With prospect-laden teams such as Oregon State, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech not making it to Omaha, this year’s College World Series doesn’t boast the usual cadre of future high-end major leaguers like most years. However, there will still be plenty of intriguing players on display at Charles Schwab Field starting on Friday, including Ole Miss SS Jacob Gonzalez, a guy who could very well go 1-01 next July. It’s also interesting to note just how representative this list is of the current state of pitching in the college game—following a season during which arguably the top six draft-eligible hurlers missed significant time due to injury, only four of the top 15 draft prospects appearing at CSF will be pitchers. 1) Jacob Gonzalez, SS, Ole Miss (Draft Class of 2023): Don’t be fooled by Gonzalez’ rather pedestrian .278 average in ’22. His K-rate was a sterling 10 percent while his BB-rate checked in at an equally impressive 17 percent. He also hit 17 HR and played a sparkling shortstop for the Rebels. 2) Brock Jones, OF, Stanford (2022): Jones, an athletic dynamo, was a likely top-10 pick headed into the spring, but an early slump caused him to drop on draft boards. Since then, he’s been on fire and hasn’t looked back. Despite persistent swing-and-miss issues, he profiles as a more physical Brett Gardner clone and should be taken near the end of Round 1. 3) Peyton Graham, SS/3B, Oklahoma (2022): Like Jones, contact issues will muddy Graham’s draft stock to an extent, but there’s no denying Graham’s athleticism or upside. He reached the coveted 20 HR/30 SB plateau this spring while playing a strong SS. He should also hear his name called before the 2nd round begins. 4) Cayden Wallace, 3B, Arkansas (2022): An age-eligible sophomore, Wallace has developed into a prototype third sacker. Not flashy, he projects to hit 20 homers annually and contribute solid defense. It’s worth noting that Wallace improved his SLG from .500 to .554 while lowering his K-rate from nearly 22 percent to a tick above 17 percent. 5) Braden Montgomery, OF/RHP, Stanford (2024): Montgomery moonlighted on the mound earlier in the season for the Cardinal, but his true calling is in the outfield. Though the Mississippi native still has work to do on his swing decisions and ability to make consistent contact (6 percent BB-rate vs near 27 percent K-rate), Montgomery’s power and arm have been evident since the day he arrived in Palo Alto. 6) Jack Moss, 1B, Texas A&M (2023): A transfer from ASU, Moss has a pretty left-handed swing that is more geared for average than power. This should change once Moss adds good weight to his 6-05/205 frame. 7) John Spikerman, OF, Oklahoma (2024): A multi-sport star in high school, Spikerman is still raw. The switch-hitter flashed all five tools during the course of ’22, going 12/14 in stolen bases and walking at an impressive 15 percent clip. A right fielder this spring, he should shift to the middle of the lawn in 2023. 8) Ivan Melendez, 1B, Texas (2022): The “Hispanic Titanic” has more power than anyone else in the nation, making cavernous Disch-Falk Field seem like a bandbox. But Melendez’ status as a 22-year-old R/R first baseman will hamper his draft status, making it unlikely he’ll come off the board within the first 50 picks. 9) Jake Bennett, LHP, Oklahoma (2022): A pitchability lefty, Bennett’s stuff won’t wow evaluators, but he has excellent control and command of three pitches. He was particularly adept at limiting the long ball, giving up just 6 in 104 IP in ’22. 10) Cade Horton, RHP, Oklahoma (2022): Don’t be deceived by Horton’s 5.58 ERA or 13 XBHs allowed in just 40 IP. This was the former two-way player’s first season back after Tommy John surgery, and he just needs more repetitions before he can harness his electric repertoire. 11) Carter Graham, 1B, Stanford (2023): The Pac-12 home run leader showed prodigious right-handed power as he anchored a devastating Cardinal lineup. Like Texas’ Melendez, his draft stock next year will be hampered by his R/R profile at first base. 12) Drew Bowser, 3B, Stanford (2023): When he matriculated at Stanford, Bowser was considered a near lock as a 1st round pick in 2024. While swing-and-miss issues have taken a bite out of his production, Bowser still offers 60-grade power and a cannon arm at the hot corner. 13) Hayden Dunhurst, C, Ole Miss (2022): Dunhurst was thought to be a back-end-of-the-1st-round talent coming into this season, but never got on track at the plate. Still, his above average power and ability to halt the running game will make him an intriguing Day 2 option. 14) Alex Williams, RHP, Stanford (2022): In a year when Tommy John surgery reached near pandemic levels in college baseball, Williams’ success caught the eyes of countless evaluators looking for reliable pitching options on Day 2. Williams doesn’t offer one plus pitch, but his sound command and ability to keep hitters guessing with his diverse pitch selection should help him advance through the minors quickly. 15) Pete Hansen, LHP, Texas (2022): Hansen’s pinpoint control offsets the lack of electricity in his pitch arsenal. The California native acquitted himself nicely after a poor showing on the Cape last summer. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Jake Mastroianni, @ShortStopBall With six of the top eight national seeds, including number one Tennessee, not making it to Omaha, it really is anyone’s guess as to who will win the College World Series. Winning this tournament typically comes down to the team who has the most pitching depth and doesn’t make mistakes. There aren’t many teams in this field with great pitching depth, but they all can mash. Texas and Arkansas were two early season favorites and they seem to be clicking at the right time. They will meet in the College World Series final with Texas winning it all. Bracket Winners: Texas, Arkansas National Champion: Texas Kyle McKelvey, @kylemckelv This Omaha group feels more wide open than the last few years, with the elimination of the number one overall seed, Tennessee, by Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are a team that can pitch and play really solid defense, but their trip to Knoxville showed just how hot their bats are at the moment, exploding for seven home runs against Tennessee’s pitching. I think they can keep playing their style of baseball under the lights of (and in the expansive outfield of) Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. None of the teams on this side of the bracket would