Arkansas' three opponents have SEC experience in their own way

Two of Hogs' opponents played games against the top conference in the country

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn from the dugout against the Texas Longhorns at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville Ark. | Nilsen Roman-HogsonSI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas is one of two regionals with three teams in it with more than 40 wins. The Razorbacks, Creighton Bluejays and Kansas Jayhawks all eclipsed that mark.

Perhaps more importantly, the Razorbacks will face three teams that have all had some kind of SEC experience on their resume before coming to Fayetteville. The first opponent, the North Dakota State Bison played five straight games against Alabama and LSU.

North Dakota State's head baseball coach Tyler Oakes walks to the pitcher's mound against Texas Tech in a non conference baseball game, Saturday, April 8, 2023, at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. | Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Even though the Bison went 0-5 in those games, they played both the Tigers and the Crimson Tide close in a pair of the games. LSU beat the Bison 11-9 and 13-3 in seven innings. The Bison faced some of the same bullpen arms that the Hogs would face later in the year against LSU. Zac Cowan and Casan Evans both pitched in the closer of the two games.

It's a similar story for the Bison versus the Crimson Tide. The Bison played the Tide close in one of the three games as part of a weekend series. Alabama's Riley Quick, who picked up SEC second-team honors as the Saturday starter, gave up two runs across four innings of work, allowing five hits.

"It shows you that they’re not scared," coach Dave Van Horn said about North Dakota State going to LSU. "He [coach Tyler Oakes] knew he had older players and he thought it would help them, whether they win or lose, get better, play in a tough environment.

"I’m sure they’re using that now saying, ‘hey, we played in Baton Rouge. Fayetteville’s not going to be an issue’."

Creighton has SEC experience in a different way. None of the 55 games that the Bluejays played were against SEC teams, but the assistant coach and coach-in-waiting Mark Kingston was the South Carolina head coach for seven seasons, leading the Gamecocks to two Super Regionals.

That included in 2018 when his team forced a decisive game three in the Fayetteville Super Regional before the Razorbacks made it all the way to the finals in Omaha.

South Carolina head baseball coach Mark Kingston during a NCAA baseball game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Tennessee won 4-1 against South Carolina. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kingston will take over for outgoing coach Ed Servais, who is retiring after this season.

"The team you can't look past is Creighton,” Van Horn said. “They got in over a couple of teams that were projected to possibly get in because they beat them straight up and they've always played great defense.”

"They've always pitched well and they don't beat themselves. It's their head coach’s last year. He's retiring this year and I'm sure they're going to play extremely hard."

Kansas also has played a pair of games against a SEC opponent, albeit both with Missouri, a team that won just three conference games.

Kansas did win them both and boast an impressive resume with 20 Big 12 wins and a sweep over Kansas State, a team which the Hogs lost to early in the year.

"He [coach Dan Fitzgerald] did it by the way he runs the program," Van Horn said about Kansas' improvement. "At the same time he elevated the talent level and they’ve had a great year. 20 wins in the Big 12 plus a couple wins in the tournament, so they’re going to be good."

First pitch between the Razorbacks and North Dakota State will be 2 p.m. Friday. Creighton and Kansas will start at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.