WACO, Texas — Arkansas third baseman Matt Reynolds has experienced plenty in his baseball career.
The junior has battled through injuries. He has worked his way through slumps. But Reynolds said none of it compared to the difficulties Arkansas endured throughout the second half of the 2012 season.
“It was very tough,” Reynolds said. “One of the toughest stretches I’ve probably gone through as a player with a team. It was going from ranked in the top 3 to falling out of the polls.”
Those frustrations will be long forgotten if Arkansas (42-19) can complete its preseason goal of reaching the 2012 College World Series. The final hurdle begins at 4 p.m. today, when the Razorbacks play Baylor (48-15) in a best-of-three super regional in Baylor Ballpark.
Arkansas is in a super regional for the third time in four seasons and the Hogs are aiming for their second trip to Omaha in that span. It seemed farfetched late last month, when the Razorbacks limped into the Houston Regional after an unimpressive 16-16 record against Southeastern Conference opponents. It included an unimpressive 0-2 performance in the SEC Tournament.
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But three straight wins in the Houston Regional has Arkansas brimming with confidence as it prepares for Baylor, which is the NCAA’s No. 4 national seed.
“We’re on a big sweep right now,” said Arkansas pitcher DJ Baxendale (7-4, 2.83 ERA), who will start tonight opposite Baylor’s Trent Blank (10-1, 2.32 ERA). “They always say if you’re ever going to get hot, make it in the postseason. It’s starting to look that way for us. “We’ll see if we can continue that down at Baylor.”
Baxendale was asked to explain Arkansas’ regular season funk and had no answer. He agreed with Reynolds, saying it was a tough stretch for a team that harbored enormous aspirations as it prepared for the 2012 season.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said his players “got beat up” a little with criticism as a result of their struggles, which largely revolved around their hitting woes. He credited them for their determination, though, and said Arkansas has shown plenty of character.
“We’ve all taken a little bit of a beating and that’s life,” Van Horn said. “But I’m proud of this team. They never quit. I don’t know what’s going to happen this weekend. We’re playing a top 5 team in the country, a team that is a national seed. They’re older. They’re good. They’re strong and they’re confident. “If we can pull this one off it will be something.”
Baylor — which is batting .312 and has a staff earned run average of 3.14 — won the Big 12 championship behind an 18-game conference win streak. The Bears also showed some grit under pressure last week, advancing to their first super regional since 2005 by winning four straight elimination games following an opening-round loss.
The Bears have a chance to cap one of the most impressive sports years on campus (quarterback Robert Griffin III won the 2011 Heisman Trophy, the men’s basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, and the women’s basketball team won the NCAA championship) by advancing to Omaha.
The best part for Baylor? The Bears can do it at home, where they are an impressive 33-4 this season.
“You wouldn’t think it makes that much of a difference, but it really does,” Baylor pitcher Josh Turley said. “Having the crowd yell for you definitely gets the adrenaline pumping. When momentum shifts, it is a great thing to see the crowd get into the game.” Van Horn said the Razorbacks are facing a “big chore” against Baylor the next three days. But The road test will be nothing new for Arkansas, which beat Rice 1-0 in the pivotal game of the Houston Regional last week. Arkansas also is playing its third straight super regional on the road, going 0-2 at Arizona State in 2010 and 2-0 at Florida State in 2009. So it won’t deter Reynolds and the Razorbacks, who believe anything is possible after working through their late-season lull to climb within two wins of securing a trip to Omaha.
“No one pointed fingers,” Reynolds said. “We all stayed glued together like a family. If someone needed a butt chewing, we got after them. … It was tough, but we kept our strength. The coaches stayed tough on us, wouldn’t let us give up. Now we have all of this strength and confidence going into super regionals.”