FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Fresh off their third College World Series appearance in four seasons, the Razorbacks will open the 2023 campaign as D1Baseball’s No. 8 team in the nation.
Last year was a rollercoaster for head coach Dave Van Horn’s squad. The Diamond Hogs rode the regular season success of 2021 to a No. 2 ranking to begin 2022, bouncing around the top 10 for the entirety of the regular year.
Arkansas fell to No. 13 after dropping consecutive series to finish off the SEC slate, and an 0-2 stint at the conference tournament cost it a chance to host a regional. The Razorbacks rode a magical June to the CWS semifinals, ending the season as the No. 4 team behind Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Ole Miss, all of which were semifinalists.
To begin 2023, the Hogs join eight other teams from the SEC in the top 25 — No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 7 Florida, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 20 Alabama and No. 23 South Carolina.
Arkansas was ranked No. 4 in Perfect Game's preseason top 25 and No. 7 in Collegiate Baseball's preseason rankings.
Scrimmages are expected to resume for Arkansas later this month ahead of their trip to Arlington, Texas, for the College Baseball Showdown, which will feature matchups against No. 9 Oklahoma State and No. 15 TCU. The first matchup will be Feb. 17 against Texas.
Full rankings (Jan. 17)
1. LSU
2. Tennessee
3. Stanford
4. Ole Miss
5. Texas A&M
6. Wake Forest
7. Florida
8. Arkansas
9. Oklahoma State
10. Vanderbilt
11. East Carolina
12. North Carolina
13. Maryland
14. Virginia Tech
15. TCU
16. Louisville
17. UCLA
18. Southern Miss
19. Virginia
20. Alabama
21. NC State
22. Miami (FL)
23. South Carolina
24. Texas Tech
25. Oregon
- CB
- OLB
- DT
- SDE
- WR
- S
- C
- SDE
- ILB
- DT
