the Missouri Valley Conference regular- season and tournament championships, has been named as a regional host, and its campus in Springfield is about a 2 ½ - hour drive from Fayetteville.

Baseball America and DIBaseball. com have projected Arkansas will be the No. 2 seed in the Missouri State regional.

Missouri State ( 45- 10) beat Arkansas 2- 0 at Baum Stadium on March 31.

Other nearby sites for Arkansas are the Oklahoma State regional in Stillwater, Okla.; the Dallas Baptist regional in Dallas; the TCU regional in Fort Worth, Texas; and the University of Houston regional in Houston.

Four SEC teams — the most of any conference — are hosting regionals: Florida in Gainesville, Fla.; LSU in Baton Rouge; Texas A& M in College Station, Texas; and defending NCAA champion Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. The Razorbacks won’t be sent to any of

those regionals and wouldn’t play an SEC team at least until a super regional matchup.

Rounding out the 16 regional sites are the Illinois regional in Champaign, Ill.; the Miami regional in Coral Gables, Fla.; the Cal State- Fullerton regional in Fullerton, Calif.; the California-Santa Barbara regional in Lake Elsinore, Calif.; the UCLA regional in Los Angeles; the Florida State regional in Tallahassee, Fla.; and the University of Louisville regional in Louisville.

Florida State will be hosting a regional for the 32nd time, Miami for the 26th time and LSU for the 23rd time according to the NCAA.

The Razorbacks returned to Fayetteville Saturday after traveling to Omaha, Neb., to play Creighton, to Athens, Ga., for a series against Georgia and to Hoover, Ala., for the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas went 2- 2 in the SEC Tournament, beating Tennessee and Florida and losing to Florida and LSU.

The Razorbacks are 4- 9 against the NCAA Tournament’s top 16 seeds this season: 2- 1 against Texas A& M; 1- 1 against Florida; 1- 3 against LSU; 0- 3 against Vanderbilt and 0- 1 against Missouri State.

The NCAA Tournament’s top eight seeds, announced today, are supposed to host super regionals if they advance, but Missouri State wouldn’t be able to do so because the Texas League’s Springfield Cardinals have a series scheduled in Hammons Field against Midland when the super regionals will be held June 5- 7.