FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas baseball team can’t get away from SEC opponents.
After sweeping Tennessee at the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional, the Razorbacks will play LSU first at the College World Series on Saturday. A start time has not been announced for the game, but it will begin at either 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
LSU (48-15) swept the Baton Rouge Super Regional with wins of 16-9 and 12-5 over West Virginia. The Tigers are at the College World Series for the 20th time and looking for the program’s eighth national championship.
Arkansas (48-13) lost 2 of 3 games at LSU on May 9-11, including a 5-4 loss in the series opener that was delayed by rain and did not end until 1:17 a.m. The Tigers won 13-3 in a 7-inning run rule in the second game of the series, and the Razorbacks avoided a sweep with a 7-4 victory in the finale.
Game 1 of the series featured All-SEC left-handers Zach Root of Arkansas and Kade Anderson of LSU. They are likely to pitch against each other again in Omaha.
Root allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, and struck out 6 without a walk in 6 innings at LSU. Anderson held the Razorbacks to 3 runs, 7 hits and 1 walk with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
No. 3 national seed Arkansas and No. 6 LSU are the highest-seeded teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA does not reseed teams after the initial rankings are assigned on Memorial Day.
The Razorbacks and the Tigers are also the last teams standing from the SEC. The league had 13 teams make the postseason. Nine were eliminated during the regional round.
Four teams made the super regionals. Arkansas swept Tennessee by scores of 4-3 and 11-4 at the Fayetteville Super Regional. Auburn was swept by Coastal Carolina at its home super regional.
The SEC has had 5 different teams win the past 5 national championships, including LSU in 2023. The national championship series has included existing SEC teams each year since 2021, though Oklahoma was in the Big 12 when it lost to Ole Miss in 2022.
Mississippi State defeated Vanderbilt in 2021, LSU defeated Florida in 2023, and Tennessee defeated Texas A&M last year in the championship series.
Because Arkansas and LSU are on the same side of the bracket, a non-SEC team is guaranteed to play in the championship series this year. The other side of the bracket includes Oregon State, Arizona, Louisville and Coastal Carolina.
The Arkansas-LSU bracket also includes UCLA. Duke and Murray State are scheduled to play Monday to determine the final team that will make it to Omaha.
The NCAA’s postseason format resets at the College World Series, with a 4-team, double-elimination bracket that will determine the teams that will play in a best-of-3 national championship series.
Arkansas and LSU will play at the College World Series for the fourth time. The Razorbacks were eliminated by the Tigers with a 5-2 loss in 1987, and Arkansas was eliminated by LSU’s national championship team in 2009 with losses of 9-1 and 14-5.
The Tigers are 6-1 this postseason. Their loss was 10-4 to Little Rock at the Baton Rouge Regional, but LSU rebounded to win 10-6 in the decisive game last Monday.
Arkansas is 5-0 in this year’s tournament. The Razorbacks defeated North Dakota State 6-2 in the first game at the Fayetteville Regional, then defeated Creighton 12-1 and 8-3 to win the regional championship.
