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Arkansas baseball left the Hoover Met following a run-rule loss to Georgia in the SEC Tournament championship feeling good about its chances of hosting a regional.
But on their bus ride to the airport, the Razorbacks received a surprising gut punch.
The selection committee announced the 16 regional hosts on Sunday, May 24, and the Hogs were not among the teams staying home for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They learned their fate on Monday, May 25, drawing a No. 2 seed in the Lawrence Regional hosted by No. 15 Kansas.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn met with the media following the bracket reveal, and disbelief about a first road regional since 2022 was still evident.
"It was interesting because everyone I had spoke with before the game and then after the game associated with the tournament and the Southeastern Conference said we were in good shape," Van Horn said. "So yeah, that kind of threw a little confidence in there."
Van Horn continued and said that his team was a little "taken aback" by the selection committee's decision.
The Hogs thought they were in good shape after they won the first two games of the SEC Tournament against Tennessee and Texas. They followed that with a semifinal win over Auburn before getting run-ruled by Georgia in the championship.
In the end, it looks like the committee leaned on the RPI. The Razorbacks ranked 21st in the metric and were hurt by five losses to Quad 3 and Quad 4 opponents.
Nebraska was No. 10, Mississippi State was No. 13, Kansas was No. 19 and West Virginia was No. 17. Those were bottom four seeds to receive home regionals.
Arkansas' case goes deeper into the metrics. The Hogs went 18-13 against Quad 1 opponents. Only Georgia Tech had more Quad 1 victories this season, and Mississippi State went 9-14 in the category.
The Hogs were No. 14 in the DSR and the KPI, which are two other metrics used by the selection committee. They ranked ahead of multiple regional hosts in both of those rankings.
Arkansas also had a head-to-head advantage over Mississippi State with a regular-season series victory against the Bulldogs.
In the end, the Razorbacks fell just short of postseason baseball inside Baum-Walker Stadium.
"It's easy. Just go by the RPI, and let's move on to the next day. I guess," Van Horn said. "It's frustrating, but at the same time, you know, a month ago, we were fighting to get into regional. I guess someone had said that we were too far back when we started the tournament. I don't believe that."
How Arkansas used its pitching staff at the SEC Tournament was evidence that the Razorbacks felt they could move up the seeding line.
In recent years, Van horn has shied away from putting heavy workloads on his best pitchers at the Hoover Met. In 2024, Hagen Smith only threw two innings and 36 pitches during an elimination game.
This year, Van Horn used Gabe Gaeckle for six innings to finish off a victory over Texas. Ethan McElvain logged a season high 4⅓ innings in a win over Auburn.
"It makes you wonder about the tournament a little bit. What’s it all about," Van Horn said. "Maybe we rethink it in the future on how we handle it and how we pitch it, how we play it."
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What Dave Van Horn said about Arkansas baseball's home regional snub
Continue reading...
But on their bus ride to the airport, the Razorbacks received a surprising gut punch.
The selection committee announced the 16 regional hosts on Sunday, May 24, and the Hogs were not among the teams staying home for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They learned their fate on Monday, May 25, drawing a No. 2 seed in the Lawrence Regional hosted by No. 15 Kansas.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn met with the media following the bracket reveal, and disbelief about a first road regional since 2022 was still evident.
"It was interesting because everyone I had spoke with before the game and then after the game associated with the tournament and the Southeastern Conference said we were in good shape," Van Horn said. "So yeah, that kind of threw a little confidence in there."
Van Horn continued and said that his team was a little "taken aback" by the selection committee's decision.
The Hogs thought they were in good shape after they won the first two games of the SEC Tournament against Tennessee and Texas. They followed that with a semifinal win over Auburn before getting run-ruled by Georgia in the championship.
In the end, it looks like the committee leaned on the RPI. The Razorbacks ranked 21st in the metric and were hurt by five losses to Quad 3 and Quad 4 opponents.
Nebraska was No. 10, Mississippi State was No. 13, Kansas was No. 19 and West Virginia was No. 17. Those were bottom four seeds to receive home regionals.
Arkansas' case goes deeper into the metrics. The Hogs went 18-13 against Quad 1 opponents. Only Georgia Tech had more Quad 1 victories this season, and Mississippi State went 9-14 in the category.
The Hogs were No. 14 in the DSR and the KPI, which are two other metrics used by the selection committee. They ranked ahead of multiple regional hosts in both of those rankings.
Arkansas also had a head-to-head advantage over Mississippi State with a regular-season series victory against the Bulldogs.
In the end, the Razorbacks fell just short of postseason baseball inside Baum-Walker Stadium.
"It's easy. Just go by the RPI, and let's move on to the next day. I guess," Van Horn said. "It's frustrating, but at the same time, you know, a month ago, we were fighting to get into regional. I guess someone had said that we were too far back when we started the tournament. I don't believe that."
How Arkansas used its pitching staff at the SEC Tournament was evidence that the Razorbacks felt they could move up the seeding line.
In recent years, Van horn has shied away from putting heavy workloads on his best pitchers at the Hoover Met. In 2024, Hagen Smith only threw two innings and 36 pitches during an elimination game.
This year, Van Horn used Gabe Gaeckle for six innings to finish off a victory over Texas. Ethan McElvain logged a season high 4⅓ innings in a win over Auburn.
"It makes you wonder about the tournament a little bit. What’s it all about," Van Horn said. "Maybe we rethink it in the future on how we handle it and how we pitch it, how we play it."
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What Dave Van Horn said about Arkansas baseball's home regional snub
Continue reading...
