FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas pitchers Isaiah Campbell and Matt Cronin were voted All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as announced Wednesday.
It is the third All-America honor for both pitchers.
Campbell, a redshirt junior, was a second-team All-America starter on the NCBWA's team as well as on Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball that were previously announced.
Cronin, a junior left-hander, was a third-team NCBWA pick as a reliever. He was a second-team pick by Baseball America and third-teamer for Collegiate Baseball.
The NCBWA's three All-America teams included 20 starting pitchers and 17 relievers.
Campbell is 12-1 with a 2.26 earned run average in 1111/3 innings going into Arkansas' College World Series opener against Florida State at 6 p.m. Saturday in Omaha, Neb. He has 115 strikeouts and 20 walks.
Cronin is 1-0 with 12 saves and a 1.97 ERA in 28 innings. He has 41 strikeouts and 14 walks.
Send-off
About 150 fans came to Baum-Walker Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to cheer on the Razorbacks before they left for Omaha.
"Thanks so much for coming out," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "It's been an incredible year, and the crowds have been even better. I think you know how much we appreciate it.
"If you're going to Omaha be careful. Hopefully, we'll there for two weeks."
Van Horn then signed some autographs and posed for photos before the team bus left for Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport -- with a police escort -- to catch a charter flight to Omaha.
Arm deployment
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said the pitching plan for the Razorbacks is a little hazy after Saturday's opener.
Van Horn confirmed ace Isaiah Campbell will take the mound against Florida State left-hander Drew Parrish (8-5, 5.11 ERA) in the Hogs' 6 p.m. opener.
"That'd be it," he said. "That's about all I can tell you. Isaiah will go Game One and we'll have anybody and everybody after that to try to win that ball game and then go from there."
Freshman starters Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander were pulled in the second inning in games 2 and 3 of the Razorbacks' super regional victory over Ole Miss.
The Rebels hung a loss on Noland in a 13-5 game, while Wicklander received a no decision in the Hogs' 14-1 victory on Monday.
Have to do it
Arkansas has several first-year starting position players and new pitchers who either weren't on last year's College World Series team or didn't get on the field for any games.
"They'll have to experience it a little bit," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We can talk about it as much as we want, but they have to witness it and be a part of it understand what they're getting into.
"But we've played on some big stages. We hold 11,000, it's full [at Baum-Walker Stadium]. They're on top of you. It can feel like 25,000. So I don't think it's a huge difference. Our stadium is awful loud when it's rolling."
Van Horn said Florida State should be ready for the atmosphere in Omaha as well after winning a super regional at LSU with a two-game sweep.
"Florida State played at LSU last weekend, and it doesn't get any louder than that place," Van Horn said. " So I don't think it's going to faze them at all either.
"You just let them experience it. Hopefully, they can handle it."
All-time sweep
The Razorbacks have never lost to Florida State, their opponent in Saturday night's College World Series opener, and the teams have only met in the postseason in years Arkansas has advanced to the CWS.
Arkansas has a 5-0 mark in the series, which began with a 7-6 victory in an NCAA regional in Tallahassee, Fla., on May 25, 1985.
In 2004, the Razorbacks swept two super regional games by the scores of 7-5 and 4-2. Arkansas went back to Tallahassee for a super regional in 2009 and prevailed 7-2 and 9-8.
Bracket breakdown
Arkansas has a 51-14 record against Florida State, Michigan and Texas Tech, the other three teams in the upper bracket of the College World Series.
The Hogs' mark is 5-0 against Florida State, all in the postseason, and 46-14 against Texas Tech. Arkansas won two against the Red Raiders last year, 5-1 at home on April 24 and 7-4 in a second-round matchup at the College World Series.
Arkansas has never played Michigan.
Aiming for 51
The Razorbacks can tie the school record for victories in a season in Omaha, Neb., but they'll have to reach the College World Series finals to do it.
Arkansas will take a 46-18 record into the CWS, and could max out with 52 victories if the Razorbacks were to lose a game in their bracket, then rebound to win it all.
Coach Norm DeBriyn had three 51-win campaigns with the Hogs: 51-15 in 1985, 51-16 in 1987 and 51-16 in 1989. All three of those teams won at least one game at the College World Series.
4 leagues
The SEC will have four representatives at the College World Series, but Arkansas will be the only league school in the upper bracket. The Razorbacks will be joined by Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Texas Tech of the Big 12 and Michigan of the Big Ten.
In the other bracket, SEC schools Auburn, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt will be joined by Louisville of the ACC.
Sports on 06/13/2019