3 reasons this Arkansas baseball team is different

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is the highest seed left in the College World Series as they enter at No. 3.

Arkansas (48-13) and LSU (48-15) will meet at 6 p.m. Saturday evening and televised on ESPN. LSU at No. 6 is the second-highest seed left in the field. Since there is no re-seeding of teams it just so happens they will meet in the first game.

The two teams played three games on May 9-11 in Baton Rouge. LSU won 5-4 in 10 innings and 13-3 run-rule victory in the second game. Arkansas did manage to salvage a game winning on Sunday 7-4.

The other teams in the field are No. 8 Oregon State, No. 13 Coastal Carolina, No. 15 UCLA, Louisville, Murray State and Arizona. UCLA and Murray State are on the side of bracket with the Hogs and LSU.

This is Arkansas’ first trip to the College World Series since 2022. The Hogs didn’t win the SEC regular season nor did they win a game at the SEC Tournament, but this is a loaded team. Here’s three reasons this team is different and has a legitimate chance to win it all this season.

Good Depth

All teams have injuries, but not everyone can survive them. The Hogs in past years have suffered some injuries that have caused them struggle by the time they got to Omaha. This team lost players as well such as pitcher Carson Wiggins and second baseman Nolan Souza. Gage Wood has been limited to just nine appearances this season, but the good news is he’s back now and pitching well. The Razorbacks are so deep that outfielder Carson Boles is hitting .310 with two home runs and can’t even get onto the field due to Logan Maxwell, Justin Thomas Jr. and Charles Davalan. Same with Kendall Diggs who was a key piece for the Hogs in recent seasons. Landon Beidelschies was the Friday starter for Ohio State last season. He has started some for Arkansas and pitched out of the bullpen. He could have a key role in Omaha if the Hogs go deep into the tournament. Aiden Jimenez has started some games recently and Colin Fisher along with Ben Bybee were mid-week starters this season. The Arkansas bullpen is very deep even without Wiggins.

Complete Team

This Arkansas team is the most complete squad maybe in college baseball. The team that could challenge them in regard is LSU. Arkansas has six starters hitting .300 or better. The lowest batting average in the starting lineup is Reese Robinett at .276. Arkansas has good power and the defense is among the best in the nation. With Wood and Zach Root at the top of the rotation the starting pitching is better right now than all season. As noted earlier, the bullpen is very, very deep. Overall, this team is simply much better than recent Arkansas teams and is among the best ever for Dave Van Horn.

Hot at Right Time

For the first time in the school’s history they swept through the Fayetteville Regional and Super Regional undefeated. That is very rare for a team to accomplish that. What’s incredible they really only had one close call. And even in the 4-3 win over Tennessee on Saturday it just seemed the Hogs were always in control of that game. They defeated North Dakota State 6-2, Creighton 12-1 and 8-3 before downing Tennessee 11-4 on Sunday. This team seems to be peaking at the right now. Some Arkansas teams under Van Horn have limped into the College World Series due to injuries. Also, some past Arkansas teams seemed to have the offense to do well in Omaha, but were short on pitching. Other teams seemed to have the pitching, but just didn’t have the offense to win it all. This team also is very good on defense and simply don’t beat themselves. This team enters the College World Series playing the best they have all season.

Summary

If this team is able to defeat LSU on Saturday and avoid falling to loser’s bracket immediately the others need to beware because this is a different and much better baseball team. That doesn’t guarantee the Hogs will win it all, but even the national experts are giving them a very good chance. The optimism is justified and this should be a very interesting College World Series.