Road to Omaha

Razorback pitching has been exceptional the past few weeks.  Pitching coach Dave Jorn says the pitching depth has created confidence across the entire team and coaching staff.

“We’ve got some depth,” Jorn said Tuesday. “You don’t ever want to have to work out of a hole in a loser’s bracket. But if we were ever to get into that situation I feel more confident this year with the type of depth that we have to be able to have enough arms to be able to come out of it.”

Cole Manbeck with the Manhattan Mercury breaks down the Fayetteville Regional from the KSU perspective.  He is also high on the Hogs pitching.

The Razorbacks’ success this season has been built on pitching. Entering last week’s SEC tournament, they ranked 19th nationally with a team ERA of 3.86 while ranking 13th in the nation in both hits allowed per nine innings and strikeouts. In addition, they hand out just 2.6 walks per nine innings, the seventh fewest nationally.

Washington State got in their final practice at Pullman yesterday.  Today is a travel day for the Cougars.  They hope to have a better showing this year.

“We were expecting to go to the postseason, now not only are we expecting to go but we’re expecting to win.”

Grambling needs a lot to go right this weekend, but they have a good attitude.  It sounds like they have a firm understanding of what they are up against this Friday.

“We know it’s going to be tough,” Cooper said. “We’re just going to keep relying on pitching and defense and hopefully get some timely hitting along the way.”