HawgBeat's coverage of the Razorbacks' Road to Redemption in Omaha is brought to you by Arkansas Oral Surgery, which has offices located in Conway and Russellville.
For the third straight year, Arkansas has earned the right to stay home for the postseason. The 2019 Fayetteville Regional features California, TCU and Central Connecticut State.
Before play begins Friday, HawgBeat is taking a closer look at all three visiting teams. First up is the No. 2 seed, Cal…
Record: 32-18 (17-11 Pac-12)
Cal finished fourth in the Pac-12 behind NCAA Regional hosts UCLA (No. 1), Stanford (No. 11) and Oregon State (No. 16). Those three teams were separated by only three games in the standings, while the Golden Bears finished 3.5 games behind the Beavers to lead a clear second-tier in the conference that also included Arizona State and Arizona. The Pac-12 does not play a conference tournament.
Head coach: Mike Neu (2nd season)
This is Neu’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in his fourth overall season as a Division I head coach. After a two-year stint at Pacific, where he went 40-65, he was hired at Cal to replace long-time coach David Esquer - who took over at Cal’s rival and his alma mater, Stanford. It was a return to Berkley for Neu, as he had been the Golden Bears’ pitching coach from 2012-2015. Before that, he was a head coach at the JUCO level.
As a player, Neu helped Miami (Fla.) win the 1999 College World Series, posting three saves in Omaha. He earned All-America honors after leading the nation with 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings. As a professional, he broke into the big leagues with the Oakland A’s in 2003.
Postseason History
The California baseball program made national headlines in 2010 when the university announced it was one of five sports that would be eliminated at the school because of a severe budget crisis. However, huge fundraising efforts saved the program and in 2011, the Golden Bears made it to the College World Series for the first time since 1992.
This year is just their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament since that magical run, though. In 2015, Cal was sent to the College Station Regional as the No. 3 seed and actually won its first two games, but lost two straight to host Texas A&M in the regional final.
Cal has two national championships in its history, coming in 1947 and 1957. It also made the College World Series in 1980, 1988 and 1992.
Common Opponents
LSU
Cal traveled to Baton Rouge, La., the weekend before it began Pac-12 play and lost two of three games against the Tigers. The series began in heartbreaking fashion for the Golden Bears, as they seemed to wrap up a 3-2 win with a strikeout, but Hal Hughes reached on a wild pitch. In typical LSU fashion, Josh Smith followed with a walk-off two-run single.
The last two games were part of a seven-inning doubleheader. Cal scored five runs in the sixth inning to even the series with a 5-2 win and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the rubber match, only to see LSU score four runs over the next three innings to win 5-4. That means both of the Golden Bears’ losses were by one run.
Arkansas won its series against LSU at Baum-Walker Stadium by taking the first two games 14-4 and 11-6. A sweep was within reach until Antoine Duplantis hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, giving the Tigers a 3-2 win in the finale. It was the Razorbacks’ first series win over LSU since 2011.
Southern Cal
The very next weekend, Cal opened up Pac-12 play by hosting USC. Game 1 of the series was tied 4-4 through seven innings, but the Trojans broke it open with two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to win 9-4. USC clinched the series by scoring one run in the third inning of Game 2 and making it stick for a 1-0 victory.
Cal managed to salvage the final game despite giving up four runs in the ninth inning. The Trojans actually had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with one out, but the Golden Bears survived.
Arkansas traveled out west early in the season and won its series in Los Angeles, taking the first two games 6-3 and 8-6. In Game 3, the Razorbacks forced extras with a run in the ninth and then took the lead in the 10th on a Dominic Fletcher home run, but the Trojans answered with a walk-off homer to win it 6-4.
Projected Starting Lineup
C - Korey Lee (jr.): .340/.422/.619, 12 2B, 14 HR, 56 RBI, 26 BB/42 K, 1-1 SB
1B - Andrew Vaughn (jr.): .387/.549/.728, 14 2B, 15 HR, 49 RBI, 58 BB/32 K, 2-2 SB
2B - Darren Baker (so.): .299/.359/.323, 3 2B, 1 3B, 18 RBI, 19 BB/31 K, 19-19 SB
3B - Quentin Selma (so.): .322/.380/.612, 14 2B, 10 HR, 27 RBI, 12 BB/32 K
SS - Sam Wesniak (so.): .265/.350/.470, 4 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 36 RBI, 20 BB/47 K, 3-4 SB
LF - Connor Mack (so.): .224/.278/.367, 6 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 5 BB/23 K, 3-3 SB
CF - Cameron Eden (jr.): .365/.434/.563, 8 2B, 3 3B, 8 HR, 34 RBI, 22 BB/42 K, 19-23 SB
RF - Max Flower (jr.): .290/.352/.420, 8 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 29 RBI, 19 BB/54 K, 4-5 SB
DH - Grant Holman (fr.): .269/.363/.463, 9 2B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 14 BB/36 K
The Ace
There is no doubt that Jared Horn has been Cal’s top pitcher this season. The junior right-hander turned in the best season of his career, which now includes three years as a part of the Golden Bears’ weekend rotation.
After posting an ERA of 4.64 as a freshman and 6.15 as a sophomore, he went 6-1 with a 1.82 ERA and 0.96 WHIP - which rank 15th and 21st nationally, respectively - this year. Horn is not much of a strikeout pitcher, as he has only 56 in 69 1/3 innings, but he is holding opponents to a .200 batting average.
