Razorbacks head into big week; headed to Omaha CWS
The University of Arkansas has a big week looming ahead with three teams in the hunt for NCAA national championships.
The baseball team edged the No. 8 nationally-ranked Missouri State University Bears 3-2 in the deciding game of one of eight Super Regional finals to claim a spot in the College World Series to be held next week in Omaha, Neb. This will be coach Dave Van Horn’s fourth Razorback team to make the final field of eight teams and the eighth Razorback squad to make it to the big show in school history.
Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s track teams are headed to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the NCAA National Championships
where they will also be in the hunt for a NCAA title. The women hold down the No. 2 ranking and have a chance to take the top spot in outdoor track for the first time in history. They have 17 qualifiers which will give them a solid opportunity. The men go in as the No. 5 ranked team, taking 10 qualifiers to the finals.
Arkansas track and field athletes had the unusual honor of having the NCAA bring a chartered jet to come pick them up. Normally, the NCAA provides commercial plane tickets for national qualifiers because normally, not that many people from any one school qualify. The Hogs total of 27 qualifiers made it financially cheaper for the NCAA to just send one of their own planes to go pick them up.
While the women have an excellent shot at coming out on top, the men are in a much difficult position. One of their main point getters was a past national champion pole vaulter who was supposed to have an excellent chance to win a gold medal (and 10 points) but who failed to get out of the qualifying meet last week in Texas. It might be more of a setback than the Hogs can overcome.
Back to baseball, it looked for a long time that the Hogs would not even get into the NCAA tournament after struggling to have a winning record after the first month of the season. Pitching struggled and the offense had not yet come around with the result that Arkansas was ranked well out of the top 25.
However, after losing the first game of a three game series with Texas A&M, and trailing in the second game in the late innings, the Hogs woke up to come from behind to win that game, beat the Aggies in the deciding game, then having a tremendous record the rest of the way to get invited to their 14th straight NCAA tournament. They were seeded second in the Oklahoma State regional and won three in a row, defeating Oral Roberts, Oklahoma State and then St. John’s University to get into a Super Regional. The Hogs trailed both Oral Roberts and Oklahoma State before coming back to win.
The College World Series starts Friday, June 12, with two double-elimination tournaments. Arkansas will open with unranked Virginia after the Cavaliers came from two runs down in the ninth inning to best Maryland to earn their spot in the CWS. Miami (FL) will play SEC school Florida in the other side the Hogs bracket. Florida is third ranked nationally with the Miami Hurricane ranked seventh.
The other side of the bracket, though not finished by press time, likely had three of the four teams from the SEC — No. 1 Louisiana State, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 8 Vanderbilt, if they made it, would give