Leading up to this year’s College World Series, Dave Van Horn and Arkansas find themselves on a couple of lists that they'd rather not be associated with.
Both the coach and the school are still searching for their first national championship despite being frequent visitors to Omaha. In fact, if they don’t accomplish the feat this year, they’ll both be tied for the third-most appearances in the college World Series without a title.
This is the Razorbacks’ 11th trip to Omaha, which moved them ahead of Northern Colorado and into a tie with North Carolina among schools who’ve never won the event. The only schools with more are Florida State (23) and Clemson (12).
The Tar Heels and Razorbacks have each finished runner-up twice, with Arkansas finishing second in 1979 and 2018, while the Seminoles have been runner-up three times. Clemson has never made the title game.
Including his two trips at Nebraska and now seven at Arkansas, Van Horn has taken nine teams to the College World Series as a head coach. That moved him ahead of Ron Polk (Georgia Southern/Mississippi State/Georgia) and into a tie with Northern Colorado’s Pete Butler.
Long-time coach Mike Martin, the all-time winningest coach in DI history, famously made it to Omaha 17 times only to come up shy of the title each time. Gary Ward also never won a championship despite 10 trips to the College World Series.
It isn’t unheard of for a school to get off that list, as Mississippi State finally won its first title in its 12th appearance just last season, but it’s uncharted territory for Van Horn.
Based on research by HawgBeat, the longest wait was by legendary Texas coach Cliff Gustafson, who didn’t win his first national championship until his seventh appearance in the College World Series. He ended up winning two titles in 17 trips to Omaha.
No First-Timers
One thing that jumps out about the field at the 2022 College World Series is that none of the participants are making their first trip to Omaha. That possibility ended in the super regionals when Texas broke East Carolina’s hearts and Oklahoma upset Virginia Tech.
All eight teams have been to the College World Series this century and six of them participated in one of the last seven. The longest drought was by Notre Dame, which last made it in 2002, followed by Oklahoma, which last made it in 2010.
Texas and Stanford are making back-to-back appearances and have now reached the College World Series 38 and 18 times, respectively. The Longhorns’ 38 trips are the most all-time, well ahead of Miami’s 25.
This is the 11th trip for Arkansas and Oklahoma, seventh trip for Texas A&M, sixth trip for Auburn and Ole Miss, and third trip for Notre Dame. Of the eight teams, only Texas (six times), Stanford (twice) and Oklahoma (twice) have won it all.
Preseason Rankings
Some of them took very different paths to Omaha, but five of the eight teams in this year’s College World Series were ranked in the top eight in the preseason Rivals Composite Poll, which combines the rankings of all six major college baseball polls.
Texas, Stanford, Arkansas, Notre Dame and Ole Miss were ranked as high as No. 5 in at least one of the individual preseason polls and checked in at No. 1, No. 4, No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 in the Composite Poll, respectively.
Of the three preseason top-8 teams who didn’t make it to Omaha, No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 5 LSU each lost a one-run game in the regional final that would have moved them on to the super regionals. No. 3 Mississippi State missed the postseason entirely.
Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Auburn each made the College World Series despite not being in the top 25 of a single preseason poll.
Other Tidbits on the Field
~For the fifth time in College World Series history, half of the field is made up of teams from the SEC. The conference also accomplished the feat in 1997, 2004, 2015 and 2019. The rest of college baseball has done that just once — the ACC did it in 2006.
~All four SEC teams are from the Western division. It’s the second time the SEC West produced four College World Series teams in the same year, as Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State made it in 1997. The only overlapping team between that year and this year is Auburn, which means all seven SEC West teams are part of that statistic.
~On top of the four SEC teams, it’s worth mentioning that Oklahoma and Texas are set to join the SEC in a couple of years, so six of the eight teams will likely be in the same division in 2026.
~One SEC team noticeably absent from Omaha is No. 1 Tennessee, as the Volunteers were knocked off by Notre Dame in the super regionals. It’s the third straight NCAA Tournament in which the No. 1 overall seed failed to reach the College World Series, as 2019 UCLA and 2021 Arkansas also lost in the supers. The No. 1 overall seed hasn’t won the national championship since Miami (Fla.) in 1999, the first year of the current format.
~It wasn’t just Tennessee who got upset along the way. No. 2 Stanford and No. 5 Texas A&M are the only top-8 seeds who made it to Omaha and only No. 9 Texas and No. 14 Auburn made it as top-16 seeds who hosted regionals. It’s the fewest regional hosts to reach the College World Series since 2016 and the fewest top-8 seeds to make it since 2014.
~With Ole Miss winning the Coral Gables Regional and Hattiesburg Super Regional, this is the fifth straight NCAA Tournament in which a 3 seed in a regional made it all the way to Omaha.
