By Otis Kirk
It will be Arkansas and LSU on Saturday night in the College World Series with both teams practicing and holding a press conference on Thursday evening.
An oddity of sorts is Arkansas (48-13) and LSU (48-15) are the two highest seeds remaining and meet in the first game. The College World Series doesn't re-seed the teams. Arkansas is No. 3 and LSU No. 6. The two played a three-game series in Baton Rouge on May 9-11. LSU won the opener 5-4 in 10 innings and then took a 7-inning, run-rule 13-3 win on Saturday. The Hogs managed to salvage the final game of the series 7-4.
The Razorbacks are back in Omaha for the first time since 2022 and no one is happier about that than Dave Van Horn who got emotional at his press conference following the win over Tennessee this past Sunday to move to 5-0 in postseason, 3-0 in Fayetteville Regional and then swept the Vols at the Fayetteville Super Regional.
"Obviously it's great to be back," Van Horn said Thursday. "It just never gets old. It's such a challenge to get here throughout the season. So many ups and downs. All the teams deal with injuries and other things.
"Just so proud of this team that fought so hard to get here. They deserve to be here. With that, just excited to get it going on Saturday night."
Second baseman Cam Kozeal is from Nebraska. He's in his first season with the Razorbacks after transferring in from Vanderbilt. As the team left the practice field on Thursday kids were yelling Kozeal's name trying to get his attention.
"It was a cool feeling," Kozeal said. "It's good to be back in Omaha. Give my dad a hug there on the warning track. I saw him pregame on the field. I told him should have mowed because the grass is really long. That's okay.
"It's a great feeling being back. A lot of kids, some of my siblings were in there. It was kind of cool to see all those little faces and smiles. It's cool."
To be in Omaha on Father's Day weekend and able to give his dad a hug seems almost fitting.
"I think that's a pretty cool gift," Kozeal said. "I want to take him duck hunting this winter in some pretty cool places. That would be a pretty cool gift also. It's a special moment special moment for me and my family. Glad it could happen here in Arkansas and to happen here in Omaha. It's a cool place to be."
Ace Zach Root has been virtually unhittable in his last two outings. In the 4-3 win over Tennessee on Saturday, Root went seven innings allowing only one hit and two runs. Against Creighton in the Fayetteville Regional, Root worked six innings allowing just three hits and no runs while fanning seven,
"Every baseball's dream in college is to make it here," Root said. "Like Kozeal said, the team is living it. There's a lot of teams that are in D-I and want to get here, and only eight get here. It's such a great feeling to be one of those eight to get here."
Root admitted his last two outings has him pumped to pitch on Saturday night against LSU.
"Just keep the train rolling," Root said. "I want to go out there, set the tone for however long we're here and just put my team in a good chance to win."
Van Horn has talked about how special this team is all season about how they get along both on and off the field.
"They mentioned it," Van Horn said. "What makes it special, these guys, they really like each other. They're kind of throwbacks, a lot of them. They're gym rats. They hang out at the ballpark. We have nice facilities, nice locker room areas.
"Now we have, I don't know what you call it, but we're calling it a pond back there behind the center field wall. I've got 15 guys fishing out there all the time. They're out there in little boats. It's comical. I love it.
"They just get along and like each other, like I said. And they're talented. And if the rest of my coaches were sitting up here, they'd say the same thing. They make it fun to come to work every day. They make it like it's almost not a job."
It's expected that Gage Wood will pitch in the second game on Monday, but Van Horn stopped short of confirming that.
"Well, right now, I mean, obviously we're going to throw Zach on Saturday," Van Horn said. "It's no secret. The Monday game, I'm not sure yet. So we'll just take it from there. I mean, honestly let's just get through Saturday and go see what happens."
LSU Coach Jay Johnson also praised his own team while touting the big game Saturday night.
"Great 2025 for our team and our program," Johnson said. "I'm very proud of our team. Felt like they're very deserving of being in Omaha. Very consistent from the start of the season through a tough SEC schedule and obviously the postseason.
"Great opponent. It should be a great night for college baseball, and we're honored to be here."
LSU first baseman Jared Jones is impressed with the Arkansas pitching staff.
"Arkansas' pitching staff is probably one of the best in the country, if not the best just the talent and arms they have," Jones said. "I think back to the weekend series against them, they pitched pretty well. I think we got to them on Saturday, though. That will give us a lot of confidence going into the weekend.
"And just sticking with, we understand that there's going to be some times or some innings where we don't score and maybe we have guys on base and we left them on. But we've just got to stick with it, keep taking quality at-bats and get the next guy to the plate."
LSU and Arkansas will meet at 6 p.m. Saturday night and the game televised on ESPN for anyone who can't make it to Omaha.
