Image – Whole Hog Sports
Arkansas heads to NCAA Lawrence Regional
Image – Kansas Athletics
Arkansas baseball punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the 37th time in program history.
Arkansas (39-20), the No. 17 overall seed, and the No. 2 seed in the Lawrence Regional, is set to travel to face No. 15 national seed and top regional seed Kansas (42-16), No. 3 seed Missouri State (34-19), and No. 4 seed Northeastern (38-20) from May 29-June 1 inside Hoglund Ball Park in Lawrence, Kansas. Arkansas opens tournament play against MSU at Friday, May 29, at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
The Razorbacks will get face the Bears for a third time this season after splitting the regular season matchups. On March 31 in Springfield, Arkansas lost to Missouri State 15-14 in 10 innings. The Razorbacks’ defeated the Bears 12-4 in Fayetteville on April 21. Arkansas will play in the same regional as Missouri State for the first time since 2022, when both teams were in the NCAA Stillwater Regional.
The Razorbacks head to Lawrence to play in Kansas’ regional a year after hosting them in their own NCAA Fayetteville Regional. On their run to Omaha in 2025, Arkansas did not face the Jayhawks after they lost back to back games to Creighton and North Dakota State in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
Arkansas will play in the same regional as Northeastern for the first time since the two teams played in 2021 NCAA Fayetteville Regional. Arkansas advanced to the super regionals while the Huskies lost back to back games to Nebraska and NJIT to end their season.
The winner of the Lawrence Regional will play the winner of the Atlanta Regional in the best-of-three-game super regional from June 5-7 or June 6-8. No. 2 national seed and top regional seed Georgia Tech (48-9) hosts No. 2 seed Oklahoma (32-21), No. 3 seed The Citadel (35-24) and No. 4 seed Illinois-Chicago (38-20) this weekend in Atlanta, Ga..
A History Lesson
The Razorbacks will not host a regional and go on the road for the first time since the 2022 season, when they went to the Stillwater Regional and won the highest-scoring regional in seven games, highlighted by winning two out of three games versus Oklahoma State.
Arkansas advanced to face No. 10 national seed North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Super Regional, who they swept with strong pitching. Brady Slavens’ walk-off RBI-single in game 2 sent them back to Omaha for the College World Series for the seventh time in the Dave Van Horn era.
The Razorbacks’ run would end in the semifinals at the College World Series after losing two games to SEC rival Ole Miss. Now, Arkansas attempts to make a run to the College World Series as a two seed for the second time in four years.
NCAA Lawrence Regional
Friday, May 29
Game 1 – No. 15 Kansas vs. Northeastern – 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2 – Arkansas vs. Missouri State – 5 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, May 30
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 5 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, May 31
Game 5 – Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 – 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 – 5 p.m. (ESPN+)
Monday, June 1
Game 7 – If the Game 5 Winner Wins Game 6 – TBD
