NCAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: At home for a change

FAYETTEVILLE — Grambling State is an historically black university widely known for its football program and legendary former coach Eddie Robinson.

Now Arkansas gets to find out just how good the Tigers are in baseball.

Arkansas drew Grambling State as a first-round opponent for the Fayetteville Regional that will be played at Baum Stadium on Friday through Sunday. The top-seeded Razorbacks (40-18) will meet the fourth-seeded Tigers (22-30) at 2:05 p.m. Friday, followed by No. 2 seed Washington State (34-20) against No. 3 seed Kansas State (36-20) at 7:05 p.m.

Second-round games in the double-elimination tournament will be played Saturday and the championship of the Fayetteville Regional will be decided Sunday, unless there is a need for a deciding game Monday.

The 64-team field for the NCAA Tournament was announced Monday with Arizona State as the No. 1 overall seed. The Fayetteville Regional is matched up with the Arizona State regional and the winners will play in a best of-3 super regional June 11-13.

The College World Series is scheduled for June 18-28 at Omaha, Neb.

Grambling State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship last weekend to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985. The Tigers, who started the season 0-9, have won six consecutive and beat Alcorn State 15-2 to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

“We started 0-9, but it’s all about how you finish,” said James Cooper, Grambling State’s first-year head coach. “We’ve been playing exceptional baseball lately.”

Arkansas will have a homefield advantage with a large crowd, but Cooper said his team won’t be intimidated. Grambling State played at LSU earlier this season and lost 8-4 before 6,500 at Alex Box Stadium.

“That was pretty intense for a midweek game at Alex Box Stadium, and our kids played well,” Cooper said.

Arkansas is pleased to be at home after six consecutive road games, including an 0-2 showing at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. But being at home does not guarantee success, like in 2007 when the Razorbacks lost twice to Oklahoma State in the Fayetteville Regional.

Th at experience has prompted Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn to change his approach for this year’s tournament.

“We’re staying at a hotel this year,” Van Horn said. “At home, there’s more distractions, you’ve got more people wanting tickets. You try to take care of grandma and your girlfriend and this person and that person. We’re going to try and gather up [Arkansas’ players] and put our arms around them and keep them focused, because I think in ’07 it was too scattered.

“Who knows if it will help, but there are a lot more distractions you have to deal with. But we’d rather be here. That’s a fact, especially how we finished on the road so much.”

Van Horn coached against Grambling State when he was at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La., from 1995-1997, but he is most familiar with Washington State of the opponents in the Fayetteville Regional.

Arkansas swept Washington State last year at Baum Stadium then beat the Cougars 10-3 in the Norman, Okla., Regional last year. That comeback victory jump-started the Razorbacks’ run through the NCAA Tournament to a berth in the College World Series.

Washington State enters the Fayetteville Regional after winning eight of its last 10 games in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Pac-10, SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference each have eight teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

“We’re not a dominant club, but a decent club that plays hard,” Washington State Coach Donnie Marbut said. “We feel like we’re prepared because every single weekend in the Pac-10, we play good teams. We expect to play good baseball and see where the chips fall.”

Arkansas will likely face left-hander Adrian Turner in Friday’s opener against Grambling State. Turner won two games at the SWAC Tournament and held Alcorn State to seven hits in Sunday’s championship game.

The Razorbacks could start senior T.J. Forrest against Grambling State and use Drew Smyly for Saturday’s game against either Washington State or Kansas State.

“T.J. Forrest is our most rested starter, so we’re leaning toward him,” Van Horn said. “We’re not sure yet. Grambling always had good athletes when I coached against them, and it’ll be a battle.”