Virtually Certain — 2015 NCAA Baseball Super Regional at Baum Stadium

While the idea circulated over the weekend that the University of Arkansas would likely host would be a Super Regional site for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament, a few nagging details weren’t widely circulated. As the morning has passed, more and more details make a Baum Stadium Super Regional all but announced.

Before the Arkansas-St. John’s game last night, Jeff Long confirmed that Arkansas was “very likely” to host a Super Regional between Arkansas and Missouri State despite Missouri State being the national seed.

Television announcers during the Arkansas-St. John’s game echoed as much. They cited a scheduling conflict for Missouri State which shares Hammons Field with the Springfield Cardinals, a Double-A Texas League team in the Cardinals’ organization. The Springfield Cardinals host Midland this weekend.

Everything seemed to fall into place last night after the Razorbacks gave up a three-run lead before playing small ball to get an 8th inning go-ahead run while Zach Jackson pitched yet another critical 9th inning to shut down St. John’s for the 4-3 win and secure a three-game regional sweep for the OmaHogs in Stillwater.

Missouri State went to 48-10 on the season beating Iowa 3-2 at Hammons Field yesterday and winning their first NCAA regional in school history.

So there’s a scheduling conflict, and Jeff Long confirms the likelihood of a Baum Super Regional, but Missouri State is the higher seed, and if there’s anything that can be done in college athletics for a team to get what they want when they’ve earned it, it frequently gets done.

The final detail was this:

Missouri State wins the Springfield regional. The Bears didn't bid for a super regional, meaning Arkansas will host next weekend.

— WholeHogSports (@wholehogsports) June 1, 2015

This morning tickets for the Super Regional went on pre-order to Razorback Foundation members who had season tickets and to Razorback Foundation Collegiate Members.

Collegiate Members may call the ticket office today up to 1 pm to request super regional tickets. The ticket office phone number is 575.5151

— RF Collegiate (@RF_Collegiate) June 1, 2015

The Razorback Foundation social media wouldn’t retweet an individual’s post regarding ticket sales without it being true. Separately, another source verified that tickets were able to be pre-ordered through the Razorback Foundation for some members from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. this morning.

Tickets will go on sale to the public tomorrow morning.

With WHERE all but announced, the bigger question now is WHEN.

Four NCAA Super Regionals will start on Friday and four will start on Saturday according to the NCAA TV Broadcast Schedule.

With times remaining as “to be announced,” the schedules will likely look similar to the 2014 Super Regionals. As reported on AL.com last year, What channel is the NCAA baseball Super Regional on? Friday’s TV schedule:

Today’s schedule (Friday, June 6) [All times Central]

Lafayette: Ole Miss vs. No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette
Game 1 — Saturday, 7 p.m. — ESPN2
Game 2 — Sunday, 8 p.m. — ESPN2
Game 3 (if necessary) — Monday, 6 p.m. — ESPN2

If the schedule matters to you before you commit to tickets, based on past history the first game could be played anywhere from noon on Friday to as late as 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.

We’re ready to stick a spoon in it!! Go Hogs!!

(Photo Courtesy of Kent Atkins — Thanks Man! #FreeTheSpoon #FearTheSpoon)