Beef and main expertise make Arkansas vs. Tennessee 2025’s greatest tremendous regional and probably the greatest we have seen

The tremendous regional spherical of the NCAA Baseball Tournament at all times makes for fascinating tv. It is the 16 greatest groups within the nation — or at the very least the 16 that outlasted everybody else — battling it out for a spot within the Faculty World Sequence. 

There’s strain and there is drama. Simply take Arkansas, for instance. The Razorbacks might very nicely boast probably the most full roster in school baseball, however they have been on this place earlier than. They’ve made 11 journeys to the CWS — together with 4 since 2015 — however they’ve by no means gained a nationwide title. 

Tennessee, in the meantime, is making an attempt to defend its Faculty World Sequence crown after marching out of Omaha victorious for the primary time in program historical past final season. The Vols, who boast the third-best odds to win the CWS in keeping with FanDuel Sportsbook, should undergo Fayetteville to do this, and the Razorbacks should defend their dwelling turf in opposition to a scorching Tennessee workforce to keep away from the disgrace of one other empty postseason.

These are the stakes within the Fayetteville Tremendous Regional, which is about to start Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. 

That is sufficient to make this collection nicely value tuning into. 

However a deeper look under the hood exhibits that this weekend’s conflict between the Vols and the Razorbacks is definitely probably the most engaging tremendous regional collection of 2025, with the potential to be probably the greatest school baseball has ever seen. 

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Expertise galore 

Arkansas’ collection in opposition to Tennessee might as nicely be a de facto MLB All-Star Futures Recreation. There’s going to be future skilled expertise all around the diamond in Fayetteville. 

Tennessee has the SEC Pitcher of the 12 months in Liam Doyle, a fiery flamethrower who’s the precise kind of madman you need on the mound. Arkansas boasts the SEC Participant of the 12 months in Wehiwa Aloy, a whole shortstop with a pleasant glove that may hit for energy and common. Each made CBS Sports’ list of the top-10 MLB Draft prospects in the NCAA Tournament, and so they’re definitely the headliners. 

However Tennessee and Arkansas have a mixed 10 gamers that landed inside the highest 100 of MLB.com’s monetization 2025 MLB Draft prospect rankings. 

Three of Tennessee’s 4 infielders will probably hear their names referred to as throughout the first two rounds of the draft. Kilen was on a tear earlier than a hamstring damage price him portion of the common season, however he is just lately returned to kind and is batting .363 with 15 dwelling runs. 

Although Curley’s protection has taken a drastic step again — Tennessee needed to transfer him from shortstop to 3rd base after which second base to compensate — his bat’s coming round. He had 4 hits, six RBI and a house run in Tennessee’s final three regional video games. 

Fischer is perhaps the most effective of the bunch. He leads the SEC with 24 dwelling runs and he is been on base in all 63 of Tennessee’s video games this season. He is affected person on the plate and makes opposing pitchers work to drive him out. 

With Arkansas it is in regards to the arms. Root, a former East Carolina switch, is a hard-throwing lefty with a pleasant curveball and changeup to confuse batters. 

Wooden missed numerous time resulting from damage however he is began to seek out his groove recently. He struck out 13 of twenty-two batters confronted in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Regional remaining win in opposition to Creighton to ship the Hawgs to supers. He is additionally allowed greater than three earned runs in a single sport simply as soon as since returning to motion in mid-April. 

That is with out mentioning the entire expertise that is not draft-eligible till 2026, like Arkansas pitcher Gabe Gaeckle — a former starter that is flourished in a more moderen bullpen function — and catcher Ryder Helfrick, who’s hit 13 balls out of the park with a .329 batting common. 

Arkansas’ facility administration workforce goes to have to save lots of loads of seats inside Baum-Walker Stadium for scouts. 

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Vitello, Van Horn’s historical past 

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn go approach again. Vitello joined Van Horn’s Arkansas employees in 2014 after three seasons as an assistant below present Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle at TCU. 

Vitello shortly established himself as one of many prime recruiters within the nation with the Razorbacks. He was additionally accountable for creating 2015 SEC Participant of the 12 months Andrew Benintendi who was the primary and solely — till Aloy, at the very least — Razorback to earn that honor. 

Vitello left in June 2017 to take the Tennessee job. Arkansas swept Tennessee in 2019 — the primary assembly between Vitello and Van Horn as head coaches — and took two out of three video games in Knoxville in 2021. However the precise collection end result is not what followers bear in mind most from that weekend. 

After the Razorbacks secured a 3-2 win in Recreation 3, broadcast cameras caught Vitello and Van Horn embroiled in a heated argument. It reached some extent the place the 2 needed to be separated by assistant coaches. 

Van Horn later mentioned that the incident was in relation to a recruiting battle between the 2 applications, whereas Vitello mentioned after the Could 2021 sport that he “introduced up some off-the-field stuff.” Although memorable, the incident usually will get overblown. 

Each Vitello and Van Horn have mentioned within the years since that their relationship is okay. They even obtained dinner collectively in Nashville shortly after kerfuffle. Vitello even went as far as to thank Van Horn after Tennessee’s victory within the 2024 Faculty World Sequence finals. 

“What they should understand is their program positively had a hand in what occurred tonight, there is no query about that. I am grateful for my private alternative,” Vitello mentioned. “Guys like Zander (Sechrist) and Dylan (Dreiling) are benefactors of who I feel is the most effective coach within the nation, and coach Van Horn is who I am speaking about.”

Nonetheless, given the expertise and boisterous personalities on each groups and training staffs, video games between Tennessee and Arkansas at all times characteristic fireworks. Including some gasoline to the fireplace, it hasn’t taken very lengthy for Vitello’s Vols to catch as much as Van Horn’s Razorbacks close to the highest of the SEC. 

Here is a comparability of Arkansas and Tennessee’s résumés since Vitello left Fayetteville forward of the 2018 season: 

All 5 of Tennessee’s tremendous regional appearances have come within the final 5 seasons. That is greater than every other program in the identical span, together with Arkansas, which has made it to the tremendous regional spherical thrice since 2021. 

The expertise on show and up to date historical past between the 2 applications is sufficient to make the Fayetteville Tremendous must-watch tv. However Tennessee and Arkansas — two of the game’s premier applications — have by no means confronted off with this a lot on the road. It is what school baseball desires are fabricated from.