Arkansas’ Sunday win at LSU kept postseason destiny in its own hands

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas (41-11, 18-9) will head into this weekend’s home series with Tennessee (39-13, 15-12) with its postseason destiny squarely in its own hands.

That was the importance of winning Sunday’s game at LSU 7-4 to avert a sweep, remain second in the SEC standings and stay alive for a Top 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The top four teams in the SEC race get double byes at next week’s SEC Tournament with Texas (40-10, 20-7), Arkansas and LSU (40-12, 17-10) currently manning the top three spots.

Vanderbilt (36-16, 16-11), Georgia (40-13, 16-11), Tennessee, Alabama (39-13, 15-12) follow with Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky all 13-14.

“It was (a big win),” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “You know the standings are what they are. We can only control what we do. Today alls we could do was win one game.

“Trying to catch Texas, trying to finish in the top four, just trying to win SEC games on the road against a top 10 team helps your RPI.

“I’m sure our strength of schedule moved up a lot this week as well. So yeah, it was a really big game here.”

That was evident in the latest college baseball rankings released on Monday.

The Razorbacks were ranked fifth nationally in both the USA Today Coaches and NWBWA polls, seventh in both the Baseball America and Perfect Game rankings and eighth by D1 Baseball.

LSU vaulted to No. 1 in all the polls while Tennessee its ranked 14th in the USA Today Coaches poll, 17th in D1, 18th in Baseball America and 19th by Perfect Game.

Tennessee will host Belmont on Tuesday night at 4 p.m. CST before coming to Arkansas and playing games Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPN2), Friday at 6:30 (SEC Network +) and Saturday at 2 p.m. (SEC Network)

The Volunteers have lost four straight series and five of six while the Razorbacks have lost four of five.

Tennessee won its first 20 games to start the season, but is 19-13 since.

The Vols are led by ace pitcher Liam Doyle (9-2, 2.17 ERA), who pitched at Coastal Carolina in 2023 and Ole Miss in 2024.

Photo by John D. James