surprise me if they advanced to the final series, though, because all of them can hit. Texas A&M is the highest seeded team (and only national seed) on this side of the bracket and their offense is probably the most clutch of these teams, but their defense is questionable enough to make me doubt them. Texas is the trendy pick for this side of the bracket because of their historical success in this city…and their offense..and their pitching…and their defense. But I’m going with my gut here and picking Notre Dame. For the second bracket, all three of the SEC teams are coming into The Heartland on incredible hot streaks. Ole Miss and Arkansas are now playing up to their early season expectations that had them ranked so highly by everyone. Auburn just keeps mashing the ball, led by first baseman, Sonny DiChiara, and a streaky lineup. Stanford is the highest remaining national seed in the whole field, but their pitching has left a lot to be desired lately. If they can get Alex Williams back on track, I may regret my pick of Arkansas here, but it just feels like the OmaHogs have the pitching to limit the Stanford lineup and send them to the loser’s bracket early. I have Ole Miss as the runner-up because they're on a hot streak themselves lately and have the pitching depth to maybe eliminate Stanford if the bracket works out that way. Bracket winners: Notre Dame, Arkansas Bracket runners-up: Texas A&M, Ole Miss Champion: Arkansas John Peters, @johnny_omaha_ I can't believe it's that time of year again, but here we are picking winners for the College World Series which starts this weekend. Charles Schwab Field in Omaha has played more offensively in recent years than in years past, but it still takes pitching to win the minimum of five games required to take the College World Series crown. On the SEC West (plus Stanford) Invitational side of the bracket, give me Arkansas and their deep pitching staff. Connor Noland and Will McEntire have been consistent producers for the Hogs, and Hagen Smith joining Brady Tygart and co. in the bullpen gives the Razorbacks the best pitching staff in Omaha. The big question mark for me on this side is which Alex Williams shows up. If the Alex Williams who had a 1.98 season ERA pitches against Arkansas, Stanford may be the favorites. But if the Williams who's given up 11 earned runs in six NCAA Tournament innings shows up, the Cardinal will be cooked. On the Southwest Conference (plus Notre Dame) Reunion side of the bracket, I like Texas. The story for the Horns is similar to Arkansas, but Texas has a few more question marks in terms of pitching and a more potent offense. Pete Hansen and Lucas Gordon have become a formidable 1-2 punch, and Tristan Stevens in the bullpen or as a number three starter is a fascinating wildcard. After that, the bullpen depth is a concern for Texas, but Ivan Melendez, Murphy Stehly, and the rest of the Texas lineup will bring the power to Omaha. The Aggies are my runner-up pick on this side. If Texas A&M finds enough pitching to make it through Oklahoma in game one, I like the Aggies' chances of winning the College World Series. The margins are slim for the Aggies who don't have the pitching to make it out of the losers' bracket. If the final matchup is Texas vs. Arkansas, give me the Hogs with their superior pitching depth. Bracket winners: Texas, Arkansas Bracket runners-up: Texas A&M, Ole Miss Champion: Arkansas Riley Zayas, @ZayasRiley Coming into this season, Texas was one of the main frontrunners to claim the national title in Omaha. Rarely is it the preseason favorite who emerges as the eventual champion by the season’s end, but in this case, the Longhorns very well might be an exception. It is hard to think of a more complete team than that of head coach David Pierce’s squad. And that is an interesting statement to make, considering that many, including myself, had doubts about Texas’ potential for a deep tournament run as they rode the wave of Big 12 play. But they rank fifth in the country in batting average, and nobody has found a way to slow Ivan Melendez’s bat yet. Plus, their fielding percentage of .986 is the best in the nation. Even a five-hour weather delay did not halt Texas’ momentum in the opening innings of Sunday’s decisive game three duel against ECU that saw the Longhorns clinch a trip to Omaha. For this reason, Texas emerges from bracket one, overcoming charges from a very strong field of four teams that also features Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma, all of whom looked sharp last weekend. The Horns’ opponent in the CWS final will be Ole Miss. Statistics and rankings are indications of who has the advantage in a particular matchup, but confidence is one of those intangibles that cannot be captured in numbers. And the Rebels have plenty of it, coming off perhaps the most one-sided super regional performance seen from any team this year. They had little trouble shutting out Southern Miss in consecutive games, and if the pitching can remain consistent, head coach Mike Bianco’s team will not be easy to stop. With plenty of veteran leadership, Ole Miss also has experience on its side, which is yet another intangible on the road to victory. With a future SEC program (Texas) taking on one of the conference’s founding members (Ole Miss), I give the edge to the Longhorns, with the CWS final decided in three extremely competitive contests. Both teams can hit, but I believe the Longhorns have the edge on the mound, which will power them to their first national title since 2005. Bracket Winners: Texas, Ole Miss National Champion: Texas Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

