FAYETTEVILLE -- Eddie Sutton used to say "You can't win the Kentucky Derby with jackasses."
It takes thoroughbreds to win the Derby, Sutton said when he was Arkansas' basketball coach and winning big with his thoroughbreds of Triplets, Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph.
Sutton expressed a logical truth, although for his own sport he somewhat defied his true logic. While the Derby truly takes a thoroughbred, a team sport like basketball, baseball or football seldom wins on thoroughbreds alone.
"Jackasses" certainly doesn't describe Jimmy Counce, now a renowned thoracic surgeon, and Steve Schall, who were the other starters with the Triplets, but they wouldn't be described as NBA thoroughbreds, either.
Yet Sutton, Moncrief, Brewer and Delph all asserted repeatedly that those 1977 Hogs wouldn't have gone unbeaten in the Southwest Conference and those 1978 Hogs wouldn't have reached the Final Four without Counce and Schall.
Sutton's sentiments come to mind when thinking about Coach Dave Van Horn's latest Razorbacks baseball team.
The Hogs, despite an 11-12 start and recent injuries to their pitching staff, won last weekend's Stillwater Regional. With the best-of-3 super regional against Missouri State commencing at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Baum Stadium, these Hogs are two victories away from joining three Van Horn-coached Arkansas teams and four Norm DeBriyn-coached Arkansas teams that reached the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
These Hogs will be remembered for their thoroughbred, sophomore center fielder Andrew Benintendi, the SEC's player of the year and a finalist for the Golden Spikes award who is a near-certain first-round major-league draft choice.
DeBriyn's first CWS team, the 1979 national runner-up, are remembered likewise for thoroughbred major leaguers Johnny Ray, Kevin McReynolds and Ronn Reynolds.
Those 1979 Hogs would not have won without them, but they also wouldn't have won without never drafted senior left fielder Marc Brumble and never drafted senior shortstop Larry "Cob" Wallace named to the All-College World Series team.
Today another so far undrafted player, left fielder Joe Serrano, follows their footsteps. Serrano was voted MVP of Arkansas' 3-0 run through the Stillwater Regional.
Batting .286 with three home runs, Serrano hits 104 points and 15 home runs less than Benintendi. But in the clutch, some of Serrano's hits, and even some of his outs, rank among Arkansas' most pivotal.
Serrano's ninth-inning high infield chopper brought in the game-winner in the 4-3 final over St. John's in Stillwater.
"I wanted Serrano at the plate," Van Horn said. " When the game's on the line, I don't care if they're hitting .275 and we have a freshman hitting .375, I want the older guy at the plate.
And in the clubhouse.
"A lot of times the heart of your team is the older players that maybe didn't get drafted," Van Horn said. "They usually run your team in that locker room and they lead you on the field. Those are the guys that can get you down the road a little bit."
The Razorbacks have never traveled the road to Omaha without some.
Sports on 06/03/2015