What lies ahead for Arkansas baseball after first loss at 2022 College World Series
OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas baseball's road through the College World Series bracket got a lot tougher Monday after the Razorbacks fell to Ole Miss 13-5.
The Razorbacks (44-20) will now have to play Auburn (43-21) in an elimination game Tuesday (6 p.m. CT, ESPN). If Arkansas can win that game, it will have to beat Ole Miss twice to make it to the College World Series final.
Arkansas has made the final twice: 1979 and 2018. In both of those cases, the Razorbacks went 3-0 before finishing as runner-up.
Arkansas will now try to make it to the best-of-three series the hard way. But after it used seven pitchers in its loss to Ole Miss, it might be difficult.
Coach Dave Van Horn noted that because none of Arkansas' pitchers stayed in the game long, some will still be available for Tuesday's game.
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Kole Ramage, for example, "could go a hitter or two" after pitching 1⅓ innings over the last two games. Zack Morris, who started Monday but didn't make it out of the first inning, could throw again, as could Evan Taylor. All that in addition to relievers Brady Tygart and Hagen Smith, neither of whom has pitched in Omaha.
Auburn's offense sputtered against Ole Miss in its first game, but the Tigers scored six runs on Stanford. Arkansas will need its probable starter, righthander Will McEntire, to start strong and last a few innings. After that, the bullpen has to do better than it did Monday.
"Obviously, we didn't pitch very good," Van Horn said after the loss. "Got off to a bad start. ... We had (10) walks tonight. You're not going to beat people at this level with that."
If Arkansas can get past Auburn, it will have a rematch with Ole Miss and will have to beat the Rebels twice. Ole Miss' bullpen will be well-rested after only two relievers pitched Monday, and Arkansas will have to generate enough offense to keep up with the red-hot Rebels.
But that's a problem for another day. First, Arkansas has the Tigers to tame if it wants to keep playing.
"We need to move on," Van Horn said. "You can't look at the big picture. You have to figure out how to play well tomorrow. ... That's our focus, just move on and get to tomorrow night's game."
Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks. You can email her at clong@swtimes.com or follow her on Twitter @christinalong00.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What's next for Arkansas baseball after CWS loss to Ole Miss
