FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas’ official stay in Hoover and the SEC Tournament lasted just over three hours. The Razorbacks were one of two top four seeds to go one-and-done.
The No. 7 Ole Miss Rebels took a five-run first and made it stick in a 5-2 win.
“I would much rather be playing at least one more game and hopefully two just to kind of stay on rhythm a little bit,” coach Dave Van Horn said. “If we’d have been here since Tuesday and maybe won three in a row and we had to win two or three more to win it, maybe that’s more than you need. I might answer you differently. But it’s our first game. We weren’t ready to go home.”
Van Horn’s team should be a lock to be a top eight national seed, giving Arkansas home field advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason, should they advance.
They rank No. 5 in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI).
It might not be long before Ole Miss and Arkansas matchup again. As Arkansas awaits its fate with the selection show Monday, D1Baseball has the two teams facing off in a potential Super Regional. Here’s the full regional as of Saturday morning,
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Kansas
3. Creighton
4. Little Rock
1. Ole Miss (14)
2. TCU
3. Stetson
4. North Dakota State
Getting to the next round is the first order of business and lurking as the two seed in the Oxford Regional is TCU, which knows a thing or two about knocking out a SEC host school, blasting
The Hogs will be very familiar with the opponent of the first game in the potential regional. They have already faced the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans in a two-game midweek series in mid-April, in which Arkansas pitching staff spun two straight shutouts, 10-0 and 4-0.
Ole Miss vaulted themselves back into hosting contention with at least a run to the SEC semifinals. The Rebels are now the No. 14 seed in the same projection, setting a potential rematch.
With up to 13 teams in the SEC making the field of 64, the SEC holds at least half of the regional hosting sites in both the D1Baseball and Baseball America’s bracketology.
Baseball America has another potential SEC rematch. The Tennessee Volunteers also brought themselves back into hosting contention with a semifinal run to the SEC Tournament, taking out No. 1 Texas before getting run-ruled by Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers just left Fayetteville to close the regular season, losing two out of three, could be making a return trip if chalk holds.
Here’s Baseball America‘s latest Bracketology:
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Northeastern
3. Virginia
4. Central Connecticut
1. Tennessee (14)
2. West Virginia
3. East Tennessee State
4. Bryant
The No. 3 seed in Arkansas’ regional could prove to be quite the challenge. Virginia was ranked the No. 2 overall team in D1Baseball’s preseason rankings.
The Razorbacks will await its fate 11 a.m. Monday when the full field of 64 is revealed on ESPN2.
“We’ve got to tighten up as a group,” Van Horn said. “We can’t let that happen again. We need to have a good week back in Fayetteville and get ready to go.”
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