Arkansas baseball: Everything to know about Fayetteville Regional

For the seventh consecutive season, Arkansas is in the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks are the No. 5 national seed and will host an NCAA Regional, welcoming Louisiana Tech, Kansas State and Southeast Missouri (SEMO) to Fayetteville.

It’s the 11th time in program history and the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Diamond Hogs have hosted a Fayetteville Regional.

If Arkansas advances, it will have home-field advantage for a best-of-3 series with a spot in the College World Series on the line. The Fayetteville Regional is paired with the Charlottesville Regional, hosted by No. 12 national seed Virginia.

Before Arkansas starts thinking about Omaha, it needs to focus on getting back to its winning ways. While the Razorbacks’ overall record of 43-14 is strong, they’re currently on a 3-game losing skid and 3-7 over their last 10 games.

Dave Van Horn’s team got run-ruled at Texas A&M to end the regular season. With a 20-10 SEC record, Arkansas was still the SEC West winner, earning the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.

The Hogs got a first-round bye in the conference tourney. They were bounced after 2 games in Hoover, falling to South Carolina (6-5) and Kentucky (9-6).

The Fayetteville Regional will see Van Horn coach against some familiar faces. SEMO is coached by Andy Sawyers, a former assistant of Van Horn’s at Nebraska. Former Arkansas third baseman Trevor Ezell is on staff as an assistant.

Louisiana Tech head coach Lane Burroughs was an assistant under Van Horn at Northwestern State in 1997.

“Lane and Andy, both really good people,” Van Horn said in a Monday media availability. “Not only outstanding coaches, but good human beings, good dads. It’s been fun watching those guys’ careers grow.”

4. SEMO – 34-25 overall, 18-9 Ohio Valley

RPI: 132 | Quad 1: 0-3 | Quad 2: 2-1 | Quad 3: 6-8 | Quad 4: 26-13

SEMO enters the NCAA Tournament having won 8 of its last 10 games. The Redhawks ended the regular season on a 5-game winning streak, taking a road series at Western Illinois and sweeping Tennessee-Martin at home.

SEMO’s momentum carried into the Ohio Valley Tournament. The Redhawks won their first two games before stumbling against Morehead State in extra innings. SEMO bounced back to beat Morehead State and win a tournament title.

Haden Dow leads the SEMO staff with 16 starts in 17 appearances. He has a record of 4-1 with an ERA of 4.89 over 77.1 IP, allowing 81 hits, striking out 57 and walking 30.

At the plate, SEMO has 7 batters hitting over .300 on the season. The Redhawks have 4 players in double-digit home runs. Michael Mugan, a 54-game starter, has the team-high in average at .322. Ben Palmer, who has started all 59 games, leads with 17 home runs while posting a .285 average.

3. Kansas State – 32-24 overall, 15-15 Big 12

RPI: 45 | Quad 1: 7-15  | Quad 2: 6-5  | Quad 3: 7-2  | Quad 4: 12-2

Kansas State ends an 11-year NCAA Tournament drought with a 2024 bid. The appearance in the Fayetteville Regional marks KSU’s fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

The Wildcats are 5-5 in their last 10 games, going 1-2 in the Big 12 Tournament.

Second baseman Brady Day, who started all 56 games, earned All-Big 12 honors after posting a .332 average and .977 OPS with 53 RBIs.

Among KSU hurlers, reliever Tyson Neighbors (3.24 ERA, 33.1 IP) made second-team All-Big 12. Starter Owen Boerema, who owns a 4.91 ERA over 88 IP, was an honorable mention for the all-conference team.

2. Louisiana Tech – 45-17 overall, 18-6 Conference USA

RPI: 29 | Quad 1: 3-6  | Quad 2: 9-4  | Quad 3:  15-6 | Quad 4: 18-1

Louisiana Tech won the regular-season Conference USA crown by posting an 18-6 record against conference foes. The Bulldogs finished the regular season with back-to-back sweeps of Western Kentucky and Liberty.

In the Conference USA Tournament, LA Tech started 1-1, winning 3 in a row before eventually falling to Dallas Baptist in the championship game.

At the plate, Cole McConnell is Louisiana Tech’s leader in average (.380), slugging percentage (.682), hits (92), home runs (18) and total bases (165).

On the mound, Luke Nichols is the team’s top arm. He leads the team in innings with 77 over 16 appearances (15 starts). Nichols has an ERA of 3.74 and WHIP of 1.25, striking out 81 while walking 27.

If Nichols throws for LA Tech against KSU, Arkansas may see No. 2 starter Reed Smith. In 73 innings, Smith has an ERA of 5.92 and 1.40 WHIP, recording 76 strikeouts to 17 walks.

Fayetteville Regional Schedule

All times ET

Friday, May 31

• Game 1 – 1 Arkansas vs. 4 SEMO – 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
• Game 2 – 2 Louisiana Tech vs. 3 Kansas State – 8 p.m. (ESPN+)

Saturday, June 1

• Game 3 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 3 p.m. (TBD)
• Game 4 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 9 p.m. (TBD)

Sunday, June 2

• Game 5 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser – 2 p.m. (TBD)
• Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 7 p.m. (TBD)

Monday, June 3 (If Necessary)

• Game 7 – If the Game 5 Winner Wins Game 6 – TBD

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.