If you consider the turbulence of the NCAA Regional round, Arkansas had a particularly routine weekend and shook off two seasons of disappointment at Baum-Walker Stadium.  

By flushing North Dakota State and then Creighton twice, the Razorbacks emerged unscathed and motivated for Tennessee in this weekend’s Super Regional in Fayetteville. The Vols — three weeks removed from a season finale series loss there — return this weekend with Tony Vitello having designs on improving his 2-11 record against former boss Dave Van Horn.

Tennessee, the No. 14 national seed, had to take two of three games from Wake Forest to forge its path ahead. Volunteer fans relished the chance to respond to the Deacons after they forced a do-or-die Monday night.

And ultimately, the Vols slipped out of Knoxville with a sigh of relief. Their composure wasn’t perfect, though: Starting catcher Cannon Peebles was tossed in the eighth inning of a six-run rout for running his mouth in the vicinity of the home plate umpire.

Tennessee flexed a lot of muscle in its home park. The Volunteers are one of the nation’s most powerful teams, and their ace, Liam Doyle, is itching to put aside his worst effort of the year three weekends ago in Baum-Walker. Arkansas torched the likely Top 10 pick for eight runs in three innings of erratic work.

In the Fayetteville Regional, the Hogs pounded a few bombs themselves but also strung together some runs in workmanlike fashion. The Razorbacks shook off a couple of fielding gaffes with largely excellent defense and pitched well up and down the staff.

Yes, NDSU was the worst team in the 64-team field by all measures, and Creighton didn’t have much pop. That scarcely matters to a Razorback coach and team that had its 2024 season end to Southeast Missouri State.

Shaking this recent Regional bugaboo is critical for the Razorbacks, who hit the 46-win mark and would get to 50 with a couple of wins in Omaha. Van Horn’s 2021 group hit that mark but stalled there prior to even getting to Nebraska, losing two of three to NC State at home.

That’s just one objective this team has, all of them being part of the underlying fabric that Arkansas finally feels both deserving and qualified for national title status. Yeah, I said it: This team is one of the betting faves for a reason, and it’s because the Hogs are the most complete group in the country.

And the one element that might have held them back was the starting pitching. Zach Root seems to be in his finest form and dominated the Blue Jays in the second game of the Regional. The next day, Gage Wood set a career mark with 13 strikeouts and Gabe Gaeckle followed with seven for 20 in the clincher. 

It’s a team that has the prohibitive Golden Spikes Award frontrunner and a certain early first-rounder in shortstop Wehiwa Aloy. There are eight men in that lineup who have 10-plus homers, and nobody among the regulars is hitting below .280. Kuhio Aloy led the SEC in RBIs, Cam Kozeal is cooking after a big Regional, and Brent Iredale, Charles Davalan and Ryder Helfrick continue to do damage.

There’s simply nothing really wrong with this team … save for the pall of postseason misery that has tended to blanket the program ever since a foul popup in June 2018 fell in foul ground. Of course, none of these players relate to that and maybe none of them has ever seen that fateful play (I sure as hell refuse to watch it anymore).

Tennessee’s Andrew Fischer is a slugger and a perfect candidate to pitch around if the Hogs can afford to do it this weekend. The Volunteers do boast a steady and productive lineup, as well as a competent slew of pitchers. That 16-14 SEC record includes a bevy of close games.

It’s also a 16-14 record for a reason, which is that Vitello has been unable to find the means and the manpower to win a tight series. Tennessee struggled on Sundays, and Arkansas closed their regular season by demolishing them in the deciding game of the May series.

My optimism for this team is such that the nervous feeling about this weekend is muted. Vitello, equal parts insightful and intractable, got his title before Van Horn did last summer. That gave him more than a measure of satisfaction after his onetime superior has essentially owned him in regular season contests.

This, of course, is very different. Arkansas’s avenue to Titletown opened considerably when No. 1 and No. 2 (Vandy and Texas, respectively) gagged their Regionals. The only other conference team to weather a Regional well was Auburn, the fourth seed, and they will be dealing with a feisty Coastal Carolina. LSU had to fight like hell to beat Little Rock (more on that to close this Pearls) and Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi State and Ole Miss weren’t as lucky. 

Arkansas is peaking at the opportune time. Baseball is a volatile game and any day can shift tides in a single series.

This time, the Hogs have all the elements working. Tennessee is tough as hell for sure, but Arkansas is hungry. Game 1: Hogs 6, Vols 4; Game 2: Hogs 11, Vols 7

And speaking of Little Rock. …

What an enthralling effort by those Trojans. Chris Curry, one of the most respected coaches in the region, delivered dugout interviews with aplomb as his lineup continued to deliver after finding its groove in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. 

LR was all of 19-32 entering that field, losers of 13 out of 14 and seemingly ready to just pack it up for ’25. All they did thereafter was deliver seven wins in eight games, getting vengeance on the host Tigers for a first-game 7-0 whitewashing and pushing them to the brink in the finale.

LSU eked out a 10-6 victory to escape. Again, it’s a competent and deep Bayou Bengal team and the Trojans had them nervous for a whole weekend.

Curry, a Conway product who played collegiately for Mississippi State, did some of his early coaching work under Van Horn, too. A former catcher, he unsurprisingly knows how to keep an even-keel approach while his group learns how to win together. 

What may have looked like a lost season became something magical and potentially of massive benefit on the recruiting side. ESPN’s broadcast crew effused praise on the guts and hustle of the Trojans. The second-most viewed Regional game ever, Monday night proved that Little Rock’s got a viable collegiate team as the Trojans built a 5-1 lead before LSU began its rally in the late innings.

Arkansas, the state, had a fine showing to open June. It’ll be up to the Razorbacks to carry the torch to and through Omaha, but do not be surprised if the Trojans are making noise again in the postseason very soon.