An eventful Super Regional weekend led to a flurry of upsets, none bigger than Notre Dame toppling Tennessee, the presumptive Omaha favorite. Now that the Vols are out, who are the favorites to win the College World Series? We attempt to answer that with our College World Series re-seed. Arkansas checks in a No. 1 after sweeping North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional. Impressive performances by Connor Noland and Will McEntire set the Hogs up nicely in both games, and the offense is clicking at the right time. Texas earned the No. 2 spot in our re-seed. Despite some struggles from their ace, Pete Hansen, the Horns came from behind to win the Greenville Super Regional. Tristan Stevens returned to his early-season form and provided a crucial six-inning appearance for Texas in game three of the super regional. Following the Longhorns are rivals Texas A&M and Oklahoma at Nos. 3 and 4. The two teams will face off to open the College World Series. No. 5 Stanford slips in the re-seed after substantial struggles from their ace, Alex Williams, who has given up 11 earned runs in his six innings of NCAA Tournament pitching. He has raised his season ERA from 1.98 to 2.88 with the two subpar performances. Notre Dame comes in at No. 6, followed by Ole Miss at No. 7 and Auburn at No. 8. All three of these teams won road super regionals over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Omaha is here and John and Kyle are breaking down how all of the teams made it. The guys break down each Super Regional and pick Omaha finalists and winners. Get The College Baseball Nation Podcast on Apple Podcasts Get The College Baseball Nation Podcast on Spotify. Have a question for Kyle and John? Send a DM to us on Twitter (@CollegeBallNat) or an email to podcast@collegebaseball.info and we might answer it on the podcast. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

A matchup between the two teams in the middle of the national seeding played out evenly over three games as No. 9 seed Texas bested No. 8 seed East Carolina to advance to the College World Series in Omaha. The Texas postseason magic seemed to be present in Greenville on Friday as the Longhorns took a 2-0 lead over the Pirates in the top of the first inning when Murphy Stehly hit a two-out home run to left field. With left-hander Pete Hansen on the mound for Texas, the Pirates answered right back in the bottom of the first inning with three runs of their own to take a 3-2 lead. The Longhorns never led again in the game. Jacob Starling and Bryson Worrell both homered as East Carolina built up a 7-2 advantage. Hansen left after four innings having allowed five runs. In the top of the sixth inning, Ivan Melendez hit a tape measure home run about 475 feet, his 31st of the season. Stehly followed with his second home run of the game, but Texas still trailed 7-4. Having cut the deficit to just one run in the top of the eighth inning, East Carolina got to the Longhorns bullpen for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take the 13-7 advantage, which stood up as the final score. The Pirates scored thirteen runs and collected fifteen base hits in the game against seven different Texas pitchers. East Carolina head coach Cliff Godwin was happy with the crowd that packed Clark-LeClair Stadium for his team, but he was also pleased with his team’s fight throughout the Friday battle with Texas. “Great college baseball game, just back and forth,” Godwin said. “Texas offensively is probably the best offense we’ve faced all year.” Godwin added, “I’m just glad we’re playing at home.” Saturday’s second game looked to be a repeat of Friday’s opener in the early stages as Texas took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Three RBI from Worrell, including a two-run home run, and a three-run blast from Jacob Jenkins-Cowart gave the Pirates a 6-2 lead in the fifth inning. Trailing 7-2 in the seventh inning, Douglas Hodo III hit a two-run home run for the Longhorns to get his team within reach of the Pirates. Skyler Messinger hit a three-run home run to tie the game at seven in the eighth inning. That was followed by a Dylan Campbell solo shot to give Texas a one-run lead going to the ninth inning. Jacob Starling tied the game at eight with a two-out home run in the top of the ninth for the Pirates. Tied at eight in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Longhorns loaded the bases. With two outs in the frame, Campbell drove a ball the opposite way, it bounced off the right field wall allowing Melendez to cross the plate to score the winning run as the Longhorns walked it off and evened the series with a 9-8 victory. After the game, Campbell talked about staying with his approach despite struggles over the first seven innings of the game to eventually give his team two big at-bats. “That’s just staying locked in,” Campbell said. “I had a pretty bad day at the plate before that at-bat. I kept telling myself ‘I’m going to get another chance here’, and I ended up getting a couple more chances.” Both teams entered Sunday play with records of 46-20, a fitting measure for the two teams in the middle of the national bracket. After a rain delay pushed the start of the game back one hour, an infield single, a stolen base, and a walk preceded Melendez’s 32nd home run of the season and Texas led 3-0 before an out had been recorded. With Texas leading 4-0 in the top of the first inning, weather once again put a halt to play, this time for roughly five hours. Once play resumed, East Carolina finished getting three outs on the Longhorns so they could get their first turn at the plate. The Pirates got their only run of the game in the bottom of the first inning against starter Tristan Stevens, making his first start since April 30. As East Carolina went through arms looking for one that could record some outs, Stevens was in control for the Longhorns through six innings, surrendering just the one run in the first inning. “I didn’t need a lot to get going tonight with what was at stake, this is what I wanted. This is exactly why I came back.” -Tristan Stevens, Texas RHP Texas continued to slowly add runs. A Trey Faltine solo home run in the top of the fifth inning pushed the Longhorns lead to 10-1. East Carolina had no answers. Just past 1:30am local time, Texas, behind a perfect inning from Jared Southard, closed out the 11-1 rout and clinched another appearance in Omaha. Stevens returned to Texas for this season, for just such an opportunity as he got on Sunday. And despite having pitched in both of the previous games, he was ready for Sunday night. “I didn’t need a lot to get going tonight with what was at stake, this is what I wanted,” Stevens said. “This is exactly why I came back.” “This” is a return trip to Omaha for Stevens and his Texas teammates to attempt to finish what they fell short of accomplishing in 2021. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

