When the field of 64 for the NCAA baseball tournament was announced Monday, worry turned to jubilation when the Arkansas Razorbacks were announced as the three seed in the Stanford Regional.

The Hogs gathered at Baum Stadium Monday to share their collective fate during a watch party. When it was announced that the Razorbacks (34-22 ) drew second-seeded Pepperdine (36-19 ) in the Stanford Regional, the locker room erupted.

“ When we came up here, I didn’t know if I was coming to a party or a funeral, ” Arkansas skipper Dave Van Horn said. “ I just didn’t have a good feeling about it. ”

While some pundits depicted the SEC as a down conference this season, the NCAA disagreed, sending nine SEC teams to the tourney and allotting two national seeds to SEC Tournament champion LSU (No. 7 ) and Georgia (No. 8 ).

But it wasn’t just the Hogs’ arduous league slate that skipper Dave Van Horn credited for his team’s tournament ticket. Seems as if a tough schedule not only prepares you for post-season but can get you over the NCAA Tournament hump if you’re in a bind, even if you miss the SEC Tournament like the Hogs did this year.

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“ We played eight teams from the PAC 10, ” Van Horn said. “ We played Texas A & M and some very good teams. We didn’t play a bunch of patsies and I think this shows you that RPI does matter. ”

But up until Monday, Van Horn said he was getting the silent treatment from many of his friends in the know.

“ I tried calling several people who I know to see if we were in and they wouldn’t say anything, ” Van Horn said. “ It was a helpless feeling. I didn’t know if they really knew and just didn’t want to tell me. Players were asking me and I just didn’t know anything. That’s the first time this is ever happened to me. ”

While the Hogs may have thought they were on the bubble, the NCAA did make its share of questionable calls. The most notable head-scratcher was Oklahoma, which likely didn’t even schedule a watch party after finishing 9-17-1 in the Big 12. The 34-24 Sooners, though, made the cut as the third seed in the Tempe Regional.

If Oklahoma managed to sway the NCAA with an abysmal league mark, Arkansas ’ RPI must have made a convincing argument.

“ I don’t know anything about Oklahoma, ” said UA outfielder Casey Coon. “ All I am worried about is going to California. We deserve this. Some people had us in and some didn’t. All the way until today, the SEC didn’t even have us getting in so we feel pretty good now. The NCAA felt like we were good enough and so did we. We had a great RPI and we’re going to go out there and make the most of this second chance. ”

Coon said the team might actually function better under these circumstances than in past years when they were the host and top seed.

“ I think we might be a little looser now with less pressure on us, ” Coon said. “ We’ve had a lot of pressure on us in the past. Personally, I think our team plays better on the road away from distractions and I think we can do some damage in Stanford. ”

Heath Allen is a sportswriter for the Northwest Arkansas Times.