It has been a busy 24 hours for the sports staff at The Morning News.

Arkansas’ berth in the College World Series has prompted us to put together a special section that will be unveiled later this week. But at the same time, we’re also beginning our daily coverage of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begins Wednesday at John McDonnell Field. Look for a special section on the big event in Wednesday’s paper.

Rest assured, we’ve been banging away on our keyboards trying to get everything done.

We don’t want to neglect the blog, though. So here are some links to hold you over this morning.

• First, check out Ryan Malashock’s feature on Arkansas 2B Bo Bigham. We’ve learned a little about Bigham the last couple weeks. I wrote a story about his pregame backflip before regional play began. But Ryan dug more into the real reason he’s in the lineup: Bigham can flat out hit the ball and has been a tough out for opponents in NCAA Tournament play.

• Haven’t gotten enough baseball? Well, there’s good news. The MLB Draft also begins today and there are a few Razorbacks (and potential future Razorbacks) that will be selected this week. Ryan put together a rundown of how the Razorbacks are handling it as they prepare to leave Fayetteville for Omaha.

• Don’t ask how I found this, but here’s a different take on an Arkansas player in the College World Series. Reliever Christian Kowalchuk, who is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is featured in a story that appears on Canada.com. The first sentence says with Kowalchuk going to Omaha, the CWS now carries Saskatchewan flavoring for what is believed to be the first time. Interesting.

• What would Arkansas sprinter Shelise Williams be if she played football or basketball. UA women’s track and field coach Lance Harter answers that question in this feature I put together on the sophomore. Williams will run the 400 meters for the Razorbacks out the outdoor meet. She’s hoping to reach the finals and Arkansas truly believes she could be a big surprise this week.

Don’t forget, there are now two places you can get Arkansas sports updates on Twitter from The Morning News sports staff. In addition to my page @NWARobbie, we’ve created @NWAOnlineHogs. Ryan will be tweeting from Omaha @NWAOnlineHogs this week. I’ll be tweeting at NCAA Track and Field on my page @NWARobbie.

So follow us both for news, notes, facts, figures and anything else that comes to mind.

Got plenty of stuff today from the Arkansas baseball team, and we only had so much room for the Tuesday newspaper. So I thought I’d unload some more information from my trip over to Baum Stadium for the Razorbacks’ reaction to being sent to the Norman (Okla.) Regional.

First off, there was some considerable relief and excitement coming out of the Arkansas clubhouse today. The Hogs expected to be sent to regional hosted by Oklahoma, and the NCAA Tournament selection committee came through for them.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn sounded thrilled that his team could take a bus ride to its regional site. Senior second baseman Ben Tschepikow agreed wholeheartedly.

“It’s good. It’s not as good as hosting a regional, but going only four hours away is great,” Tschepikow said. “We won’t have to travel that much and we should have a strong base of fan support.”

Van Horn commented during his 10-minute session with reporters that “the biggest issue for us is to get some guys healthy and get some experience back out on the field.”

Tschepikow is one of the players Van Horn was referring to. Tschepikow bounced back from a dislocated finger he suffered early in the SEC Tournament and even played some shortstop as he filled in for senior Scott Lyons.

Lyons injury, a bruised shoulder, has turned out to be much more problematic than initially expected. Lyons jammed his shoulder during a collision on the bases against Ole Miss on May 15. He has had only one pinch-hit at-bat since.

When I caught up with him in the Arkansas clubhouse, Lyons vowed to be on the field when second-seeeded Arkansas (34-22) takes on third-seeded Washington State (31-23) at 1 p.m. Friday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

“I’m going to play,” Lyons said. “But you know what, if  it’s hurting, I’m going to tell coach (Van Horn). I’m going to do the right thing. I have full confidence in Tschepikow, Bo (Bigham) and (Tim) Carver.

“It’s been real frustrating. It’s healed a lot slower than I thought it would. I thought I was going to start the first game of the SEC Tournament. It’s the front part of the shoulder that hurts. It’s a deep bruise. That’s the most frustrating thing. There’s no big injury. I’m just sore.”

If Lyons can’t go, Bigham has shown he can fill in admirably — with Tschepikow sliding over to short. Bigham, a freshman second baseman, possibly earned a spot in Friday’s by hitting .400 at the SEC Tournament.

Bigham’s just one of many freshmen who stepped up in Hoover, Ala. Tschepikow said these youngsters are ready for the spotlight, and pressures, of regional play.

“My message has been just not to be nervous or scared,” Tschepikow said. “Just go balls to the wall and just play hard. You don’t have anything to lose when you get to the tournament. A lot of them have a lot of great experience under their belt, so it’s not going to be like their first game of the year. They’ll be ready. They have a strong mentality.”