OMAHA—I’ll admit, I was surprised to see Arkansas slide Zack Cox from third base to short and Andy Wilkins from first base to third today, but so far the move looks like a good one. Cox, playing shortstop for the first time since his junior year of high school, has been flawless on his first two groundball chances, throwing out Mikie Mahtook in the first and Sean Ochinko in the second. Wilkins, who has played third at times this year when Cox comes in to pitch, started a 5-4-3 double play on a Derek Helenihi chopper to end the LSU second.

Dave Van Horn went with this lineup, instead of starting Tim Carver at short, for offensive reasons, because Jacob House (playing first base) has a better bat than Carver. House just singled to center in his first trip to the plate, and the defense has looked good so far. Stay tuned.

It’s 1-0 LSU in the bottom of the second, and Tigers starter Anthony Ranaudo looks very sharp.