OMAHA, Neb. -- Oregon State left-hander Luke Heimlich has not made it out of the fourth inning in two starts at this series. The pitcher of the year in the Pac-12 will get a third shot against the Hogs tonight.
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said his team has watched video on Heimlich and that pitching coach Nate Thompson has prepared a game plan.
"Well, he throws a fastball that kind of tunnels," Van Horn said. "It looks the same as the slider. His slider is usually down. A lot of times it's out of the zone and you've got to lay off of it. You've got to hunt that fastball a little bit.
"He doesn't throw his change-up too much. Tries to work fast. ... He just attacks the zone. He's 90-93 mph. If the umpire is giving him a ball or two off the plate he can be awfully good. If he doesn't we've got to make sure we're not swinging at anything but strikes."
Dipping flags
The College World Series has a tradition of flying the banners of participating teams in the fan area beyond the right-field wall at TD Ameritrade Park. As the teams are eliminated, their banners are dropped about 5 feet.
At this series, Washington and Texas were eliminated first, followed by North Carolina and Texas Tech, and finally Florida and Mississippi State, leaving Arkansas and Oregon State banners flying high.
Long way in
Oregon State won four consecutive games in Omaha after losing 11-6 to North Carolina in the opening round.
The Beavers are the first team to make it to the finals after losing its first game since 2010. South Carolina fell 4-3 to Oklahoma in the opening round, then beat Arizona State 11-4, Oklahoma 3-2 and Clemson twice, by scores of 5-1 and 4-3 to reach the finals. The Gamecocks went on to beat UCLA 7-1 and 2-1 to win its first of back-to-back College World Series titles.
Down to 'Dogs
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn and his players have talked extensively about what they considered the low point of their season: A three-game sweep at Mississippi State on April 20-21.
The Razorbacks lost 6-5 in the first game after building a 5-0 lead behind Blaine Knight, then fell 5-3 and 7-5 in a doubleheader the following day.
"We ran into Mississippi State when they were really hot and they swept us, and it didn't get us down," Knight said. "We bounced right back. Every time we got punched in the mouth we bounced back, truly a testament to how good mentally this team is and how good we are."
Down time
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said the recent stretches of down time have gone well for his team after a heavy dose of games late last month and into the postseason.
"Bottom line, we were on the road for like 11 or 12 days straight," Van Horn said. "We went back, got to play at home a couple weeks in a row. We almost needed a little down time, to be honest with you. And what we've done is practice has been shorter."
Van Horn said he and his staff have shown a lot of confidence in the players not getting into bad situations on the road.
"As far as hanging around the hotel, I think the guys have figured out how to stay busy," Van Horn said. "There's a lot going on. They can go eat. We trust them.
"We haven't gone over the top. We're not following them around. We give them a curfew. And, again, it's like I told them, if I've got to follow you around here, then we shouldn't be here. And I don't think we would have been here."
Knight wins
ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson went fishing in a lake in Iowa with Arkansas pitchers Blaine Knight and Matt Cronin and there was a clear winner.
Knight caught 10 fish, according to Peterson on a segment that aired on ESPN during the Monday rain delay, while Peterson and Cronin combined to catch one fish.
Two-out damage
Oregon State has been good with two-out scoring in Omaha, putting up 28 of its 48 runs through five games with two outs.
That represents the most two-out runs by any team at the CWS since 1999 and 58.3 percent of the Beavers' runs at the series. By comparison, Arkansas has scored 7 of its 23 runs in Omaha (30.4 percent) with two outs.
In their 2005 appearance at the CWS the Beavers scored no runs with two outs.
6-run rule
The Razorbacks have a 33-3 record when they've scored six runs or more this year. Their record when scoring fewer than six runs is 14-16.
Arkansas had scored six-plus runs in six of their nine NCAA Tournament games and averaged 8.4 runs per game heading into the finals series.
Around the horn
• Arkansas right-hander Isaiah Campbell pitched his between-starts bullpen prior to the game after the first weather delay announcement was made.
• Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel, a former Cy Young and Gold Glove Award winner, was wearing his Razorback gear in the clubhouse on Monday.
• One of the ground crew members brings his elderly dog, Kacey, to the field during the CWS. During some of the rain delays and down time, Kacey has been allowed to fetch balls thrown across the outfield at TD Ameritrade Park.
Sports on 06/26/2018