Arkansas baseball vs. Ole Miss Thursday at the College World Series: Our predictions
OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas baseball and Ole Miss are each one win away from the College World Series final.
After Arkansas survived a close game Wednesday with a 3-2 win, the Razorbacks and Rebels will meet again on Thursday (3 p.m. CT, ESPN2). The loser is eliminated, and the winner faces Oklahoma in the best-of-three final.
Arkansas will start ace Connor Noland, and Ole Miss will start Dylan Lucia. Both pitchers started games Saturday and threw more than seven innings in wins.
Who will make the 2022 College World Series final? Here are our predictions.
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Christina Long, Arkansas beat writer
Both Arkansas’ and Ole Miss’ starters had long outings Saturday and will be working on short rest.
But Noland threw just 79 pitches in his 7⅔ innings against Stanford. Against Auburn, DeLucia threw 114.
Ole Miss will be demoralized from the nail-biting loss Wednesday, and while Noland won’t have the same deep start he did Saturday, he’ll pitch to contact and let the Razorbacks defense do its job. Offensively, Arkansas will do enough to give Noland room to work, and the Razorbacks will advance to their third College World Series final.
Nick Suss, Ole Miss beat writer
It's a battle of the unknown with Noland against the known with DeLucia. Maybe DeLucia bucks the trend and turns in another legend-worthy performance. Especially with the bullpen arms he has ready behind him, he shouldn't need to throw more than four quality innings to keep the Rebels alive.
That all can happen. It just doesn't feel like the likeliest outcome. Ole Miss falls behind early and chips away late but the Razorbacks have a little too much offense and Noland does enough to get the Hogs back to the College World Series final.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas baseball vs. Ole Miss: Our college World Series predictions
