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After the Arkansas Razorbacks’ clean, three-game sweep in the Fayetteville Regional over the weekend, Coach Dave Van Horn and his Hogs play the waiting game today.
What are they waiting for?
Their opponent for the Fayetteville Super Regional, which will begin either Friday or Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Familiar foe, the Tennessee Vols, face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 5 p.m. this afternoon in Knoxville for the right to challenge the Hogs in the Fayetteville Regional. The UT-Wake Forest game is scheduled to be televised at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.
The third-seeded Razorbacks (46-13) are the highest seed remaining in the NCAA Baseball Tournament after top-seed Vanderbilt and No. 2-seed Texas each were upset in their Regionals on Sunday. Vandy lost to Wright State, while the Longhorns were humbled by Texas-San Antonio.
Like Arkansas, Auburn won its Regional in three games and has advanced. Along with Tennessee, LSU must beat Arkansas-Little Rock, Oklahoma must upset North Carolina, and Ole Miss must upend Murray State in play today to advance to Super Regionals.
Besides Texas and Vanderbilt, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State, and Kentucky were knocked out of Regional play on Sunday.
As for the Razorbacks, they performed all weekend like a team on a mission. The Razorbacks have missed out on Super Regional play the last two seasons, and this year’s breed of Hogs were determined not to allow that streak to go any further.
The Razorbacks defeated Creighton, 8-3, Sunday night, after knocking off North Dakota State, 6-2, on Friday, and clipping Creighton, 12-1, on Saturday.
The Razorbacks’ domination was impressive. Some may counter by saying Creighton and North Dakota State are hardly SEC-level competition.
However, as pointed out earlier, Vandy, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State and Kentucky all lost Regionals to non-SEC opponents. LSU, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss are fighting for survival, while the Razorbacks comfortably watch from home.
Some “Hog fans” have the frustrating habit of attempting to diminish the Razorbacks’ accomplishments, but there are simply no holes to be poked in the Hogs’ performance over the weekend. They dominated their home Regional like a highly seeded team ought to.
Even when Creighton’s Ben North blasted a three-run homer in the fourth inning to cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 6-3, the Hogs were unfazed. Right-hander Gage Wood went right back to work, striking out the Blue Jays. In all, Gage struck out 13 batters on 89 pitches through six innings of work.
His reliever Gabe Gaeckle did not let Creighton (43-16) breathe, either. He struck out seven in three scoreless innings of work to lock down the Regional for the Razorbacks.
The one-two punch of Wood and Gaeckle was formidable, and made possible by the Razorbacks taking care of business on Friday and Saturday.
Gaeckle was spotless, setting down the first eight batters he faced until Creighton managed two last-gasp, two-out singles by Teddy Deters and Will MacLean in the ninth inning before putting the game away.
Wood and Gaeckle struck out 20 batters and surrendered just 5 hits.
No doubt the loss stung Creighton coach Ed Servais, who now will retire after coaching the Blue Jays for 22 years.
Again, the Razorbacks now just have to wait to see if they will face Tony Vitello’s Vols or the Wake Forest Demon Deacons of the ACC this weekend in Baum Stadium.
The Razorbacks are all too familiar with Vitello, a former Van Horn assistant, and the Vols. The Razorback won two of three over Tennessee in the final regular-season SEC series just two weekends ago.
Continue Reading at Fayetteville Flyer
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