By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- The field is set for the College World Series with Arkansas and Stanford meeting at 1 p.m. Saturday and televised on ESPN.

The games will start on Friday with Oklahoma and Texas A&M meeting at 1 p.m. The 6 p.m. game on Friday will pit Notre Dame against Texas. Both games will be on ESPN. On Saturday night at 6 p.m., Ole Miss and Auburn will meet and televised on ESPN2.

The Razorbacks and Stanford met on February 27 with the Cardinal taking a 5-0 win in Round Rock, Texas. Arkansas was held to three hits on the day and Hagen Smith was the starting pitcher for the Hogs. The Razorbacks took both SEC series against Ole Miss and Auburn by 2-1 margins. They fell to Texas A&M by a 2-1 margin. So the Razorbacks are 5-5 against the other teams in the College World Series.

Brady Slavens delivered the big hit that allowed Arkansas to advance to the College World Series. Prior to him batting the Tar Heels were making a pitching change and shortstop Jalen Battles, who like Slavens and some others on this team, could have turned professional after last season. Battles had a message for Slavens though.

"Well, we had a whole year to think about it," Slavens said of losing to North Carolina State. "A lot of the players were on last year's team this year. That was basically the motivation was we're not going to lose this year. We're going to give it everything we have. I remember Jalen coming up to me in my last at-bat, and he was like 'Hey, this is what we came back for. So go do it.' All I could think about going up to the plate was last year's heartbreak and wanting to do it for this year's team and last year's team, honestly, not being able to make it."

The Tar Heels turned to lefty Caden O'Brien to face Slavens. O'Brien worked three innings in Saturday's loss to the Razorbacks so Slavens had an idea how he would be pitched.

"I kind of knew when Braydon (Webb) hit that, they were going to bring him in," Slavens said. "They were warming him up. I faced him yesterday. I had seen him, seen all of his pitches and I felt comfortable. I put a good swing on it the first pitch I saw in the zone."

This will be the ninth College World Series for Dave Van Horn. He took Nebraska twice before coming to Arkansas making this the seventh time heading to Omaha while with the Hogs.

"It never gets old, it's hard," Van Horn said. "What never gets old is the satisfaction and smiles on the player's faces. I mean, it's something they'll never forget. That's probably what I enjoy the most honestly now."

Arkansas, Stanford, Auburn and Ole Miss are on the same side of the bracket. The College World Series will run from June 17-27.