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Wehiwa Aloy (Photo by Eddie Kelly / ProLook Photos)
There’s a new team atop the college baseball world and it might be the most complete squad Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn has ever fielded.
The Razorbacks claimed the No. 1 ranking in the latest BA Top 25, becoming the third team this season to hold the top spot after Texas A&M (preseason through Week 3) and Tennessee (Week 4 through Week 8).
The leap comes on the heels of another dominant week for the Razorbacks, one that saw them set a program record for runs scored in a single SEC series (51) during a rout of Missouri.
Arkansas owns the best 33-game start in school history at 30-3 and is tied with Tennessee atop the SEC standings at 11–1 in conference play. Its only league loss came back on March 14 in the SEC opener against Ole Miss. Since then, the team has reeled off 11 straight SEC victories and continued to build an elite resume.
One area that’s enabled Arkansas to separate from the pack this year is its offense, something that has plagued recent Razorback teams, particularly in the postseason. This year, the Hogs rank in the top five nationally in scoring, batting average and home runs.
The addition of several key bats, including Vanderbilt transfer Cam Kozeal, Florida Gulf Coast transfer Charles Davalan and BYU transfer Kuhio Aloy, plus the return of stars like shortstop Wehiwa Aloy has transformed Arkansas into an offensive juggernaut capable of putting up crooked numbers in any inning.
But the pop at the plate hasn’t come at the expense of pitching. As has been tradition under Van Horn, Arkansas continues to run out one of the nation’s most deep and reliable pitching staffs. The group currently ranks No. 10 nationally in ERA, No. 21 in batting average against and No. 2 in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
For Van Horn, who has guided Arkansas to the College World Series seven times but is still in pursuit of his first national championship, this group looks every bit the part of a true contender. The balance, depth and production up and down the roster have all pointed to a team that has what it takes to play deep into June.
With the SEC as loaded as ever, Arkansas’s stay at the top won’t go unchallenged. But if the first half of the season is any indication, the Razorbacks are built to handle whatever comes next.
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