Know the Foe: Analyzing Arkansas’ 2024 Fayetteville Regional opponents

The Arkansas Razorbacks (43-14, 20-10 SEC) were selected as the No. 5 overall national seed during Monday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show. They will host Louisiana Tech, Kansas State and Southeast Missouri State this weekend inside Baum-Walker Stadium.

Below is a brief breakdown of each team, including their strengths and weaknesses, and headlining players, as Arkansas’ opponents look to prematurely end the Diamond Hogs’ season.

4 Seed: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks

Record: 34-25 (18-9, Ohio Valley Conference Champions)

Team On-Base Percentage: .398

Team ERA: 5.60

Fielding Percentage: 0.973

A familiar foe, SEMO will once again head to Fayetteville this weekend after winning the OVC tournament title a weekend ago.

Andy Sawyers’ squad’s biggest strengths are its power – the Redhawks have 100 long balls as a team – and defense, as their 0.973 fielding percentage led the OVC this season behind a deep SEMO bullpen.

Redhawks batters in 2024 have struck out 493 times, good for the second most in the OVC. Plate discipline is their most glaring weakness.

SEMO’s best starting pitcher is senior left-hander Haden Dow, who leads the team with just 57 strikeouts through 16 starts. Behind Dow in the bullpen are talented arms in Logan Karen, Peyton Lawrence and closer Kyle Miller.

Offensively, SEMO is led by Michael Mugan, who bats .322 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI. Ty Stauss paces the Redhawks with 51 RBI, and Ben Palmer’s 17 homers are a team high.

Also look out for Bryce Cannon and Josh Cameron, who each have double digit homers.

3 Seed: Kansas State Wildcats

Record: 32-24 (15-15 in Big 12)

Team On-Base Percentage: .377

Team ERA: 5.42

Fielding Percentage: 0.973

The Wildcats have made the postseason for the first time under head coach Pete Hughes, and they will face off against 2-seed Louisiana Tech on Friday night.

The name of the game is speed with Kansas State. The Wildcats are one of the best base-stealing teams in America (128 of 151 on base-stealing attempts). Brendan Jones sets the tone on the base paths with 37 stolen bases on 39 attempts.

Kansas State relies heavily on stealing bases to get men in scoring position, mainly because it lacks power at the plate. No Wildcat has double digit homers, and the team as a whole has hit only 59.

Owen Boerema is the Wildcats’ best starting pitcher numbers-wise, but the real strength of K-State’s pitching is its bullpen with preseason All-American Tyson Neighbors, along with Jackson Wentworth and Blake Dean, all of whom will take the mound at least once this weekend.

The Wildcat offense is led by Brady Day and Kaelen Culpepper, who bat .332 and .316, respectively, and lead the team with eight and nine home runs. Other offensive threats include Jones, Jaden Parsons and Chuck Ingram.

K-State’s offensive strategy will revolve around getting on base and stealing the next one.

2 Seed: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

Record: 45-17 (18-6 in Conference USA)

Team On-Base Percentage: .395

Team ERA: 4.96

Fielding Percentage: 0.981

Bulldog head coach Lane Burroughs is back in the postseason once again. This time, his talented Louisiana Tech team heads to Fayetteville, where they will look to end Arkansas’ season.

The primary strength of this Bulldog squad is its Swiss Army knife in former Razorback Ethan Bates, but we’ll get to him in a minute. Louisiana Tech has plenty of power at the top end and plenty of quality arms out of the bullpen.

This Bulldog team is pretty well-rounded, which is why it’s the 2-seed in this regional. With that being said, the team has no glaring weakness.

If you had to pick out one thing Louisiana Tech doesn’t succeed at, it would be base-stealing. The Bulldogs are just 30 of 40 on the season.

On the mound, the Bulldogs’ best starting pitcher is lefty Luke Nichols, who leads the team in innings and all staters in ERA. Bates leads the country in saves with 17, and Sam Broderson leads the team in strikeouts as a reliever.

Grant Hubka rounds out the big three in the Louisiana Tech bullpen.

Cole McConnell leads the C-USA with a .380 batting average to go along with 18 homers and 71 RBI. Bates completes the 1-2 punch in the Bulldog order, hitting .343 with 15 long balls and a team-leading 74 RBI.

Another big name is Dalton Davis, who has 15 home runs and another 53 RBI. The deep Louisiana Tech lineup also includes quality bats in the form of Jorge Corona, Michael Bullard and Adarius Myers.

With the Bulldogs, don’t be fooled because they’re not a big-name program. Louisiana Tech should give Arkansas more trouble than the others this weekend.

Up Next

The No. 1 seed Razorbacks will play the No. 4 seed Redhawks in the first game of the Fayetteville Regional at 2 p.m. on Friday. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.