HATTIESBURG, Miss.-Heading into Selection Monday, it is fair to say that no team in the nation was sweating more than Ole Miss was. The Rebels’ hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament were on thin ice; a sub-.500 conference record will do that. So will a loss in the first round of the SEC Tournament. But in Hattiesburg, battling Southern Miss in a highly-anticipated, rare in-state super regional showdown, the Rebels did no wrong. Backed by a substantial crowd of Ole Miss supporters donning the red and blue, head coach Mike Bianco’s team followed up a perfect 3-0 showing at the Coral Gables Regional with another flawless weekend, taking down the Golden Eagles on their home field in two games. If there is a Cinderella story of this tournament, Ole Miss fits the bill. The Rebels, despite a tradition of success in the SEC, were the last team selected to the tournament field, taking the final at-large spot, and sent to a stacked regional featuring No. 6 overall seed Miami (FL) and Pac-12 power Arizona. They took down both, as a 22-6 victory over Arizona sent the Rebels back to their home state for the second weekend, with plenty of confidence in tow. “This team was 7-14 [in SEC play entering May] and in a place we’ve never been in 22 years,” Bianco said. “We’ve only been to Omaha twice [in those 22 years], but we’ve never been 7-14. So many older guys didn’t let this team go. We started playing at the end like we were capable.” But there was a question as to how the pitching staff, whose 5.60 ERA in SEC play ranked ninth in the conference, would fare in a series against a lineup as strong as Southern Miss’. In the first regular season meeting between the rivals on April 5, the Golden Eagles had scored 10 runs off the Ole Miss pitchers in a 10-7 win. The second meeting, ironically also in Hattiesburg, went the other way, with a 4-1 win for the Rebels. That is the exact blueprint Ole Miss followed when they found themselves back at Pete Taylor Park with a trip to Omaha on the line. The pitching proved to be the x-factor, in fact, as Ole Miss outscored USM 15-0. That’s right. The Golden Eagles did not score once in 18 innings on their home field, as the Rebels opened play with a 10-0 thumping on Saturday afternoon, before coming back in a 5-0 victory on Sunday afternoon. It sends Ole Miss to Omaha for the first time since 2014, and perhaps the more impressive feat is the fact that since the NCAA started seeding the NCAA Tournament in 1999, just three other No. 3 seeds have advanced to the CWS without a loss, Ole Miss being the fourth. “It has been asked a lot, ‘What does it take [to win a super regional]’,” Bianco said Sunday. “I guess what it takes is not letting the other team score. Then you have a shot to win. I say that sarcastically, but it’s true. You got to play well. We certainly played well.” The first back-to-back series of shutouts for the Rebel pitching staff since February of 2015 began with a gem of a start from Dylan DeLucia on Saturday. The junior struck out nine over 5.2 innings, with four hits allowed, before Jack Dougherty came through with 3.1 perfect innings, not allowing a single base runner as the Rebels secured the 10-0 victory. Using just two pitchers in game one kept the options open for Bianco and his staff in game two, but he had no reason to go deep into the bullpen. Hunter Elliott was unstoppable, throwing 7.1 innings, fanning 10 batters. Just three of the 25 batters Elliott faced reached base, all on singles. Josh Mallitz sealed the win in 1.2 innings, as USM mustered only a single walk against the right-hander. “We always knew [Hunter] was good,” Bianco said of his starter. “He was obviously a high-profile recruit coming out of high school and had a good fall. But like a lot of guys, we weren’t sure what his role was going to be. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the opportunity to start very much. We put him in the bullpen, but once we moved him into the rotation, he’s been terrific.” Mallitz’s final pitch was lifted high by Christopher Sargent into the air and carried into foul territory, as Tim Elko settled under the ball. The first baseman, whose presence was made known nationally a year ago in his three-home run performance on a torn ACL in the Oxford Regional, watched the ball plop into his glove before raising his hands high in triumph, feet away from the Ole Miss dugout. The Rebels had done what many had thought to be impossible for a team that struggled, and limped at times, through its SEC schedule. Bianco gave the credit for the remarkable turnaround to his players, but his leadership has no doubt been instrumental along with it. “What an amazing sport this is,” Bianco told reporters. “So many times, like in the Coral Gables regional final, we put Garrett Wood in at third base. In his first start ever, the first ball gets hit to him. Today, the last ball goes to Tim Elko, the guy that came back to go to Omaha. My point being, it’s about [these players]. It’s never been about me.” Bianco’s leadership and the culture of the Ole Miss program was recognized by USM head coach Scott Berry, who first gave credit to the Rebels for their success in Hattiesburg as he opened up his postgame press conference. A turnaround such as this one would not have been possible for just any program; it took a veteran-laden group with the right mentality for the third CWS appearance under Bianco to be made possible. “[Ole Miss] is really a classy program,” Berry said. “I told Mike [Bianco] after the game, ‘If it couldn’t have been us, I wanted it to be you.’ I think the world of him and have the utmost respect for the way he runs his program and how his players act.” In Sunday’s win, the offense took several innings to get going, but established a lead relatively quickly. They had 10 hits, getting onto the scoreboard in a three-run fifth. Justin Bench’s RBI single to left center in the sixth made it 4-0 and TJ McCants’ home run was the cherry on top in the eighth inning. USM turned to its best in the eighth in reliever Landon Harper, who began the inning on fire, striking out the first two batters he faced in a total of eight pitches. His first pitch to McCants was also a strike. But McCants connected on the second, driving a no-doubter beyond the right field wall. “It certainly wasn’t a day of offense, but like last night, I thought we made [Tanner] Hall really work,” Bianco said. “Sometimes it doesn’t look that way because you’re not scoring runs, and we missed a couple opportunities early. That shows you how good he is. “But we were able to get the pitch count up a little bit, and got a couple balls that found holes. We were able to push a couple of runs across, and fortunately, with the way we pitched, that’s all we needed.” Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Super Regionals start this weekend, and we have re-seeded the 16 teams remaining in the tournament. Tennessee duplicates its number one overall seed in our re-seed efforts. The Volunteers swept the Knoxville Regional over the weekend. Virginia Tech follows the Vols; the Hokies also swept their Regional. Stanford and Oregon State are next at Nos. 3 and 4. No. 5 Texas A&M matches its national seed after the Aggies swept the College Station Regional. Texas A&M eliminated Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle's former team, TCU, in the final. Arkansas, unseeded in the NCAA Tournament, checks in at No. 6 in the re-seed. The Razorbacks traveled to Stillwater and went toe-to-toe with the Cowboys before eliminating Oklahoma State in thrilling fashion. The Razorbacks are followed by Oklahoma, another unseeded team who won a road regional over the weekend. Oklahoma traveled to Gainesville and knocked off Florida in the regional final. No. 8 Texas checks in next followed by No. 9 Auburn. Both teams swept their home regionals over the weekend. No. 10 Notre Dame swept the Statesboro Regional. The Irish have the unenviable task of traveling to Knoxville to play Tennessee in the Supers. No. 11 Louisville was pushed to the brink by Michigan in the Louisville Regional, but the Cardinals advanced with the help of a controversial tag play. No, 12 Southern Miss and No. 13 Ole Miss will battle it out in Hattiesburg this weekend. No. 14 North Carolina, No. 15 ECU, and No. 16 UConn wrap up the re-seeded teams. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

John and Kyle break down the controversy in the Louisville and College Park Regionals. Does replay need to be re-evaluated in college baseball? Will we have a first-time national champ? John and Kyle pick winners for each of the Supers. Get The College Baseball Nation Podcast on Apple Podcasts Get The College Baseball Nation Podcast on Spotify. Have a question for Kyle and John? Send a DM to us on Twitter (@CollegeBallNat) or an email to podcast@collegebaseball.info and we might answer it on the podcast. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

STILLWATER, Okla.- Dave Van Horn knows how to poise a team for its postseason peak. 10 days ago, the Razorbacks hit a major low point, which came at perhaps the worst possible time: the SEC Tournament. In Hoover, Arkansas’ stock plummeted, as the Hogs followed a series loss at Alabama with a tournament-opening loss to the Crimson Tide. On Friday, the Razorbacks’ stay in Hoover was over, ending abruptly in a 7-5 loss to Florida. It was the first time since 2012 that Arkansas reached the SEC Tournament, but failed to win a game there. One might think after an uncharacteristic stretch such as that one, with regional play days away, the practice sessions would ramp up, forcing the intensity to increase. The intensity certainly increased for Van Horn’s club — the performance at the Stillwater Regional displayed that — but rather than work his team even harder immediately upon arrival from Hoover, Van Horn gave his players time off. “I felt that it was common sense to give them a break,” Van Horn said upon arrival in Stillwater on Thursday. “We got back late on Friday and they had an option, a 100 percent option, to come in for an hour or two of lifting the next two days. I was up there both days and saw a hitter or two, some guys were stretching, and there were a couple guys who had to throw a bullpen on Sunday to stay on track, but mentally they knew they didn’t have to be anywhere.” The time off re-energized the Hogs, who battled Oklahoma State for three straight days, winning in the third and final duel with the Cowboys on Monday night by a score of 7-3. It could not have been more different than the previous two contests, or the Stillwater Regional as a whole. In a weekend regional that set new NCAA Tournament records for home runs (41) and runs scored (146), Monday’s winner-take-all final was low-scoring by comparison to the 20-12 victory for Arkansas over OSU on Saturday, or the Cowboys 29-15 comeback win over Missouri State to stave off elimination on Sunday afternoon. And more importantly, after the previous two meetings in Stillwater between the Razorbacks and Pokes were decided on late-inning rallies by the victorious team, Arkansas led from wire-to-wire in the decisive duel, taking a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning, holding off a brief charge from OSU in the sixth and seventh. “Getting that fifth run was huge,” Van Horn said postgame. “Even though we’re up 4-0, they go hit a home run real quick and all of a sudden, that run is gone. We just kept thinking ‘We’ve got to score some more runs, because history has shown here that in the eighth and ninth innings, no lead is safe.’” Arkansas had learned its lesson by the time Monday night rolled around. They had been forced to. On Saturday, the Hogs entered the seventh inning down 10-5, but unloaded on the OSU pitching staff, scoring 15 runs over the final three innings for a 20-12 result. It was the second-most runs ever scored in an NCAA Tournament contest for Arkansas. They saw the way a game could shift in their favor on Saturday, but on Sunday, Arkansas was forced to swallow a loss by the same token. OSU led through the first seven innings, but it looked as if Arkansas might replicate its Saturday night comeback, pulling ahead 8-7 in the eighth. They needed just three outs to wrap up a trip to the second weekend of the tournament, but were simply unable to do so. Fighting elimination in their second game of the day, the Cowboys countered with three runs, snatching away the lead Arkansas briefly held. The Razorbacks found a way, however, tying the score at 10 apiece and pushed it into extra innings. The Hogs’ pitching however, slowly lost its grip, unable to keep OSU at bay as the hosts added four runs in the top of the 10th, forcing yet another meeting between the traditional powers on Monday. Both sides knew that with the way the regional had been trending, gaining a lead late was not half the battle that maintaining a lead was. The journey of the 2022 Arkansas team mirrors that of the 2015 Razorbacks squad in more ways than one. For one thing, the 2015 team opened the NCAA Tournament in Stillwater, “It’s all about the team coming together as a team and really fighting for each other. You have to be healthy and have all your weapons so to speak if you’re going into battle. There’s some quality teams here. We’re going to have to be on our game if we want to get out of here.” The Razorbacks took Van Horn’s words to heart. They played with an almost-carefree, yet equally zoned-in mentality. Nothing was able to break the Razorbacks over the