CWS Rewind: 2018

Continuing a trend of every three years in Omaha, Dave Van Horn’s Hogs made it back to the College World Series in 2018, and were an out away from glory.

The 2018 season was, arguably, Van Horn’s best as the Razorback skipper, winning 48 games and reaching the College World Series Finals for the first time in his career and second time in program history (1979). The 48 wins was the most for any Van Horn-led team in Arkansas history and the Hogs made a near impeccable run through the NCAA Tournament.

The road to its ninth College World Series was not easy as Arkansas’ regular-season schedule was, arguably, the toughest in the nation. The Hogs faced four of the seven other teams (Mississippi State, Florida, Texas, Texas Tech) that made the CWS field and went on to win 35 games at home, never losing a series at Baum Stadium in the process.

For the third time in its history, Arkansas was awarded a national seed (No. 5) for the NCAA Tournament ultimately giving it home field advantage all the way to the College World Series.

The Razorbacks went a perfect 3-0 through the NCAA Fayetteville Regional defeating Oral Roberts, Southern Miss, and Dallas Baptist to reach its seventh NCAA Super Regional in school history. In the next week, the Hogs secured their spot in Omaha for the ninth time in school history, winning a three-game series with SEC-foe South Carolina, 2-1.

In Omaha, Arkansas barreled through the winner’s bracket, defeating Texas, Texas Tech, and defending national-champion Florida for a spot in the finals for the first time since 1979.

Arkansas won game one of the final against Oregon State, 4-1, utilizing another stellar pitching performance from junior Blaine Knight, who ended his Razorback career setting the Arkansas single-season record for wins with a perfect 14-0 record. His closer, Matt Cronin, also set the Arkansas single-season saves record (14) in the same game.

Arkansas came within one strike of winning its first national championship in game two against Oregon State, but the Beavers scored three runs in the ninth inning and claimed game three the next day to give Arkansas its second national runner-up trophy in school history. Nonetheless, the state of Arkansas was well-represented on the national stage as the Razorbacks are now one of only 13 teams with five or more College World Series appearances since the year 2000.

Seven different Razorbacks earned either All-American or All-SEC status at the end of the season, including Carson Shaddy, Heston Kjerstad, Blaine Knight, Casey Martin, Eric Cole, Grant Koch, and Dominic Fletcher. Shaddy was named an All-America Third Team player by D1Baseball.com and was the only AllSEC first teamer on the team. Right-handed pitcher Blaine Knight was named a First Team AllAmerican by D1Baseball.com and Second Team All-American by the National College Baseball Writers’ Association (NCBWA). Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin both turned in one of the best seasons by a freshman duo in the nation and were named consensus All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball, the NCBWA, and D1Baseball.com.

Along with the numerous postseason honors, Kjerstad was named the SEC Freshman of the Year after hitting .332 over 69 games with an Arkansas freshman record 87 hits, 14 home runs, and 145 total bases. Martin turned in nearly identical numbers, leading the team with a .345 average over 67 games and matching Kjerstad with 87 hits of his own. He hit 13 home runs and drove in 49 RBIs, while stealing eight bases.