FAYETTEVILLE -- Casey Martin's University of Arkansas teammates have strong support for the shortstop, who has endured a roller-coaster season of slumps and hot streaks at the plate and in the field.
Martin, a sophomore from Lonoke, is hitting .293 with a team-high tying 15 home runs, 56 RBI and a team-high 23 errors heading into the College World Series.
"That's something that everyone goes through their sophomore year," junior outfielder Dominic Fletcher said. "I went through the same thing last year.
"You show up after having a great freshman year and it's like you're the guy in the lineup that everyone has marked off on the list that you want to get that guy out. You don't want to let that guy beat you. So you get pitched a little differently. It happens."
Martin got off to a hot start at the plate with a .343 average into the third weekend, but he bottomed out at .237 on March 23 before rebounding to .314 by May 3 through an extended hot streak.
Martin stayed above .300 until an 0 for 4 against Ole Miss at the SEC Tournament.
"He's had an up-and-down year," pitcher Isaiah Campbell said. "He'll have a bad weekend, a couple of bad weekends, and then come back with three straight good weekends.
"So he's had an up-and-down year, but his attitude, his demeanor hasn't changed. And I think it's going to stay just like that in Omaha and I think he's going to come up with that big hit we need in Omaha this year."
Martin's the man
Florida State Coach Mike Martin is drawing the lion's share of attention for guiding the Seminoles to the College World Series for the 17th time in his 40 seasons.
Martin's 2,028 career victories are the most by any coach in any NCAA sport. In his prime, Martin led the Seminoles to an unprecedented 12 consecutive 50-plus win seasons between 1980-91.
His 40-year streak of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament dwarfs the competition, as Vanderbilt ranks second with 14 consecutive NCAA trips.
Baum-Walker North
The Omaha Visitors Bureau has to be happy the Razorbacks are making a return trip to the College World Series.
Thousands of Arkansas fans went to Omaha last year and pumped plenty of money into the local economy by filling up hotels, restaurants and bars.
Arkansas fans figure to overtake Omaha again starting this weekend.
"It is pretty much like Baum North for us up there," pitcher Isaiah Campbell said. "I feel like we had 20,000 fans there.
"We packed the stadium with Arkansas red, so it does give you a little advantage because you have all the fans there. But we've just got to play our game and do what we've been doing all year."
Considering Baum-Walker Stadium holds about 11,000 when it's packed, there might be more Arkansas fans at the College World Series because TD Ameritrade Park has a capacity of 24,000.
"You're in a neutral site -- supposedly -- and you look up and there's a sea of red all across the stadium," Dominic Fletcher said. "it's huge for us.
"It really helps as almost an intimidation factor for the other team when they look around and [fans are] calling the Hogs and it's nuts in there. So that helps a lot."
Campbell said the fans make their presence felt beyond TD Ameritrade Park.
"You go out to eat or you're just walking around Omaha, you can see Arkansas red, Arkansas fans everywhere," he said. "They were loud last year and I expect them to be really loud again this year."
USA teammates
Arkansas center fielder Dominic Fletcher will face a former teammate when the Razorbacks open the College World Series against Florida State at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Junior left-hander Drew Parrish, Fletcher's teammate last summer on Team USA, will start for the Seminoles.
"We had a lot of fun in the summer," Fletcher said. "It's going to be a fun matchup."
Parrish (8-5, 5.11 ERA) has 116 strikeouts and 30 walks in 861/3 innings. He was an eighth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals.
Fletcher should be used to facing pitchers who were with him on Team USA.
Playing in the SEC, Fletcher faced five Team USA pitchers: Auburn's Tanner Burns; Kentucky's Zack Thompson; Texas A&M's John Doxakis; LSU's Zack Hess; and Ole Miss' Parker Caracci.
Arkansas closer Matt Cronin also played for Team USA.
Sunshine staters
Florida State lists 31 players from Florida on its 35-man roster, which is not the official roster the Seminoles must submit for the College World Series. The only players not from the Sunshine State are shortstop Mike Salvatore of Ewing, N.J., second baseman Nander De Sedas from Panama City, Panama, utility player Cade Hungate of Abingdon, Va., and catcher Jonathan Foster, a former Auburn player, from LaGrange, Ga.
Odds are
Arkansas is a co-favorite with Vanderbilt to win the College World Series, according to odds posted by BetOnline.ag.
The Razorbacks and Commodores -- in opposite sides of the bracket -- are both 3-1 favorites.
Mississippi State is 7-2, followed by Louisville at 8-1, Texas Tech at 17-2, Florida State at 9-1, Auburn at 10-1 and Michigan at 14-1.
Hidden ball trick
Arkansas got the last out in its 14-1 victory over Ole Miss in the decisive third game of the Fayetteville Super Regional when third baseman Jacob Nesbit made a diving stop of Thomas Dillard's hard hit ground ball and fired the ball to first baseman Trevor Ezell.
So what did Ezell do with the ball?
"I had the ball in my glove because I caught it," Ezell said. "I threw my glove down [to go celebrate with his teammates] and when I got the glove back, it wasn't there.
"I messed up. I should have pocketed it. Somebody has it."
Center field Dominic Fletcher said he has no idea who took the ball.
"It's probably on eBay somewhere," Fletcher said with a laugh. "I don't know."
Sports on 06/14/2019