tournament’s first two days, starting in a 7-1 win over Grand Canyon on Friday. Though the first team to be eliminated from Stillwater, GCU actually entered with the best win percentage (.666) of the regional’s four programs, against 2022 NCAA Tournament teams. “We hadn’t won in a while,” Van Horn said Friday. “It’s been a couple of weeks. It’s a good feeling.” Arkansas experienced that winning feeling again in the wild finish on Saturday, and of course, in Monday’s critical victory. Often, it is easy to pick out the momentum-changing moments in a game. On Monday, there was no doubt about the point at which the Razorbacks sealed the win. In the eighth inning, the Cowboys were in the position they wanted, trailing 5-3 with the bases loaded and arguably their best hitter as of late, Roc Riggio, at the plate. Riggio entered the game hitting .591 in the regional and was 2-for-4 on the day. This was the moment that OSU could seize the game. But Hagan Smith, pitching for Arkansas, was equally determined to get his team out of the jam unscathed. OSU had pulled out the win on Sunday, but Arkansas was not going to let it happen twice. Smith’s command was exceptional, and with the bases loaded, he struck out Chase Adkison on three straight pitches for the second out, before dueling with Riggio, fanning the freshman as well on a perfectly-placed 2-2 pitch on the upper inside corner of the zone. As Riggio swung hard, he dropped to a knee, while Smith and catcher Michael Turner screamed in excitement. There was no stopping Arkansas now. Smith provided the statement finish to a weekend that will be remembered for quite some time, striking out the power-hitting Griffin Doersching looking on a 3-2 pitch that dropped perfectly across the plate for the third, and final, out in Stillwater. “I had trouble sleeping last night,” Van Horn said. “I talked to Coach Huff last night, and this morning and I said, ‘If it gets down to the last three innings, and it’s tight, and our guys are all tired, Hagan is ready to go.’ “I asked the pitchers to text me last night on the bus. I told them. ‘If you’ve got anything, you tell me what you’ve got.’ Hagan Smith is the first text on my phone. He said, ‘My arm feels awesome. I want the ball in any situation.” That meant something to me.” Smith certainly backed up that confidence with his performance on Monday night. As a team, Arkansas proved the doubters wrong in Stillwater. The confidence exuded in Thursday’s pre-regional press conference was displayed throughout the weekend. “What a game,” Van Horn commented after Monday’s victory was wrapped up. “Just two teams battling. We as coaches, at Arkansas, made the comment the other day after playing Oklahoma State on Saturday, that this is one of the best teams we’ve played all year. I feel very fortunate to win the regional. For us to win today, we had to have some things go our way. And we did.” Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

Regionals weekend is always one of the best weekends in college sports, and this year’s version of the NCAA Baseball Tournament did not disappoint. The Breeze Fest There weren’t many regional sweeps, but some teams breezed through their regionals. We hardly heard anything out of Austin all weekend as Texas blasted through their regional winning three straight games by a combined score of 26-6. Not many people picked Auburn to win their regional even as a host, but they blew through the competition. Tennessee and Texas A&M both went 3-0, but they had to work a little bit to win their respective regionals. Speaking of working hard, Notre Dame won all three of their games, but two of them – both against Texas Tech – were decided by just one run. And their game against host Georgia Southern was a close 6-4 game. And then it didn’t feel like Ole Miss won the Coral Gables Regional easily because they played late on Monday, but the weather was the only thing holding back. Coming From Behind There are always a few teams that are able to battle out of the loser’s bracket to come back and win a regional. Louisville lost to Michigan on Saturday sending them to the loser’s bracket where they beat Oregon 8-5 to advance to the regional finals. They blasted Michigan 20-1 on Sunday night, and then battled from behind on Monday for an 11-9 win. After a controversial call went against Michigan that would have ended the 8th inning, Levi Usher drove in a pair to tie the game at 9. Then Cameron Masterman hit a huge 2-run homer to give Louisville the lead. In Hattiesburg, Southern Miss lost a tough one 7-6 on Saturday to LSU and then fought their way through the loser’s bracket for a rematch. They won Sunday night, forcing a game seven on Monday. The Golden Eagles were up 7-4 in the seventh, but LSU pushed across two in the bottom of the seventh and then Gavin Dugas hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth to tie it up. But Southern Miss responded in the top of the 9th with a Danny Lynch sac fly to score Christopher Sargent who had led off the inning with single. And then Tyler Stuart shut the door. North Carolina dropped a close 4-3 game to VCU on Saturday, but then won a close game over Georgia on Sunday thanks to a home run robbing catch. In their rematch against VCU they took care of business winning 19-8 and 7-3. Stanford came all the way back against Texas State to walk off the Bobcats in the bottom of the 9th in game seven. Making Things Difficult We had a lot of game sevens in this year’s regionals, meaning a lot of teams made things difficult for the teams that advanced. Coastal Carolina lost their first game of the Greenville Regional and then fought all the way back to force a game seven against East Carolina, but the Pirates prevailed, pulling away late for a 13-4 win. It looked like Oklahoma was going to breeze through the Gainesville Regional winning their first two games 16-3 and 9-4. But Florida got some big performances from some of their freshman pitchers and pushed Oklahoma to a game seven. The Gators were up 2-1 in the seventh and Brandon Neely was cruising allowing just 4 1 earned run on 4 hits with no walks. But a weather delay ended his day after 6.2 innings. After the 5.5 hour rain delay, the Sooners came back with a 3-run eighth inning highlighted by a 2-run homer from All-American Peyton Graham. Wyatt Langford hit his 26th home run of the year for Florida in the 9th to bring them within one, but Oklahoma would hold on for the 5-4 win. After a scare against New Mexico State in their first game of the Corvallis Regional, Oregon