FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has lost just 18 of 112 games played at Baum-Walker Stadium since the beginning of the 2017 season.
Four of those losses have been to the team that will come to town later this week for the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional.
Ole Miss won two of three at Arkansas in 2017 and two of three earlier this season. Another best-of-three victory by the Rebels would prevent the No. 5 Razorbacks from advancing to consecutive College World Series for the first time in program history.
Asked to assess the Rebels following the Razorbacks' 6-0 victory over TCU on Sunday, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn gave a glowing review.
“They're really talented and they're an old team with older players,” Van Horn said. “They kept some guys from signing last year and got a couple of guys back. They've got a freshman (Doug Nikhazy) who, to me, is the best freshman pitcher in the league this year. He's really been kind of their go-to guy and pitches second. They have power and a few guys who can run and a shortstop (Grae Kessinger) who can flat out play, and they have some guys who are going to play in the big leagues.”
The No. 18 Rebels (40-25) won their home regional this weekend with two victories over Jacksonville State and a victory over Clemson. Ole Miss outscored its opponents by a combined 41-7 in three games.
Counting last week’s SEC Tournament, Ole Miss is 7-2 this postseason after losing six of its final seven regular-season games. The Rebels lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament championship game.
“They were, preseason, one of the top teams in the country; they were top 10 in about every poll,” Van Horn said. “They're playing well and played all the way through the conference tournament championship, and now they've smoked everybody in their regional is what it sounds like to me.”
Arkansas is 2-3 against Ole Miss this season. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 5-3 in their series opener in March before Ole Miss won 4-3 and 10-5 the following two days to win the series.
The teams split two games at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. Arkansas defeated Ole Miss 5-3 on May 22, but the Rebels scored two runs in the eighth inning to rally for a 3-2 victory two days later.
“They’ve gotten us three times to our two this year,” Arkansas first baseman Trevor Ezell said, “so we’ll be ready to get after them.”
Ole Miss has controlled the series against Arkansas this decade. Since 2012, Ole Miss has won 18 of 30 games against the Razorbacks.
Arkansas has won one regular-season series against Ole Miss in the past eight seasons. The Rebels have won each regular-season series since 2016.
“It’s a great feeling knowing we’ve got another weekend against Arkansas,” Ole Miss outfielder Thomas Dillard said following the Rebels’ 19-4 victory over Jacksonville State in the Oxford Regional championship Sunday. “It’s going to be a fun series.”
Arkansas knows well what it’s like to face a conference opponent in the super regional round. The Razorbacks won two of three over South Carolina last June in the Fayetteville Super Regional.
That scenario was similar to the one Arkansas will face this week. Last season, the Razorbacks hosted the Gamecocks at home during the regular season and played them once at the SEC Tournament - a total of seven meetings when the super regional was factored.
“I don't think anybody in the SEC would prefer it,” Van Horn said of playing another conference team in a super regional. “We'd rather be playing somebody else. I can't speak for the other coaches, but we talk and we're kind of relieved to get away from the SEC in regionals and super regionals."
Arkansas is guaranteed to play Ole Miss at least seven times this season. An eighth meeting would be a Razorbacks record for games against one opponent in a single season.
“The advantages and disadvantages kind of wash each other out,” Van Horn said of knowing an opponent so well, “because we've seen each other and we know our tendencies, we know who's going to pitch and...we think we know how to get their guys out if our guys can execute pitches and how to hit their pitchers.
"I think you can throw the records out the window. It comes down to one weekend. Who's going to get the big hit? Who's going to make the big pitch? Who's going to get the bloop single? Who's going to play defense?”
Arkansas and Ole Miss are among five SEC West teams that won regionals this week, but the Razorbacks and Rebels will make up the only all-SEC super regional.
LSU will host Florida State, and Auburn will travel to North Carolina for the super regionals. Mississippi State will host either Stanford or Fresno State.
Vanderbilt is the lone team still alive from the SEC East. The Commodores will host Duke in a super regional.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Auburn and Mississippi State will play in a super regional. Auburn and Mississippi State would be matched up in the College World Series if both teams were to win their super regional.