OMAHA, Neb. — Florida and Arkansas were billed as the Southeastern Conference's best two teams in the preseason, then lived up to that reputation by finishing first and tied for second, respectively, separated by two games in the league standings.
Now the Razorbacks and Gators will play at the College World Series with a trip to the national finals on the line.
Florida defeated Texas Tech 9-6 at TD Ameritrade Park on Thursday to stave off elimination. The defending-champion Gators now must defeat Arkansas twice in two days to extend their season, while the Razorbacks need only to win once – Friday or Saturday – to move on.
"When we started looking at the bracket before we got out here, we figured there would probably be a point in time where we would have to play them," Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.
"They're familiar with us and we're familiar with them. I've got a great deal of respect for Dave (Van Horn) and his program....Let's be honest, we're going to have to play real well here the next two days to win and move on."
Arkansas (46-19) and Florida (48-20) split four games this season. The Gators won the regular-season series in Gainesville, Fla., with wins of 17-2 and 5-4 after losing the series opener 6-3.
The Razorbacks defeated the Gators 8-2 at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., last month.
"We've seen them a lot this year," Florida pitcher Jack Leftwich said. "I think it will be fun and I'm just excited to keep playing.
"I think it will be a great matchup."
The Razorbacks' 15-run loss at Florida on March 24 was its worst in SEC play since 1998. It came on a day starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell lasted only an inning after he injured his throwing elbow, an injury that kept him out of the rotation again the next week at Ole Miss and limited his endurance in subsequent starts.
Campbell, a redshirt sophomore right-hander who has battled inconsistency all season, is scheduled to start Friday's game against Florida, but the Razorbacks' bullpen is rested after playing only two games over the past 10 days.
"We'll probably talk to him about having the same mentality he had in the super regionals," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said, referencing Campbell's four-inning start in Game 3 against South Carolina last Monday. "Don't save anything. Just give us what you've got. If it's two or three (innings), that's fine. If it's five, that's even better. But don't hold anything back because you're thinking I've got to last (a certain) amount of innings. So I mean, I'd like to see three or four innings out of him at a minimum, get into the game a little bit to see where we're at."
Florida scored six runs against Campbell, who issued four walks and allowed four hits. The Gators scored 11 more times against the Razorbacks' end of the line bullpen pitchers.
"He was just falling behind on the hitters," Florida catcher JJ Schwarz said of Campbell. "I remember (Jonathan India) hit a grand slam in the first inning, so that doesn't (bode) well if you're the pitcher."
Florida will throw right-hander Brady Singer, a junior who was drafted 18th overall by the Kansas City Royals earlier this month. Singer, who has a 2.33 ERA, has lost twice this season, including to Arkansas on March 23 when he allowed 6 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings.
Singer is 0-2 all-time against the Razorbacks. He was the starting pitcher against Arkansas and allowed 8 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 1 inning at the SEC Tournament last season, a 16-0 Arkansas win.
Singer will throw on short rest after throwing 99 pitches in a loss to Texas Tech on Sunday.
"We can't think about (potentially playing another game) Saturday," O'Sullivan said. "I talked to Brady today and he's going to pitch tomorrow on four days' rest.
"He said he wanted the ball and he's a junior, he's older and he's strong. We'll just monitor his pitch count, but I'm sure he'll be ready to go."
The Florida-Arkansas matchup ensures the SEC will have at least one representative in the national finals for the 10th time in 11 seasons. Mississippi State is 2-0 in the other bracket at the College World Series and will play Oregon State on Friday afternoon, needing one win to create an all-SEC national championship for the second consecutive year. Florida defeated LSU in the final round in 2017.
The league's success comes during a year in which it tied a record with 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament field and had four of the top eight national seeds.
“There are SEC schools fighting it out at the end with a great Oregon State team,” Van Horn said. “It doesn’t surprise us any. There are a couple of others in our league that could have been here, too, if they would have just found a way to get through or they weren’t matched up against each other.
“It was a plus-plus year talent-wise and team-wise in the SEC.”