Although he threw a complete game against Arizona State in his last start, Horn should be plenty rested for the Fayetteville Regional because he didn’t pitch against Washington. He was slated to start the regular-season finale, but it got rained out.
However, Horn isn’t necessarily a lock to start against TCU because he’s typically been Cal’s Game 2 starter. That extra rest and the importance of winning their first game, though, could prompt the Golden Bears to move him up in the rotation.
“We have to consider leading with Horn,” Neu told The Daily Californian. “He’s been our best guy and we have to win those first two games to give ourselves the best chance.
“TCU will be a tough matchup and they have a really good arm, so we’ll have to look at it. We’ll see what the matchups are, but I think that’s definitely a possibility.”
(UPDATE: Cal will start Horn in Friday's game against TCU.)
The Stud
Cal is led by first baseman Andrew Vaughn, the defending Golden Spikes Award winner and Perfect Game/Rawlings National Player of the Year. Those accolades came after he hit .402 with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs while striking out just 18 times in 199 at bats.
Although his numbers have fallen off some this year, Vaughn is still an elite player. He’s a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy again and is projected to be a top-five pick in next week’s MLB Draft. In fact, MLB Pipeline rates him as the third best overall prospect.
“I just want to focus on playing with my team, being out there with my guys - that’s the biggest thing,” Vaughn told The Daily Californian. “That’s the most fun. Draft stuff is in the back pocket. It’s going to happen, but playing baseball is way more fun right now.”
Vaughn has 50 career home runs and needs just one more to move into sole possession of second place on Cal’s all-time list. He needs eight to break Xavier Nady’s record set during the Gorilla Ball era of college baseball, from 1998-2000.
In addition to his power, Vaughn has shown he isn’t afraid to take a free base, either. His 58 walks are already a Cal single-season record, breaking a mark set back in 1992.
Famous Father
Baseball fans have probably already seen Cal’s second baseman on a diamond in a big moment, even if they don’t realize it. Now in his second season with the Golden Bears, Darren Baker first appeared on the national scene as a three-year-old.
He is the son of former Major League Baseball player and manager Dusty Baker. Serving as the batboy for his father’s San Francisco Giants team, Baker was famously swooped up by J.T. Snow during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series when he tried to go pick up a bat while the ball was still in play.
Former SEC QB
Another name on Cal’s roster that Arkansas fans probably recognize is Brandon McIlwain, a former four-star dual-threat quarterback who began his career at South Carolina.
He started three football games for the Gamecocks after appearing in eight baseball games as an early enrollee in 2016 before deciding to transfer out west. After sitting out a year, McIlwain is once again a two-sport athlete.
Splitting time at quarterback for the Golden Bears, he was turnover prone and eventually moved to a wide receiver/running back role, which he’ll continue in 2019. On the baseball field, McIlwain won the starting center field job and hit .258 with two home runs and eight RBIs before suffering a broken foot 20 games into the season.
The injury was believed to end his season, but he has started taking batting practice and will be evaluated later this week.
“He’s definitely closer than he’s been,” Neu told The Daily Californian. “We’ll work with our medical staff and see where he’s at.”
The Arkansas-Cal Connection
Considering the schools are separated by more than 1,500 miles and play in conferences that don’t typically square off, Arkansas and California don’t have much of a series history.
If they match up in the Fayetteville Regional, it will be just the 10th all-time meeting between the schools. The last time they met, Cal swept a doubleheader that was part of the Cal Baseball Classic in 2014. Before that, they played a home-and-home series in 2009 and 2010, with Arkansas winning two of three games both years. Before that, the Golden Bears actually ended the Razorbacks’ 1980 season at the Midwest Regional in Tulsa.
There is an added connection between the schools in Jimmy Bosco, who played his freshman year at Cal before transferring to Arkansas amid the chaos of the Golden Bears’ potentially ending their baseball program.
Bosco had a reserve role on the Razorbacks’ 2012 College World Series team, hitting .262 with four home runs in 44 appearances. That was his lone season in Fayetteville before transferring to Menlo College, an NAIA school in Oregon, where he earned NAIA West Group Player of the Year honors and became a 13th-round draft pick.
In other sports, Arkansas beat No. 7 Cal by a score of 51-20 at War Memorial Stadium to open the 1971 season in their only matchup in football. In basketball, they have played three times, with the Golden Bears beating the Razorbacks twice in the 2013-14 season - in the Maui Invitational and NIT - and Arkansas winning their matchup in the 1986 Rainbow Classic in Hawaii.
The basketball team also has its version of Bosco, as 7-foot-3 Connor Vanover played at Cal last season but has since transferred back home to Arkansas.
Stat Comparison - Arkansas | Cal (national rank, out of 297 teams)
RPI: No. 6 | No. 30
Batting average: .299 (23rd) | .297 (24th)
Slugging percentage: .491 (10th) | .498 (8th)
On-base percentage: .398 (19th) | .383 (54th)
Home runs: 78 (12th) | 80 (t-9th)
Runs/game: 7.5 (16th) | 6.8 (44th)
ERA: 3.96 (50th) | 4.13 (60th)
WHIP: 1.27 (23rd) | 1.37 (61st)
Strikeouts/9 innings: 9.6 (23rd) | 7.4 (226th)
Strikeout-to-walk ratio: 2.48 (40th) | 2.04 (100th)
Fielding percentage: .970 (114th) | .971 (113th)
Stolen bases/game: 1.22 (89th) | 1.08 (123rd)
