To make it to Omaha you need to have some talent on the mound, and all the teams on the mound here do. The four teams on Arkansas’ half of the bracket all will bring some impressive talent to Omaha, here’s who the Hogs are likely going up against over the course of the next few games.
Team Stats
Team ERA
- Florida (3.46)
- Arkansas (3.55)
- Texas (4.09)
- Texas Tech (4.40)
Team AVG
- Florida (.230)
- Arkansas (.237)
- Texas Tech (.244)
- Texas (.260)
Team K/9
- Arkansas (9.14)
- Texas Tech (8.88)
- Florida (8.79)
- Texas (7.45)
Team K/BB
- Florida (2.87)
- Arkansas (2.67)
- Texas Tech (2.02)
- Texas (1.74)
Arkansas
Starters: Blaine Knight (12-0, 2.84 ERA), Kacey Murphy (8-5, 3.12 ERA), Isaiah Campbell (4-6, 4.19 ERA)
Bullpen: Matt Cronin (12 saves, 2.98 ERA), Barrett Loseke (3-2, 3.15 ERA), Jake Reindl (5 saves, 2.96 ERA), Kole Ramage (18 apps, 3.73 ERA)
Not much has changed since our regional preview. Big Game Blaine hasn’t been his sharpest but gave the Hogs enough to get the win like he has all season. Murphy and Campbell swapped positive performances in the first two stages of the tournament. This group of teams will be familiar for the Hogs, they’ve got 5-2 against these teams this season, and all seven of these listed pitchers faced at least one of these teams.
Florida
Starters: Brady Singer (12-1, 2.30 ERA), Jackson Kowar (9-5, 3.24 ERA), Jack Leftwich (4-5, 4.32 ERA)
Bullpen: Michael Byrne (15 saves, 1.59 ERA), Tommy Mace (5-0, 4.45 ERA), Jordan Butler (6-2, 4.11 ERA), Tyler Dyson (5-3, 4.47 ERA)
Oh just the 15th and 33rd overall pick here. Florida is the number one seed for a reason and it shows being near the top of all the pitching stats. Singer has been the ace all year, although his only loss of the year came head to head against Knight. We likely won’t see that matchup again, but the Hogs could see Kowar for the third time this season. He started in Florida’s 17-2 win and was stuck with the loss in the 8-2 Arkansas win in the SEC Tournament.
Texas
Starters: Chase Shugart (6-3, 4.07 ERA), Nolan Kingham (8-4, 4.34 ERA), Blair Henley (6-6, 3.32 ERA)
Bullpen: Andy McGuire (7 saves, 2.01 ERA), Matteo Bocchi (4-1, 3.13 ERA), Bryce Elder (6-1, 5.55 ERA), Parker Joe Robinson (3-0, 1.17 ERA)
Their numbers don’t jump off the page but Texas held down one of the nation’s most prolific offenses to just eight runs spread out along the three Super Regional games. The Longhorns went with Bocchi instead of Henley as the starter in their third game against Tennessee Tech but both pitched, and Bocchi had the much better go of it in that game. The Hogs saw McGuire, Bocchi, and Elder in the second game of their midweek series. Murphy, Loseke, and Cronin all pitched in that series for the Hogs.
Texas Tech
Starters: Davis Martin (7-5, 4.50 ERA), Caleb Kilian (9-2, 3.04 ERA), Ryan Shetter (5-0, 3.03 ERA)
Bullpen: Ty Harpenau (7-2, 3.38 ERA), Caleb Freeman (21 apps, 4.60 ERA), Jose Quezada (5-2, 2.16 ERA), Dylan Dusek (3-0, 2.03 ERA)
Shetter and Quezada both went in the top-10 rounds of the draft and will be a big part of the Red Raiders in Omaha. Quezada and Dusek were the only two pitchers Arkansas saw in their one midweek game, and Loseke was the only Razorback pitcher to take the mound in that one. In their Super Regional against Duke, Tech took very much a “Johnny Wholestaff” mentality. They threw at least four pitchers and none through more than four innings in a single outing. In fact, their longest outing this postseason was 5.1 IP from Kilian in their second regional game against Louisville.