FAYETTEVILLE - A weak non-conference schedule doomed Arkansas’ chances to be one of 16 NCAA baseball regional hosts and offset the Razorbacks’ run to the semifinals at the SEC Tournament in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Arkansas, 37-20 overall and 20-12 against SEC teams, including a 2-1 record last week at the conference tournament, will open NCAA play against Bryant (R.I.) University on Friday night at the Kansas State regional in Manhattan, Kan.
Missisippi State and South Carolina - two teams that finished behind Arkansas in the SEC regular-season standings and were a combined 1-5 against the Razorbacks - are both hosting regionals.
So why not Arkansas?
“I think in Arkansas’ case, it really came down to their non-conference strength of schedule,” Dennis Farrell, the selection committee chairman and commissioner of the Big West Conference, said Monday during a media teleconference. “They had a non-conference strength schedule of 291 out of 296 teams.
“I think that’s probably what played against Arkansas the most.”
Farrell also noted the Razorbacks’ 1-6 non-conference record away from home. He didn’t mention Arkansas’ lone non-conference victory away from Baum Stadium was at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, where the Razorback beat Mississippi Valley State.
The Razorbacks also beat Mississippi Valley State in Fayetteville, but victories over the Delta Devils hurt Arkansas’ strength of schedule because the Delta Devils were ranked last among 298 teams in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) last week.
The RPI is a scale used by the NCAA selection committee to rank Division I baseball teams by their records and strength of schedule. Low RPI ranking numbers denote strong teams, and high numbers denote weaker ones.
Arkansas was No. 48 in last week’s NCAA RPI rankings but figures to move up this week after beating Ole Miss and LSU at the SEC Tournament and losing to LSU.
The Razorbacks went 8-2 against non-conference opponents that were 243rd or lower in RPI rankings last week. In addition to being 2-0 against Mississippi Valley State, Arkansas was was 2-0 against Alabama A&M (295th), 2-0 against New Orleans (275th), 2-1 against Western Illinois (256th) and 0-1 against Pacific (243rd).
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he was told if the Razorbacks hadn’t lost to Western Illinois and Pacific, their RPI might be in the top 20. He noted the 7-5 loss to Western Illinois came in the third game of the season when the Razorbacks started several backup players.
“When you win 18 games in the SEC, you feel like you’re going to have a pretty good RPI, you know?” Van Horn said. “Unless we just lose all our midweek games, which we didn’t.”
The Razorbacks are 17-8 in non-conference games, including 5-3 against NCAA Tournament teams San Diego State, New Mexico and Arizona State. They swept four games at home against San Diego State, split a doubleheader at home against New Mexico and lost twice to Arizona State at a tournament in Surprise, Ariz.
“They don’t give you much for winning at home,” Van Horn said of the RPI formula.“They give you a lot for winning on the road, but I’ve got to play at home. We need to play in front of these fans.”
Farrell said Arkansas was among the final teams being discussed for the final two regional host spots.
“Of the 16 No. 1 seeds, we had eight of those 16 were unanimous choices on our first votes,” Farrell said. “By the time we got down to the final two No. 1 seeds, we had six teams that were left up on the board for consideration for that, and I believe [the Razorbacks] were in that group.”
Arkansas, Mississippi State and South Carolina are among nine SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament’s 64-team field. The SEC’s other entries are No. 2 overall seed Vanderbilt, No. 4 seed LSU, Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
Van Horn said he isn’t frustrated Mississippi State and South Carolina are hosting regionals while Arkansas is not. The Razorbacks took 2 of 3 at home from the Bulldogs and swept a three-game series at South Carolina.
“I think they’re both really good teams,” Van Horn said. “I’d say they deserve to host a regional.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 05/28/2013