The College World Series was always the expectation for this year's Arkansas team.
They did it. The Razorbacks (44-19) will meet old Southwest Conference rival Texas (42-21) at 1 p.m. today at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Nebraska. The game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN (Resort Channel 30).
It was not always a certainty. The 2018 Razorbacks are arguably the most talented team coach Dave Van Horn has ever had, but they were often among the most frustrating and perplexing throughout the season.
Arkansas will certainly look different next year. The team saw seven juniors, one sophomore and one senior selected in the first 17 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft. Most, if not all, will sign professionally after the season and two other seniors will graduate.
Next year's team will have to be built around sophomore center fielder Dominic Fletcher, freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad and freshman infielder Casey Martin. Kjerstad and Martin are the best freshman hitters in the country, so it could be worse, but they will need support from what will be an inexperienced roster. The pitching staff will rely on freshmen and sophomores from this year's roster.
This is their year. The 11 draftees tied a program record set by the 2013 team that went 39-22. It is that level of talent and the amount of experience they have that makes some of their results so confounding.
Arkansas is the only team of the eight in the College World Series even close to winning less than a third of its games on the road this season. Five have winning records, while Mississippi State (37-27) was 11-16 in away games and Texas was 9-11.
The team's fate felt the most uncertain after Arkansas was swept on the road by a Mississippi State team that was 19-19 and 5-10 in the Southeastern Conference at the time. I wrote afterward that the team was overrated at No. 2 in the country.
Van Horn made sure to test his team this year with a number of quality non-conference opponents away from Baum Stadium in Fayetteville and several high-profile home series. It shows as Arkansas competed against four of the seven other teams in Omaha. Still, the Razorbacks had the most losses of any of the teams ranked in the top 18 after three losses in Starkville, Miss.
They fell several spots after the sweep and finished the regular season at No. 8, borderline for hosting a super regional if the top eight seeds advanced. The Hogs have top five talent, but they had not always showed it.
The sweep helped propel the Bulldogs to an 18-8 finish and a 10-5 turnaround in conference, including a sweep of No. 1 Florida (47-19) in the final series of the regular season when the Gators already had first place secured. The losses to Mississippi State no longer appear to be as detrimental as they initially did.
The season also seemed to be filled with an unnecessary amount of drama for the Razorbacks. They are also the only team among the final eight with a sub .500 record in one-run games.
That's not supposed to happen. Elite teams are supposed to put away their opponents efficiently and take care of close games when it matters.
Arkansas instead played in 18 one-run games this season and went 8-10. North Carolina (43-18) has the next most among teams to make it to Omaha, finishing 9-6 in 15 one-run games. Mississippi State was 6-6.
Texas Tech (44-18) played in a mere four one-run games this season, going 2-2. The Tar Heels have played in only two such games since April 29.
The rest of the field includes Texas, 5-3 in one-run games; Florida, 8-2; Washington (35-24), 8-4; and Oregon State (49-10-1), 9-2. The Beavers have not played in a one-run game since May 1, but did tie with rival Washington State, 7-7, on May 6.
Arkansas thrived this season at Baum Stadium in front of one of the best, if not the best, college baseball fan bases in the country. The Razorbacks were historically good at home, finishing 35-4 in Fayetteville. They were able to host a regional and super regional and translate their dominating form at home into the postseason.
The Hogs also had a chance to be historically good on the road and everywhere else, too. Arkansas averaged at least 1-2 more runners left on base each game than other teams, giving the sense they were half of a dozen swings away from 50 wins.
Still, they are in Omaha, and no one cares how many runners they left on base in a one-run loss in March. They have a new chance to be historically good. Win a national championship and every quirk about this team will only be more fondly remembered.
Sports on 06/17/2018