State bounced back with a 12-3 win over San Diego on Saturday. Devin Futrell and Thomas Schultz for Vanderbilt shutdown the Beavers on Sunday night, setting up a back-and-forth game on Monday in which the Beavers held on for a 7-6 win thanks to a seventh inning home run by Matthew Gretler. UConn won a close one against Wake Forest to start the College Park Regional and then took down the host, Maryland, 10-5. But the Terps came back and won on a walk-off Sunday night in a wild game. But the Huskies prevailed on Monday; although, there was controversy in that one as well. Greatest Regional Ever – Arkansas and Oklahoma State In a year that saw a lot of great regionals, there may have been none better than the one in Stillwater. You knew going in there could be some fireworks with Oklahoma State and Arkansas being so close geographically. The two teams met in the winner’s bracket on Saturday in one of the wildest games you’ll see. Oklahoma State was up 10-5 after six and 10-8 after seven. Then the pitching fell apart in the eighth as Arkansas scored 8 runs, highlighted by a Jalen Battles grand slam. Arkansas would go on to win 20-12. In the first rematch on Sunday night it was Oklahoma State’s chance to play spoiler. The Hogs were down 6-3 after five, but came back to take an 8-7 lead after eight innings. Oklahoma State scored 3 in the 9th to take the lead back, only to watch Arkansas tie it up in the bottom of the 9th. But Oklahoma State put up 4 in the top of the 10th and held on to force a game seven. On Monday, Arkansas scored 4 runs in the fourth to take an early lead, which they extended to 5 runs scoring another in the sixth. It looked like Oklahoma State might actually go quietly, but this regional couldn’t end without some more drama. The Pokes scored one in the seventh and two in the eighth. In that eighth inning, Oklahoma State had the bases loaded with one out. Dave Van Horn had gone to freshman Hagan Smith earlier in the inning. Against his first three batters he hit one, got a force out on a bunt, and then walked one. But the 18-year-old rose to the occasion striking out Chase Adkison and the hottest hitter on the planet in Roc Riggio – another freshman – to escape the jam. Michael Turner had a big two-out, 2 RBI double in the ninth to put the game away as Arkansas won by a final score of 7-3. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

The NCAA Austin Regional came to an end on Sunday night as the Texas Longhorns advanced to the Super Regionals for the second year in a row after defeating Air Force for the second time in three days, 10-1. In the early game, Dylan Rogers was originally announced as the starting pitcher for Air Force, but he was a late scratch and Ryan Stohr took the mound instead. Louisiana Tech had no problems with the Falcons starter as they opened up an early lead and led 4-0 after the second inning, aided by a Taylor Young two-run home run to left-center field. Air Force responded by getting on the board with two runs in the top of the third inning. Gabriel Garcia (3-for-5) hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to get the Falcons to within a run. Trailing 5-4 in the sixth inning, Jorge Corona hit a solo home run to tie the game at five. The home run was Corona’s third of the weekend, including an inside-the-park grand slam on Friday night. Jake Greiving hit the first of two home runs in the game in the seventh inning to once again give the Falcons a one run lead, 6-5. Steele Netterville tied the game at seven in the seventh inning on a solo home run for the Bulldogs. Greiving hit his second home of the game in the top of the ninth inning, a two-run blast to give Air Force a 9-7 lead. Greiving was 3-for-5 in the game with three runs driven in. CJ Dornak handled the final 2 ⅔ innings for Air Force on the mound and closed out the win for the second consecutive game. The Air Force offense collected seventeen base hits in the contest, including a 3-for-4 outing by Sam Kulasingam and a 4-for-5 performance by Trayden Tamiya. For Louisiana Tech, the loss meant the end of the season for head coach Lane Burroughs and his team. The Bulldogs finished 2022 with a 43-21 record. The Air Force win set up a rematch of Friday’s Regional opener with Texas for Sunday evening. The Longhorns got to bat first in the Sunday Regional Final. Ivan Melendez wasted no time in giving Texas the advantage when he hit a two-run home run with one out in the opening frame. The home run was the 30th of the year for Melendez, the first 30-homer season since Kris Bryant hit 31 for San Diego in 2013. The two-run spot also helped propel the Longhorns to a five run opening inning. Dylan Campbell hit a home run for the second night in a row for the Longhorns, extending the Longhorn lead to 7-0 in the fourth inning. Campbell (2-for-3) added a solo home run in the eighth inning to give him three home runs on the weekend. Texas patched together a pitching effort, using four pitchers on Sunday to take the Regional Final. The only run for Air Force came in the ninth inning when Braydon Altorfer led off the frame with a home run. Texas head coach Daivd Pierce knew the value of the pitching effort he got from his team on Sunday night. “Today, the story of the day was our pitching,” Pierce said. “They did a nice job of just piecing it together. That’s what we’re going to need. Just a super night.” Campbell was asked after the game about the possibility of a home series next weekend and whether it matters to his teammates who they face next. “Hopefully we can get a home game next weekend,” Campbell said. “We’re ready for whoever.” A historic season came to an end for the Air Force Academy. The win by Air Force on Saturday night over Dallas Baptist was the first NCAA Regional win for the program since 1967. The early win on Sunday was the 32nd win of the year for the Falcons, which also establishes a new program record. The Austin Regional ended to chants of U-S-A as Air Force and Texas took the field one last time. Texas (45-19) advances to a Super Regional and they will have to wait until Monday to find out who they will face and where they will face them. East Carolina and Coastal Carolina will play a deciding game on Monday at 1 PM EST. The winner will face Texas next weekend with a trip to Omaha on the line. A victory by Coastal Carolina on Monday means a trip to Austin for the Super Regional, while a win by East Carolina means Austin travels to Greenville, North Carolina. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!

