UPDATE: The NCAA announced tonight that Arkansas will be one of the 16 regional site hosts for next weekend’s NCAA Regionals which are slated to begin Friday.
Fresh off their fourth Southeastern Conference Tournament final appearance, the Razorbacks will be making their 28th appearance overall and 14th in the last 15 years. It is also the sixth time Fayetteville has been selected as a host and first since 2010.
The Hogs (42-17) entered last weekend ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation and have won seven of their last 10 games, including a run to the SEC Tournament final. Arkansas will be back in the NCAA Tournament after missing it last year for the first time since 2001. Now, the Razorbacks have made a 16-game turnaround and won 40 or more games for seventh time in the last 10 seasons.
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. The field of 64 will be announced on Monday at 11 a.m. in a show airing on ESPN2.
By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team field.
–Â
HOOVER, Ala. — The 13th-ranked Arkansas Razorback baseball team saw its magical SEC Tournament run come to a close Sunday afternoon as LSU defeated Arkansas by a score of 4-2, to win the championship at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Arkansas got a solo home run from sophomore Eric Cole in the third inning, his second in as many games, but the offense couldn’t get much else going as it only managed five hits off LSU starting pitcher Eric Walker.
Cole finished the game 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. Over the course of the five games Arkansas played, Cole was one of the Hogs’ most consistent hitters, going 9-for-22 (.409) with six run scored, five RBIs and two home runs. His hit total tied for the second highest out of all tournament players, trailing teammate Jax Biggers, who finished with 10.
Juniors Luke Bonfield, Chad Spanberger, and sophomore pitcher Kacey Murphy were all named to the SEC All-Tournament team with Spanberger taking home Most Valuable Player honors. Spanberger finished the tournament as the leader in RBIs (10), doubles (3), home runs (5), and total bases (26).
LSU scored three of its runs on just three hits in the top of the fourth inning off Arkansas starter Kevin Kopps. Only one of the runs was earned as the Hogs committed a key error at the start of the inning that led to five of the first six batters to reach base.
Kopps ended up being saddled with the loss, his first of the year, but he gave Arkansas a solid start, allowing just three hits and no walks in his three innings of work.
Matt Cronin, Cannon Chadwick, Josh Alberius, and Dominic Taccolini all came out of the bullpen in the final six innings and kept LSU within striking distance for the rest of the day. The Tigers only got one more run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Nick Coomes that scored Antoine Duplantis.
Centerfielder Dominic Fletcher came up throwing and nearly beat Duplantis at the plate, but his slide came in just ahead of Grant Koch’s tag to make it 4-1.
Arkansas made things interesting in the ninth inning when Koch reached on a walk and Evan Lee reached on a hit by pitch. Cole then singled home a run to make it 4-2 and bring Spanberger to the plate with two outs. LSU decided to intentionally walk the hard-hitting first baseman to load the bases for Bonfield. Unfortunately, Bonfield hit into a game-ending groundout leaving the tying run in scoring position.
Arkansas will now wait to see where it lands in the NCAA Tournament field, which will be decided on Monday afternoon at 11 a.m. on ESPN2. The regional host announcement will come tonight at 7:30 p.m.
