FAYETTEVILLE – If the Razorbacks’ dominating 14-1 win over Ole Miss to punch a ticket to Omaha on Monday didn’t put the college baseball world on notice, Arkansas play-by-play radio announcer Phil Elson certainly did.
As Dave Van Horn’s team created a “Hog pile” on the field at Baum-Walker Stadium, Elson delivered a strong message to remind listeners that the Razorbacks had unfinished business at the College World Series.
“College baseball’s emerald city is the destination. A bright red Razorback caravan is headed to Nebraska. And this time, we’re coming for the whole damn thing,” Elson said.
The Hogs (46-18) will be favored to advance at least to the final series in Omaha, as their bracket includes 8 seed Texas Tech and two teams in Michigan and Florida State that barely made the postseason but went on dramatic runs over the last two weekends.
Arkansas met Texas Tech twice last season and won both games, including a 7-4 victory over the Red Raiders in Omaha.
“It’s very eerie, kind of similar to last year,” Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek said. “Hopefully that all holds true except for the way it ends in Omaha this year.
“I haven’t been around him but for two years, but this has got to be one of his best all-around coaching performances when you look at how last season ended in Omaha for us, and how many pieces to the puzzle we lost. To plug different people into different spots and to make it all work, it’s just phenomenal we’re going back this year.”
After only returning just eight players from a team that finished one out away from a national championship last season, Arkansas wasn’t expected to be headed back to Omaha in 2019.
Van Horn told his team after Monday’s win that this year’s club might have given him the most gratifying season of his career.
“What a great win for our program, the state, the university – I could go on and on, the fans – for us to get back to Omaha for the second year in a row,” Van Horn said.
“It’s hard enough just to get there once every now and then, but to get there two years in a row with a bunch of guys that watched on the side last year or maybe weren’t even with us – what a thrill for me as a coach to be a part of this and to watch these guys celebrate.”
Despite less-than-stellar outings from freshman pitchers Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander against Ole Miss, Arkansas appears to be clicking on all cylinders heading into its first game against Florida State at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Heston Kjerstad broke out of a 2 for 16 slump by going 3 for 4 against the Rebels and delivering 4 of the Razorbacks’ runs, including a monstrous solo blast to start the fourth inning.
The Hogs also got big performances from the bottom of the batting order, with catcher Casey Opitz, third baseman Jacob Nesbit and left fielder Christian Franklin totaling 5 RBI and two walks on the day.
It’s always important for the bottom to contribute some how, some way, because the bottom is not powerful. It’s more of a manufacture type part of the offense,” Van Horn said.
The Seminoles are arguably the hottest team in the land heading into the weekend, and they’re coached by Hall of Famer Mike Martin, who has already announced his retirement at the end of the season.
Arkansas pitcher Jacob Kostyshock grinned when asked what he knew about Florida State.
“Good program. So are we,” he said.