STILLWATER, Okla.- Madness. That seems to be the only word to describe what has been arguably the most thrilling, yet slugfest-dominated regional in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Perhaps even in the last several national tournaments. Because what has unfolded in Stillwater this weekend has been nothing short of captivating, with its unexpected twists and turns in momentum and scoring ever present, and a slew of moments, plays, and certainly, comebacks, that will be etched in the minds of those across the country for seasons to come. And the best part is that the regional is not even over. Oklahoma State is to thank for that. Maybe it was playing in front of the Cowboy faithful in a familiar setting at home at O’Brate Stadium. Or quite possibly it was the fact that OSU woke up Sunday morning facing elimination, having lost a five-run lead in gut-wrenching fashion to Arkansas on Saturday night. Regardless of what factored into the performance by the Pokes on Sunday, it was nothing short of incredible. Especially considering the fact that the day started with the Cowboys’ stock quickly plummeting in a noon duel with Missouri State. “To compete like that is hard,” OSU head coach Josh Holliday said late on Sunday night. “To compete like that for 10 straight hours with no break in between is incredible. And to do it after last night’s punch in the gut, it tells you everything you need to know about these kids.” To reach the peak, the journey must begin in a valley. And in a valley OSU was; a long, deep valley. It began on Saturday night, when the Cowboys, coming off a 10-5 victory over Missouri State on Friday evening, sprinted from the gates in a highly-anticipated matchup against SEC power Arkansas. Though the Razorbacks struck first, OSU countered in the bottom of the inning, then took control in a five-run third that saw Nolan McLean swat a two-run homer, followed by Roc Riggio’s three-run blast just minutes later. They led 10-5 after a Riggio RBI single, but things began trending south in the seventh, with Arkansas cutting the deficit to two on a pair of home runs. And then in the eighth, OSU could not hold back the floodgates any longer, and the Razorbacks pushed forth, using three hits, three walks and three hits-by-pitch to score eight runs, snatching what appeared to be a surefire victory away from the regional hosts. In the postgame press conference, Holliday made it clear that a repeat of Saturday's debacle could not happen if his squad’s postseason goals were to be achieved. “How do you guys rebound and recover quickly from this?”, Holliday was asked after the Arkansas loss. “Quickly,” was Holliday’s prompt reply, “with no room for anything but a quick night’s sleep and a courageous alarm clock and a chance to keep playing baseball.” But the rebound was not sudden for the Cowboys. Whether it be a lack of rest after the marathon of a game on Saturday, or another factor, Missouri State pounced on OSU in Sunday’s elimination battle, putting 12 runs on the board by the third inning. A comeback did not appear to be in the cards for OSU, but as with so many things in the Stillwater regional, that momentum changed in the blink of an eye. A six-run fourth gave the Cowboys confidence, and they slowly began chipping away at what had been a double-digit deficit. By the time Griffin Doersching stepped to the plate in the sixth, the MSU lead had dwindled to 14-13, with the Bears doing everything they could to stop the bleeding. But nothing could be done to prevent Doersching from connecting with the 81-mph pitch sitting just over the plate. He sent the ball sailing over the wall in right-center field for a grand slam. “That was a moment right there,” Holliday said of the grand slam, “because you had to get through that first game in order for the second one to happen.” The impact Doersching has had in his first, and only, season with OSU has been remarkable. A right-handed power hitter who transferred after four seasons at Northern Kentucky, he has brought both power and experience to the Cowboy lineup. Entering the weekend, he had gone nine games without a multi-hit performance. But in the span of three days, has recorded three, with a 3-for-7 stat line against MSU proving to be the beginning of a memorable day at the plate for the Wisconsin native. His grand slam put OSU up 17-14, powering the Cowboys to a 29-15 rout of the Bears, and setting up a rematch with the Razorbacks. A chance at redemption was just what they wanted, riding high after one of the tournament’s most shocking comebacks. OSU made the most of its second chance to knock off the Hogs, though victory did not come easily. Once again with their backs against the wall, the Cowboys responded well, showing little fatigue despite the five-hour contest against MSU having finished just a short time prior. After Brady Slavens gave Arkansas a 1-0 lead in the opening frame, David Mendham issued a quick response, tying the score, and igniting what turned out to be a three-run inning. The tenacity that OSU displayed was present through all 10 innings. Even when Arkansas attempted another rally, taking an 8-7 lead in the seventh, the Cowboys stayed the course. Remaining consistent was a major factor in their 15-9 Big 12 mark, and it proved especially valuable on Sunday night. They attempted to pull away once more in the ninth, pushing three runs across but Arkansas countered with two, sending it into extra innings. OSU, at the end of the longest day of its season, took charge with the season on the line, leading the inning off with a Riggio double. A single from Zack Ehrhard followed, and with one out, Aidan Meola’s base hit drove both runners home, giving the Cowboys a lead that would last. McLean joined in with a two-run homer one batter later, cushioning the lead. But they did not need it. Arkansas went quietly in the ninth, as McLean induced three flyouts, putting the finishing touches on a day that saw OSU survive elimination twice, and do it in thrilling fashion. “I’ve never seen a group of people empty the tank [like these guys did] pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch starting from the time they got here this morning until now,” Holliday added. “It was remarkable. “Everybody on our team contributed, from pitching to hitting to cheering to running the bases to bunting to playing defense to picking each other up to inspiring each other to caring, they all had a part in it. You saw one amazing college baseball game in the nightcap and it should be a lot of fun tomorrow again at six o’clock.” Riggio played no small role in that success, helping to keep the team together through the ups and downs of the day, while raising his batting average for the regional to .591, along with four homers and 16 RBIs. “He was pretty inspirational today,” Holliday said of Riggio. “He was kind of the vitamin that got the energy going.” The Cowboys will face elimination for the final time of the weekend on Monday night, with Arkansas now in the same situation. But there seems to be little question as to which team has the momentum heading into that pivotal contest. Said Holliday: “That’s probably the most remarkable day of competition I’ve ever been a part of.” Few would disagree. A day that spanned from the early morning until well after the sun had set certainly challenged the Cowboys. The fatigue could be seen on the faces of Holliday, McLean, and Mitchell Stone in the postgame press conference. But there was also a sense of joy and accomplishment as each spoke. Because two games, 43 runs and 19 innings later, the job was done. For now. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!