HawgBeat – 2022 regional hosts announced: Arkansas will hit the road for postseason

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Arkansas will formally need to hit the street for the 2022 NCAA Match.

As anticipated, Fayetteville will not be certainly one of 16 places that can host a regional, the NCAA introduced Sunday. Will probably be the primary time since 2015 that the Razorbacks made the match and didn’t play a regional at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Regardless of successful 38 video games, together with 18 in convention play, and ending third total within the SEC, Arkansas was not thought-about a doable host college due to its poor RPI rating. Getting into Sunday’s video games, it was right down to No. 41 within the RPI — properly exterior the standard vary for regional hosts.

Among the many faculties chosen as host websites, Oklahoma State is the closest in proximity to Arkansas, as Stillwater is only a 3-hour drive west from Fayetteville. That’s the vacation spot for the Razorbacks within the projections from Baseball America and D1Baseball that got here out Sunday morning.

4 SEC groups — Tennessee, Texas A&M, Auburn and Florida — had been chosen as regional hosts. Arkansas won’t be despatched to any of these regionals, however the different 12 are all potentialities.

Along with Oklahoma State, non-SEC groups chosen as hosts embody Texas, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Oregon State, East Carolina, Southern Miss, Louisville, Stanford and Georgia Southern.

Regardless of its current success resulting in internet hosting regionals every of the final 4 NCAA Tournaments, hitting the street is nothing new for Arkansas and head coach Dave Van Horn.

In reality, the final time the Razorbacks performed a regional exterior of Fayetteville, they had been the 2-seed within the 2015 Stillwater Regional and knocked off Oklahoma State to advance to the tremendous regionals.

That yr, Arkansas ended up internet hosting an excellent regional as a result of Missouri State — the top-8 seed paired with Oklahoma State — was unable to host at its ballpark, which it shares with the Springfield Cardinals.

Internet hosting an excellent regional this yr remains to be on the desk, too, however it’d require an upset within the regional paired with Arkansas’ regional, on prime of successful its personal regional.

For the reason that NCAA Match went to its present format in 1999, the Razorbacks have gained a street regional three different instances. In Norm DeBriyn’s last season, they gained the 2002 Wichita Regional earlier than dropping the Clemson Tremendous Regional. Beneath Van Horn, Arkansas gained the 2009 Norman Regional and 2012 Houston Regional on its option to the School World Sequence.

The complete discipline of 64, together with the place Arkansas will play, can be introduced throughout the choice present at 11 a.m. CT Monday on ESPN2.