FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks' super-hot start and sublime home record put their baseball team in prime position for a postseason run with the No. 5 national seed.
Now the Hogs (43-14) hope sealing up home-field advantage through the NCAA super regionals at Baum-Walker Stadium, where they are 33-3 this season, will help them shake off a late-season slump and make another push toward the College World Series.
The Razorbacks open the NCAA Fayetteville Regional at 2 p.m. Friday against Southeast Missouri State (34-25), winner of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The nightcap between second-seeded Louisiana Tech (45-17) and Kansas State (32-24) is scheduled for 7 p.m., though rain is in the forecast for much of the day.
Arkansas announced Thursday evening it will start senior left-hander Mason Molina (4-2, 4.04 ERA) rather than ace left-hander Hagen Smith (9-1, 1.48) in the opener, while the Redhawks will go with lefty Haden Dow (4-1, 4.89), their standard weekend opener.
Molina struggled down the stretch with 9 runs allowed on 9 hits and 11 walks in his last three starts, but he has pitched well out of the bullpen in his past two outings, with 5 shutout innings, 1 hit and no walks allowed.
One starting pitching option the Razorbacks did not have was junior right-hander Brady Tygart, who was not included on the 27-man regional roster after he developed an issue in his right shoulder area after his last outing. Coach Dave Van Horn said it was not a ligament injury and that his availability for the postseason beyond the regional is up in the air.
At news conferences earlier Thursday, Van Horn and his protege, Southeast Missouri State Coach Andy Sawyers, were coy about naming their starter, mainly because Van Horn didn't want the Redhawks to have their batting practice, which was 3 hours and 15 minutes after the Hogs', knowing the opposing pitcher.
"I'm going to wait until the teams have all practiced," Van Horn said. "Bottom line. Let them practice without knowing who they're facing. There you go."
Sawyers said in his pre-practice news conference, "Yeah, we know who we're going to throw, I'm just not going to say anything until we know who they're throwing honestly."
The Razorbacks came back from an 0-2 stint at the SEC Tournament and had two full off days and an eight-day layoff between games, easily their longest of the season.
"I was actually telling some of the guys in the locker room it feels like it's been three months since we've played just because you play so many games in baseball in a season," Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall said. "It was nice to be able to get those days off."
Southeast Missouri State needed a sweep of Tennessee-Martin in its regular-season finale to clinch a double-bye in the conference tournament, and the Redhawks needed to win the OVC Tournament to secure an NCAA bid, so they have been in a must-win mentality for a couple of weeks while going 12-2 down the stretch.
"We played great that last weekend and ended up winning eight of our last nine conference games and took down the tournament, so we've been playing in that mindset for a couple of weeks now," Sawyers said.
The Redhawks are making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in the past four years but are still seeking a breakthrough win at a regional under Sawyers.
"We're super happy to be here," he said. "We've played in three of the last four of these things now. I'm hopeful at some point we can break through and win one of these things and come out on the right side of it. But that's what we're here for."
Arkansas has advanced out of its own regional four of the past five times it has hosted since 2018, but last year was the exception. Hard-hitting TCU beat the Razorbacks 20-5 and 12-4 to end the season for the SEC co-champions.
Smith gave up eight earned runs while posting three outs in the first of those losses in the worst start of his career.
"It's a new year, new team," Smith said. "Definitely none of us are even thinking about that honestly, just looking forward to playing that first game versus SEMO and just going and attacking them."
Arkansas did not pitch, field, or hit in the clutch very well at the SEC Tournament last week in Hoover, Ala, where the Hogs lost to South Carolina (6-5) and Kentucky (9-6) to drop three consecutive games for the first time all season.
Sawyers said he reads nothing into the latest action for the Hogs.
"Nobody cares about that," Sawyers said. "If you're a national seed, no one cares what happens in Hoover, and certainly not the Razorbacks. Having to go play that conference tournament when you're already in the tournament and already a national seed, that's a 100% afterthought.
"You look how they pitched that thing. They weren't pitching to win it. They were pitching to set themselves up for this weekend."
The Razorbacks have a number of hitters -- pretty much everyone outside of Stovall (.349, 9 home runs, 38 RBI), catcher Hudson White (.288, 6, 26), outfielder Peyton Holt (.309, 6, 23) and maybe third baseman Jared Sprauge-Lott (.295, 8, 25) -- who are trying to battle out of slumps.
Van Horn said he's noticed a different edge to his team in the workouts since the return from the SEC Tournament. He said the postseason highs and lows from the past couple of years should help the Hogs in the coming days.
"I don't know why those experiences wouldn't help you," he said. "I don't feel like anybody's ready to go home yet. I don't feel like they've checked it in, mentally. That's not what I've seen the last few days. We'll see how it goes on the field, and again, if we play good, we have a chance. If we don't, we won't get out of here. It's just the way it is."
Arkansas outfielder Peyton Holt makes a throw during practice Thursday. The Razorbacks open the NCAA Fayetteville Regional against Southeast Missouri State on Friday. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
