Arkansas may not have been selected to host a NCAA regional but they won’t have to go far.
The Razorbacks are going to Manhattan, Kan. for the opening regional tournament. Kansas State will host as Bryant and Wichita State will also be there.
“We’re good on the road. I didn’t think any of us were surprised that we weren’t hosting with what we heard,” Arkansas pitcher Barrett Astin said. “We knew that RPI was going to be pretty big. Other than that we were pretty disappointed but weren’t surprised.”
Arkansas (37-20) will face Bryant in the opening round. The Bulldogs went 44-16 during the regular season and won the Northeast Conference tournament.
Arkansas had the nation’s best ERA during the regular season at 1.87. Kansas State had the second highest batting average in Division-I at .323.
The Wildcats went 41-17, including 24-7 at home. Kansas State lost to Oklahoma in the Big XII tournament.
“We definitely have a chip on our shoulder,” Arkansas senior Matt Vinson said. “We feel like we should have hosted. We played well enough to host. We feel like we are going to go out to Manhattan and play with a chip on our shoulder just like the underdogs we kind of all are. We’ll be all right.”
Wichita State won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and closed out the regular season with a 39-26 record.
SEC tournament Champion LSU, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and South Carolina are all regional hosts. Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Ole Miss also received at-large berths into the tournament.
