Hogs sit in CWS driver’s seat, but still not done
FAYETTEVILLE — Putting themselves in the driver’s seat doesn’t guarantee the checkered flag.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn reminded his Razorbacks of (46-19) such Wednesday in Omaha, Neb., after they defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders (45-19), 7-4, in their winner’s bracket game of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
At 2-0, having defeated the since eliminated Texas Longhorns (42-23), 11-5, in Sunday’s first round game, the Razorbacks are the lone undefeated team in their bracket.
Tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN (Resort Channel 30) Arkansas is scheduled to play Thursday night’s loser’s bracket survivor between Texas Tech and Southeastern Conference regular season champion Florida (48-20). The Red Raiders defeated the Gators in the first round on Sunday before Florida eliminated the Longhorns on Tuesday.
If they win tonight, the Razorbacks will play for the national championship in a best-two-out-of-three series starting Monday against the other bracket’s winner, which today pits the Mississippi State Bulldogs (39-27), 2-0 so far this week at Omaha, against the Oregon State Beavers (51-11-1), who lost their first round game to North Carolina (44-20). Since moving to the loser’s bracket, the Beavers have eliminated Washington (35-26), the first round loser to Mississippi State, and North Carolina, which lost its winner’s bracket game to Mississippi State.
Should Arkansas or Mississippi State lose today, they would play again on Saturday against the same opponent.
After defeating Texas Tech on Wednesday, Van Horn reminded his team of the
2012 Razorbacks, who sat in the driver’s seat these Hogs sit now but never made it to the finish line. The 2012 team was beaten twice by the South Carolina Gamecocks before Arizona beat South Carolina for the national championship.
Hogs who grew up in Arkansas remember it well. The rest certainly know now.
“Like I told the team, been here before and didn’t go very good,” Van Horn said. “We haven’t really done anything yet. We’re
2-0. It’s a great feeling. What it gets us is a day off, so you can rest some guys.
“Other than that, it’s like I told them, it’s like being in a regional being 2-0. You still haven’t won the regional. It doesn’t really matter yet. You’ve still got work to do.”
At Thursday’s practice, Van Horn was asked more specifically about that 2012 College World Series and relating it to these Hogs just one win away from playing for the national championship.
“Well, in ‘12 we could really pitch,” Van Horn said of the 2012 team, which led the nation in earned run average. “We just didn’t score a lot of runs, and that’s what got us in the end. We won a couple of close games and lost two close games, I think a one-run game and a two-run game. Had runners on, just didn’t drive them in.
“It’s, you know, we’ve got to take advantage of opportunities and score when we get that opportunity. Whoever we play, they’re awfully good. I mean, I don’t know who we’re gonna play, but they both are strong all the way around. It really doesn’t matter who we play. We’ve just got to find a way to beat them.”
Arkansas now is 2-0 against Texas Tech. The Razorbacks beat the Red Raiders, 5-1, in an an April scheduled two-game series at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville with one game rained out.
The Hogs are 2-2 this season against Florida, the defending national champion. Arkansas won the first game of a threegame series, 6-3, in Gainesville, Fla., this season before losing the next two, 17-2 and 5-4. The two sides met again during the 2018 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala., with Arkansas prevailing, 8-2.
Arkansas, 46-19 and the SEC West co-champion, stands 2-2 against defending national champion Florida, which is the reigning SEC East and overall conference champion.
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Isaiah Campbell (4-6, 4.19 ERA) is expected to start tonight for Arkansas. In his last start, Campbell provided four innings and handed off an 8-2 lead to winning reliever Barrett Loseke (4-2, 2.86) for the 14-4 Fayetteville Super Regional-clinching victory over South Carolina, which propelled the Hogs from Fayetteville to Omaha.