Tennessee baseball is making its second trip to Fayetteville in the last three weeks as they face SEC foe Arkansas in a best of three super regional series.
The Vols are looking to make it back to the College World Series for the third straight time and the fourth time in the last five years. On the other side, Arkansas is looking to make it back to the College World Series for the first time since 2022.
Here’s how to watch the super regional series and a quick prediction.
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How to Watch: No. 14 Tennessee Baseball (46-17, 16-14 SEC) at No. 3 Arkansas (46-13, 20-10 SEC)
Game One (Saturday)
First pitch time: 5 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Chris Burke
Watch: ESPN
Game Two (Sunday)
First pitch time: 3 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Chris Burke
Watch: ESPN
Game Three (Monday if needed)
First pitch time: TBD
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Chris Burke
Watch: TBD
How Arkansas Got Here
The Razorbacks earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after posting a 43-13 (20-10 SEC) record through the SEC Tournament. Arkansas had a rough stretch in SEC play where they lost four of five series but have largely been one of the best teams in the country.
Dave Van Horn’s squad looked like that last weekend, dominating the Fayetteville Regional. Arkansas went 3-0 in games against North Dakota State and Creighton by a combined score of 26-6.
Notes From The First Series
Tennessee faced Arkansas in Fayetteville just three weeks prior. While the Vols dropped the regular season series, there were signs that Vitello’s squad was starting to turn the corner.
Start in the bullpen where AJ Russell and Brandon Arvidson turned in great outings, setting the stage for what has followed the last few weeks from that pair.
After being publicly challenged by Vitello, Marcus Phillips did a much better job controlling the running game as Arkansas didn’t swipe a base against him. Ace Liam Doyle had his worst outing of the season with the Razorbacks’ high powered offense tagging eight runs, six earned, against Doyle in 4.2 innings pitched.
Tennessee’s offense also started to turn the corner, hitting .325 with six home runs and six doubles. Andrew Fischer, Dean Curley and Manny Marin were all great while Gavin Kilen and Hunter Ensley struggled. Ensley is a big X-factor for the Vols this weekend.
Prediction
Tennessee nearly won the first meeting between the two teams this season and is looking for revenge in the second meeting with much larger stakes.
The Vols are definitely good enough to win this weekend and I do really like how they are playing as of late. But Arkansas is arguably the best team remaining and it will be a tough task.
If Tennessee wins, I think they’ll do it in the first two games. If this series goes three games then I think the Razorbacks’ pitching depth wins out. My best wager is on the latter but I would not be surprised either way.
Arkansas wins in three games
