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[praetorfenix86]

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

5/30/2006

OU and OSU earn No. 1 seeds, while area teams face off in either Norman or Fayetteville.

Area fans won't have far to go to see quality postseason college baseball this weekend.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Arkansas and even Wichita State are conveniently packed into two regional tournaments in Norman and Fayetteville, Ark.

"Great field coming in here with a lot of local flavor, and a great tournament over in Fayetteville," said Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway. "It's going to make for some great crowds."

Golloway's Sooners (40-19) host a regional tournament for the first time at L. Dale Mitchell Park (the first time in Norman since 1977) and on Monday were announced as the Norman Regional's No. 1 seed.

Big 12 Conference runner-up Oklahoma State (39-18) also drew a 1-seed at the Fayetteville Regional. The Cowboys are the only No. 1 seed this year that won't host a regional. It's OSU's first No. 1 seed since the NCAA switched to its four-team regional format in 1999.

Oral Roberts (39-14) received a 3-seed for the second straight year and plays No. 2 seed Arkansas (38-19) at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks host their third regional, all since 1999.

In Norman, OU plays No. 4-seed TCU (38-21) on Friday at 7 p.m. No. 3 Wichita State (44-20) faces second seeded Houston (39-20) at 1 p.m.

In Fayetteville, OSU opens at 2 p.m. Friday with No. 4 seed Princeton (19-24-1), which has the fewest victories and fewest games played of any participant in the 64-team field. ORU meets Arkansas at 7 p.m.

The Golden Eagles would seem to have an edge in their regional. In three regular-season meetings with the Razorbacks and Cowboys this season, ORU beat OSU 5-2 and 13-2 and defeated Arkansas 5-4.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, lost two regular-season games to Wichita State 12-2 and 9-5, but defeated TCU twice, 10-5 and 12-11.

All of those games, however, were midweek contests, wherein a given team's best pitchers are set aside for weekend conference opponents. Midweek pitchers are usually a coach's fourth or fifth option. That won't be the case in regional play.

"It changes it. There's no doubt," Golloway said. "Your hitters are going to face better arms. Then again, their hitters are going to face your better arms. It really comes down to how they match up with those people.

"I will say this: we are a better weekend club than we are a midweek club because of our 1-2-3 pitchers that we've been able to run out there all year. It'll be different this week because we'll have our top three arms."

In a 3-0 loss to the Razorbacks on Feb. 11 -- the second game of the season in a weekend tournament -- Oklahoma State was no-hit for the first time in its 71-year history. Three Arkansas pitchers, including ace Nick Schmidt, combined for the no-hitter.

No matter who is on the mound, a regular-season victory over a postseason opponent is better than the alternative.

"I think kids do come in with confidence," Golloway said. "I don't think the college athlete puts as much thought into it or studies it as much as the coaches do."

"I would think that's the case," said ORU's Rob Walton. "It gives you life and emotion. But anything can happen on a given day."

Although his team is unbeaten this season against the two higher seeds, Walton was careful to not give out bulletin-board material.

"We played well against both teams, but it's tough," Walton said. "You'd think Arkansas deserves the right to be a 1-seed, and OSU deserves the right to be a 1, too. So it's a little strange. But I'm happy to be in a regional, no matter what."

He's also happy to be playing locally. ORU's small fan base will be badly outnumbered (some 10,000 Arkansas fans are expected), so minimal travel is important to the Golden Eagles.

"I think it'll help our bodies, not getting on a plane and having to run around," Walton said. "It'll help our health and we'll be rested up. Other than that, I don't see any other advantage to this regional."

Oklahoma State coach Frank Anderson's team wasn't even in a regional last season, so the Cowboys' turnaround was relatively quick.

"We've kept some key guys healthy for the most part, and we've probably got better team chemistry; a better overall feel," Anderson said. "You've got kids that care about each other and care about doing the right things. That's a huge part of it. Even when you look at our run where we won quite a few (21 of their last 25 before going 0-3 in last week's Big 12 Tournament), those were mostly team wins. It wasn't like we were blowing people out or run-ruling people. There were a lot of one-run wins in there.

"This is a group that had to stick together. You start 3-6 in conference play and you end up 18-9, that means your kids had to step to the forefront and be leaders."

Anderson said he felt confident OSU would be a 1-seed, and after the Cowboys were not awarded a site on Sunday and Arkansas was (a cattle show at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction banquet took up too many hotel rooms in Stillwater), he said he figured his team would be in Fayetteville. Either way, he was glad his team's 0-3 performance at the Big 12 Tournament wasn't costly.

"Not when you finish the regular season and do as well as we have," he said.

[praetorfenix86]

Golloway: Matchup for regional appeal

By JOHN E. HOOVER World sports writer

5/30/2006

The NCAA baseball committee didn't shy away from controversy when it put together a regional for Norman, where 11 months ago Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson accepted the Sooners' head coaching vacancy -- weeping several times on camera -- only to change his mind later in the day.

OU coach Sunny Golloway, hired five days later, began to laugh hysterically before the question had been asked completely: Is Stephenson's return to Norman just for regional appeal, or is the committee trying to stir interest?

"I think it's a strictly regional appeal," Golloway said after composing himself. "They're the 3-seed, so it was either going to be Oral Roberts here as a 3 or Wichita State. I guess they didn't want to send my former club and Rob Walton, a guy I still love like a brother."

Stephenson is a Guthrie native, a former OU assistant and routinely goes to OU football games. His 1,550 career victories (in 29 seasons) ranks second all-time behind Texas' Augie Garrido

[praetorfenix86]

Hogs coach likes team's NCAA chances

By NATE ALLEN World correspondent

5/30/2006

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn didn't grumble about his Razorbacks being seeded second. They face No. 3-seed Oral Roberts on Friday.

He said he'll gladly take a second seed at home over a No. 1 elsewhere. "No doubt about it," Van Horn said. "You just have got to get through that first ballgame. We don't have an easy ballgame, and I think Oral Roberts knows they don't have an easy ballgame."

Oklahoma State and Arkansas also match up well, Van Horn said. "Their RPI is almost exactly the same as ours," he said. "It's going to be a good regional."

[vcboy2000]

Good stories, Fenix. Thanks for posting.