The Arkansas baseball team has been chosen to host an NCAA regional for the sixth time in seven seasons. Baum-Walker Stadium was announced as one of 16 regional host sites, and the Razorbacks are in a strong position to be a top-8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. This would guarantee them a home super regional if they win their four-team, double-elimination regional.
The Razorbacks have been ranked between Nos. 1 and 5 in the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll since the preseason and were fifth in the NCAA’s Ratings Performance Index entering Sunday’s games. The RPI is a key metric used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee to evaluate teams. Arkansas is one of five SEC teams that will host a regional, along with Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Georgia.
Other teams announced as regional hosts include Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Virginia of the ACC; Oklahoma and Oklahoma State of the Big 12; Oregon State and Arizona of the Pac-12; East Carolina of the American; and UC Santa Barbara of the Big West. Despite being on a three-game losing streak with losses to Texas A&M, South Carolina, and Kentucky in their last three games, the Razorbacks have been dominant on their home field this season with a record of 33-3 at Baum-Walker Stadium. Only Tennessee has more home victories with 35. This will be the 11th time since 1999 that Arkansas has hosted a regional, with the team winning their home regional five times most recently in 2021. However, TCU defeated them last year in their regionals preventing them from advancing to national semifinals