Like It Is

Baum setting sets up nicely for Omahogs

Arkansas fans call the Hogs while members of Dallas Baptist visit on the mound during an NCAA Tournament game Sunday, June 3, 2018, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas fans call the Hogs while members of Dallas Baptist visit on the mound during an NCAA Tournament game Sunday, June 3, 2018, in Fayetteville.

Omahogs.

The clever nickname for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Razorbacks baseball team is part of the daily conversation and most likely will be until after they win the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., or get eliminated.

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It is something for Razorback fans to be excited about, and while it may never be quite the same as being a Top 25 football or basketball program, it is something to cheer and feel good about.

A few Internet "experts" are predicting that the Hogs will not only win this weekend, but go on to win the CWS. While the Razorbacks are a very good baseball team, they are a great one at home, and with them hosting a Super Regional their odds of becoming the Omahogs are really good.

The Razorbacks are 32-3 in Baum Stadium this year.

That's more than a 90 percent winning percentage. The losses were to USC, Kent State and South Carolina, but in all three cases the Razorbacks won two out of three games. Two more wins over South Carolina in this weekend's super regional are all that stands between the Razorback Nation being Omahogs.

The home field advantage is so strong that not even Florida, arguably the best team in the SEC and perhaps country, could claim a better home record than the Hogs. The Gators are 29-6 at home this season.

The flip side of that is the Hogs were not comfortable staying in hotels or eating in restaurants in other states and were 6-12 on the road.

Still, they are a team capable of more on the road because they have hitting and pitching.

In their first game of the NCAA regional against Oral Roberts, which won 38 games this season, the Razorbacks pounded out 14 hits in a 10-2 win.

In their second game, also a 10-2 victory, they had 13 hits against Southern Miss, which won 44 games this season.

Against Oral Roberts, starter Blaine Knight pitched eight innings and gave up only three hits. Cody Scroggins pitched the final inning.

Southern Miss managed only two hits in the first eight innings against Kacey Murphy.

In the final, a very good Dallas Baptist (winners of 42 games) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings but the Hogs won 4-3 with good defense after getting just seven hits.

This is a team that does what it needs to do to win, especially at home where they were loudly supported by great crowds that totaled more than 28,000.

As a team, they hit .323 in the regional and had only two errors. In the three games, the pitchers gave up just 19 hits and seven runs while striking out 19 and giving up only six walks.

Needless to say, other performances like those and Omahogs might get stitched onto the uniforms, for sure it is going to be a very popular word with a group of fans who have been patiently needing some success.

However, the Super Regional will be tougher and more competitive, but there is a really good chance these Razorbacks have not peaked.

It should be pointed out that if they win Omaha will be a neutral site and the Razorbacks were 4-3 in games at a neutral site.

Of their 18 losses, 12 were in SEC play and one only needs to look at how many SEC teams made the NCAA regionals as well as how many advanced to the Super Regionals to see that it is the most dominant conference in the country.

Arkansas had wins at Florida and LSU and those are places that it is just as hard to win in baseball as it is basketball.

So the homefield advantages is real, but this is not a team that doesn't show up to play.

Now they are two wins from officially being Omahogs.

Sports on 06/05/2018

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