FAYETTEVILLE — Postseason seeding, and potentially some hardware, will be on the line when the fifth-ranked Arkansas baseball team hosts 14th-ranked Tennessee in the final series of the regular season.
First pitch in the series is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
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With a series win, Arkansas (41-11, 18-9 SEC) would lock up a top 4 seed and a bye until the quarterfinals at next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala.
A series win would also give the Razorbacks at least 20 SEC victories, which historically has been a benchmark for achieving a top 8 seed and home field advantage for the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina in 2016 was the last team to win 20 SEC games and not get a top 8 seed from the NCAA baseball selection committee.
Arkansas also enters the series in contention for an SEC championship, 2 games behind Texas in the standings. The Longhorns close with a series at Oklahoma.
The Razorbacks would win the SEC outright with a sweep and an Oklahoma sweep. There are multiple scenarios in which Arkansas could split the SEC title with Texas, and a scenario in which LSU, Arkansas and Texas could finish in a 3-way tie.
LSU closes at struggling South Carolina this week. The Tigers cannot win the league title outright.
Tennessee (40-13, 15-12) is out of league championship contention, but it is still a pivotal week for the Volunteers. Tennessee is considered to be on the bubble to host an NCAA regional the year after winning the program’s first national championship.
A win in Fayetteville could greatly enhance the resume for a Vols team that had a 6-week run atop the national polls from February into April.
“I feel like both teams are obviously at the end of the season, looking forward to the SEC Tournament, looking forward to the NCAA Tournament,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Hopefully we play well these three games and play well enough to win a couple.”
The Razorbacks are 30-3 at home and swept Texas by a cumulative score of 28-9 in their most recent series at Baum-Walker Stadium on May 1-3.
Tennessee is no slouch on the road. The Vols have series victories at Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina, and went 1-2 at LSU, the team tied with Arkansas for the most home victories in college baseball.
Given what is at stake for Arkansas, and Tennessee’s status as reigning national champion, capacity crowds of 11,000 or more are expected each game.
“It’ll be loud,” said Tennessee coach Tony Vitello, who was an Arkansas assistant coach from 2014-17. “[Arkansas has] really great baseball fans that know the game, but also they’ll be loud. It’ll be a different style of loud.”
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Van Horn and Vitello spoke this week about respect for one another.
“They’ll be well coached,” Vitello said. “They play hard and [Van Horn] knows what he’s doing on game day. History speaks to that.”
During his postgame news conference after the Vols won the national championship with a 6-5 victory over Texas A&M at the College World Series last June, Vitello called Van Horn the best coach in the country.
“I called him — he was bombarded, obviously — and just congratulated him [and said I’m] happy for him,” Van Horn said. “I’m proud of him and happy for [former Arkansas volunteer coach and current Tennessee hitting coach Josh Elander] and all the guys that we knew that were involved in that program. He thanked me a lot.”
Vitello has built a monster at Tennessee. The Vols have won 2 SEC titles, 3 SEC East titles and played at the College World Series 3 times since 2021, an era in which Tennessee has won more games than any program in college baseball.
“I think he’s done a good job,” Van Horn said. “He’s a good coach and great recruiter. He’s got Elander and [pitching coach Frank] Anderson there, and he’s got a good staff.
“The key is to getting them to play hard, and they do, and they’re talented on top of that. They’re at a place that they’re supported as good as anybody in our league or anybody in the country.”
Like most former Van Horn assistants who become head coaches, Vitello has struggled to beat his old boss. Tennessee is 1-9 against Arkansas since he became the team’s coach before the 2018 season.
Arkansas swept both of Vitello’s previous trips to Baum-Walker Stadium in 2019 and 2023. The Razorbacks won 2 of 3 during a hotly contested series of 1-run games at Tennessee in 2021, and Arkansas defeated the Vols later that season in the championship game of the SEC Tournament.
“I think we’ve been kind of fortunate that we’ve caught them at the right time a couple of times,” Van Horn said, “Plus, you know, we’ve had good teams. They’ve had good teams. When you have that, to me, it’s all about timing.”
Both teams have struggled to win series of late against good competition. Tennessee has lost 5 of 6 and Arkansas has lost 4 of 5, but both teams have avoided sweeps to remain competitive in the SEC standings.
The Vols enter the weekend with a streak of 24 SEC series without being swept, while the Razorbacks’ streak is at 23. Tennessee’s last time to be swept was in 2023 at Arkansas, and the Razorbacks were swept the following week at Georgia.
“All these guys are just really talented teams. You have to play really well to win,” Van Horn said. “It’s hard to win a series. If you can get one, get it.”
