The University of Arkansas surprised the collegiate baseball world this season by overcoming a horrendous start to their season by earning a berth in the 2015 College World Series. The Hogs weren't there long, however, losing their first two games to make an early exit.
Arkansas lost to Virginia in the opener 5-3 after being tied 3-3 through seven innings. An error allowed a run to score and shaky pitching allowed another to score in the loss. Virginia went on to qualify for the world series championship round against defending NCAA champ Vanderbilt, an SEC school. The Razorbacks were swept in three games by the Commodores early in the season. The Nashville based school is 8-0 in this year's national tournament.
The game that finished the season for Arkansas was a 4-3 loss to Miami. The Hogs played well enough to win but suffered four errors in the narrow setback. Arkansas had outhit the Hurricanes 10-5 until the bottom of the ninth when a pair of hits drove in the winning run.
The Hogs were only 14-14 heading into April but a 26-11 finish got them ranked nationally for the latter part of the season. They were ranked No. 12 in the official NCAA rankings prior to the College World Series.
Florida was another SEC school playing in the World Series, coming up just short in losing to Miami in the final sub-bracket game. Arkansas split two games with the Gators this year.
The season just completed was remarkable for what they accomplished with a depleted pitching staff. Not very deep to begin with, the Hogs suffered numerous injuries to their hurlers that limited their effectiveness.
While having to rebuild their pitching staff for 2016, the Hogs also have to replace the top of their batting order as their top four batters are turning pro. Sophomore Andrew Benintendi was voted several national player of the year awards and he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox for a reported $3.8 million contract.
Tyler Spoon, Joe Serrano and Bobby Wernes also signed professional pacts as they will be moving on from Fayetteville.
Cardinals manage to keep winning
While losing some games they perhaps should have won, the Cardinals are keeping up their torrid clip of winning two-thirds of games played this season to have easily the best record in major league baseball.
As of Saturday night, the Cardinals had won 22 more games than they have lost (45-23) with the next best record in National League play belonging to Pittsburgh who were 10 games over .500 with a 39-29 record.
Kansas City leads all American League teams with a 39-28 record. The Royals have the largest lead of any divisional leader with a three-and-a-half-game lead in the American central. The Cardinals' six-game lead in the National Central is the most solid lead of any team.
This looks like a good year for Missouri baseball with both their professional major league teams out in front.
Naturals take first half crown
The northwest Arkansas Naturals have won the first half in their pursuit of a Texas League Championship.
Standing at 40-29, the Springdale-based team clinched the first half title with a four-game lead over the cross state division rival Arkansas Travelers. Interestingly enough, the Naturals had a losing record against the six other teams in the Texas League (Springfield, Tulsa, Corpus Christi, Midland, San Antonio and Frisco) but won 12 of the 13 games they played with the Travelers.
In Texas League competition, they declare a champion for each half of the season with the champions then playing for a berth in the league championship series. In the event a team wins both halves, the second best overall team will be in the mix. The Naturals have Arkansas, Springfield and Tulsa in their division.
Being minor league farm teams for major league owners, rosters often change a lot during the season as teams move players up and down as they are needed. Major league players who have been injured often move down to play a few games of minor league competition to sharpen their skills before returning to their major league jobs. This is why they do the two seasons in one format in the Texas League.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 06/24/2015