OMAHA, Neb. — Some may have been surprised by Ole Miss’ run through the postseason, but Dave Van Horn is not in that group.
The veteran Arkansas coach knew how talented the Rebels were after taking them down in a weekend series earlier in the season, despite a 7-14 SEC record. Even though he felt they were deserving, he wasn’t sure they’d make the field.
Sure enough, Ole Miss won eight of its final 10 regular-season games, snuck into the NCAA Tournament as one of the last four teams in and haven’t lost since. The Rebels swept the Coral Gables Regional and Hattiesburg Super Regional before taking down Auburn to open up the College World Series.
“Our comment has always been that if they get it going, they're as good as anyone in the country,” Van Horn said. “They just went into a bit of a slump… It's one through nine, there aren't any easy outs there. They have a bonafide ace and a really good lefty, who is kind of an ace as well that we'll be facing tomorrow.”
Not only have they not lost in the postseason, but the Rebels have been easily dispatching their opponents, outscoring them 51-12.
As a team, they have a solid slash of .300/.400/.498 — significantly better than their .259/.344/.473 slash in SEC play.
Where Ole Miss has really thrived is on the mound. After posting a 5.68 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 30 SEC games, it has a 1.83 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in the NCAA Tournament.
Hogs vs. SEC in CWS
One of the big-picture storylines of this year’s College World Series was the fact that half of the field — for the fifth time ever — was made up of SEC teams. On top of that, Oklahoma and Texas, which are set to join the SEC in the next few years, also made it to Omaha.
The last four times the SEC had four representatives, including this year, Arkansas was one of the teams. Not surprisingly, that has led to the Razorbacks matching up with SEC foes, with Saturday’s game against Ole Miss to be the seventh occurrence.
In 2018, Arkansas beat Florida 5-2 to advance to the finals. Back in 2012, it beat South Carolina to get within one win of the finals, only to lose two straight to the Gamecocks. The Razorbacks also reached the semifinals in 2009, but both of their losses were to LSU.
“In our league, we're always going to run into SEC teams here it seems like,” Van Horn said. “It seems like two, three or four teams make it almost every year. That's just the way it is. You're going to face them. If you don't see them right out of the gate, you'll see them.”
Road Warriors
This has been an unusual NCAA Tournament because home field advantage didn’t seem to matter, as six of the eight College World Series participants won super regionals on the road.
That means only two top-eight national seeds made it to Omaha and only two other regional hosts, or top-16 seeds, made it. All four were spread out in the bracket and faced 2-seeds or worse in their opening games.
Interestingly, all four lower-seeded teams — all of whom were the designated road team — took down the national seeds. In addition to Arkansas beating No. 2 Stanford and Ole Miss beating No. 14 Auburn, Notre Dame beat No. 9 Texas and Oklahoma beat No. 5 Texas A&M on Friday.
“You get used to being on the road and you get used to being uncomfortable, I guess,” Van Horn said. “Basically, the first four games, the visitor won every game. That first base dugout had a little bit of luck going on over there.”
Webb in Leadoff
One of several moves Van Horn made that sparked Arkansas’ run to the College World Series was moving Braydon Webb into the leadoff spot.
He had a brief two-game stint there earlier in the season, in which he went 1 for 10, but moved back into that role beginning in the Florida game at the SEC Tournament.
Since then, the super senior has hit safely in all eight games, going 11 for 37 (.297) with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, eight RBIs, six walks and a hit by pitch.
“It really doesn't matter where I hit,” Webb said. “It's just the playoffs. You can feel it in the air kind of thing. Everybody knows that every game is important and could potentially be our last, and we don't want to stop playing with each other. So everybody's locked in from the first to the last pitch.”
Noland Joins Exclusive Club
Not only did Connor Noland’s spectacular start against Stanford put Arkansas in the winner’s bracket, but it also put him in an unusual, exclusive club.
He became just the fourth Division I player in history to win a game in the College World Series and as a college football quarterback. The latter of those happened in 2018, when Noland led the Razorbacks to a win over Tulsa.
The others to accomplish the two-sport feat were Texas’ James Street, Texas A&M’s Jeff Granger and Tennessee’s Todd Helton.
Another Father’s Day in Omaha
With this being his ninth trip to the College World Series, spending Father’s Day in Omaha is nothing new for Van Horn. Luckily for him, he’s joined by his two daughters.
“It’s great,” Van Horn said. “They’re all here. We’re all going to go down and take a picture in front of the statue. That’s what I’ve been told I’m doing. That’ll be cool later.”
