Hogs, Rams benefitted from late cancelations

An Arkansas baseball hat and glove sit in the dugout prior to a game against Miami (Ohio) on Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

— This weekend's series between Arkansas and Rhode Island is an ideal matchup for both teams, but wasn't scheduled until last fall when both teams were desperate to find an opponent.

Arkansas and Rhode Island both had openings on their 2017 schedule because other teams backed out of scheduled series. The Razorbacks originally were scheduled to play Pacific this weekend at Baum Stadium; the Rams thought they would play at Charleston Southern.

But coaching changes at Pacific and Charleston Southern caused those schools to back out of their agreements. Pacific paid $10,000 to break its contract with Arkansas last September.

Rhode Island learned it wouldn't play Charleston Southern when Rams coach Raphael Cerrato called last summer to finalize trip arrangements for the series, which was scheduled nearly three years earlier.

"When we called to confirm, they had no idea what we were talking about," Cerrato said. "The current staff had no idea this was even scheduled."

Arkansas and Rhode Island agreed in October to play each other. The teams have never played before.

Both should benefit more from this weekend's series than they would have from their previously scheduled opponents. At No. 18, Arkansas is ranked 87 places higher than Charleston Southern, while at No. 112, Rhode Island is 100 spots ahead of Pacific in the latest NCAA ratings performance index.

"We always play a very competitive schedule against ACC and SEC schools all the time, so we jumped at the opportunity," Cerrato said.

"Last-minute we lost an entire series, but it worked out great. I'd rather go play at Arkansas. It's a much tougher opponent, but we love playing top teams in the country."

Rhode Island was an NCAA Tournament team last season and upset South Carolina in the first game of the regional round. The Rams are scheduled to start junior left-handed pitcher Tyler Wilson on Friday, a first-team all-American last season who is expected to be a high draft pick later this year.

"We just know that he knows how to pitch," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "He had a super summer up in collegiate league or up in Cape Cod I think and really threw himself ahead of a lot of people as far as the draft. He knows what he’s doing and he’s a veteran, so it’ll be a big challenge for us.

"This is just a good ball team that's projected to win their league. It'll be another good challenge of a team that we're going to have to play really well if we're going to win the series."