Fayetteville Regional: College Baseball Preview for Arkansas, TCU, Arizona, Santa Clara
On Monday, the TCU Horned Frogs (37-22, 13-11 Big 12) learned their landing spot in the NCAA Tournament. They head to Fayetteville to join the Arkansas Razorbacks, Arizona Wildcats, and Santa Clara Broncos in one of the more difficult groups of the Regional round. The double-elimination tournament begins Friday, June 2, at 2:00 p.m. CT. TCU's first game against Arizona begins at 8:00 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
The winner of this group moves on to the Super Regional round to face the victor of the Terre Haute Regional, hosted by Indiana State.
Arkansas Selected To Host Fayetteville Regional
Coming off an impressive 44-16 campaign and upset of LSU in the SEC Tournament, the NCAA baseball selection committee awarded Arkansas with the No. 3 overall seed. While team placement isn't primarily based on competitive balance, that seeding, in theory, should have landed Arkansas a more favorable route to the next round.
Not so.
Instead, the Razorbacks host Big 12-champion TCU, who has won 12 of their last 13 games, Arizona, who ranks 45th in RPI, and Santa Clara, the second-best No. 4 seed per RPI. Not only is the region made up of talented teams, but ones playing well.
Fayetteville Regional Schedule, Format
The Regional tournament round is a double-elimination tournament. The region winner must win three games and avoid losing twice to advance to the Super Regional round.
Friday, June 2
Game 1: Arkansas vs. Santa Clara, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2: TCU vs. Arizona, 8:00 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday, June 3
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2:00 p.m. (TBA)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8:00 p.m. (TBA)
Sunday, June 4
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2:00 p.m. (TBA)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5, 8:00 p.m. (TBA)
Monday, June 5
Game 7 (if necessary): If Game 5 winner also wins Game 6 (TBA)
Fayetteville Regional Team Breakdown
Strength of schedule and record vs. top-50 teams courtesy of College Baseball Nation.
1. Arkansas Razorbacks (44-16, 20-10)
- Conference: SEC
- Last NCAA Tournament appearance: 2022
- College World Series appearances: 11 (2022)
- RPI: 3
- Strength of schedule: 6
- Record vs. Top-50 teams: 20-10
2. TCU Horned Frogs (37-22, 13-11)
- Conference: Big 12
- Last NCAA Tournament appearance: 2022
- College World Series appearances: 5 (2017)
- RPI: 38
- Strength of schedule: 25
- Record vs. Top-50 teams: 9-12
3. Arizona Wildcats (33-24, 12-18)
- Conference: Pac-12
- Last NCAA Tournament appearance: 2021
- College World Series appearances: 18 (2021)
- RPI: 45
- Strength of schedule: 30
- Record vs. Top-50 teams: 8-12
4. Santa Clara Broncos (35-18, 17-10)
- Conference: West Coast Conference
- Last NCAA Tournament appearance: 1997
- College World Series appearances: 1 (1962)
- RPI: 81
- Strength of schedule: 172
- Record vs. Top-50 teams: 3-3
Can TCU Advance?
In the postseason, momentum is everything, and TCU sure has a lot of it. Despite taking a majority of the year, the Frogs finally feel like they have stable pitching corps, led by freshmen Kole Klecker (9-4, 4.04 ERA) and Louis Rodriguez (2-1, 4.53).
But in this style of postseason, you need at least three good arms. TCU turned to Chase Hoover (1-1, 5.14) in the Big 12 Championship, but the third and fourth starters likely come from Cam Brown (3-2, 5.25) or Braden Sloan (2-3, 6.63).
In general, this group of teams relies on sound pitching and defense to make up for deficiencies at the plate. No team ranks higher than 15th in weighted batting average (WoBA), and they're all clustered in FIP (field-independent pitching).
Offensively, Brayden Taylor is on a roll, having just broken the school record in career home runs with 46 and counting. Freshmen Anthony Silva and Karson Bowen are competing for the team lead in batting average at .346 and have combined for 89 RBI on the season. When the bats need to come through, they do, and have more often than not lately.
TCU did beat Arkansas in their second game of the year at Globe Life Field 18-6. However, that was a long time ago, and both teams vary wildly from that February edition.
In such a difficult group draw – perhaps the most difficult in the tournament – TCU has its work cut out for them. But continuing the momentum is a critical piece to the puzzle, and the Frogs have momentum on their side.
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