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FAYETTEVILLE — Over the weekend, Arkansas fans once again proved they are among the best in college baseball.

Lining up for the Hog Pen in the wee hours of the morning and packing 10,000-plus inside Baum-Walker Stadium have become the norm in Fayetteville, but the way they treated Central Connecticut really sets them apart.

When the Blue Devils were announced as the No. 4 seed for the Fayetteville Regional, the initial reaction was, “Who?” A school from the northeastern part of the U.S. whose football team plays at the FCS level, many fans and media expected them to be a cupcake.

Head coach Dave Van Horn even went against his usual strategy and held ace Isaiah Campbell back for Game 2, but Central Connecticut earned some respect by preventing a blowout in an 11-5 loss in the opener.

The magic happened Saturday. Playing Cal, a Pac-12 school led by reigning Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Vaughn, the Blue Devils did something they had never done before: win an NCAA Tournament game. (It was also the second ever for the Northeast Conference, with the first ironically being Bryant beating Arkansas in 2013.)

They countered every punch thrown by the Golden Bears before throwing the knockout blow in the form of a three-run home run by Dave Matthews.

While most games not featuring the host school draw only a handful of fans at regionals, more than a thousand still showed up for Central Connecticut’s games and Arkansas fans adopted it as their second school. It was very much like March Madness, when neutral observers gradually begin rooting for Cinderella as it closes in on an upset.

After the game, the Blue Devils were treated like royalty. Tailgaters outside the stadium offered them free beer - don’t worry NCAA, they didn’t accept - and a young fan even returned Matthews’ home run ball. (As you can see in the tweets below, he was properly rewarded the next day.)

When they returned to Baum-Walker Stadium that night, fans went nuts. Some folks in the Hog Pen yelled for the players to join them at one point and they received a standing ovation before learning how to call the Hogs.

“It was just an unreal experience,” second baseman Chandler Debrosse said. “They invited us out there and we got to do all the chants with them. They let us raise the flags and everything, so it was just an awesome experience all around.”

“I just thought it was awesome that they were so open to being friendly to us,” pitcher Mike Appel said. “It was overall just a great experience this weekend and how much they love baseball down here. They made us feel welcome.”

During Central Connecticut’s second elimination game Sunday, Arkansas fans continued to cheer it on and even gave the Blue Devils a Hog call when TCU made a pitching change. They also gave them a standing ovation when their run finally ended with a respectable 9-5 loss.

On Twitter, there seems to be a desire for Central Connecticut to return to Fayetteville soon for a non-conference series. Baseball scheduling is a giant puzzle and there’s no telling if such a matchup will ever happen, but it’s obvious the feeling is mutual.

A person with the Central Connecticut program said Sunday how much fun he and the entire team had at the regional and perhaps summed it up best with this quote: “I told my wife this morning, ‘I never knew I needed to come to Arkansas, but now I don’t want to leave.’”

The Blue Devils came to Fayetteville with about 60 fans, but head back home to New Britain, Conn., with a few thousand more.