They dropped competitive games to Virginia Tech and Gonzaga in 2022 and to Indiana State and North Carolina in 2023.
But the hardest postseasons to get over are the ones you have to watch from home.
That’s what happened to the Raiders last season. After blitzing through the Horizon League for another regular-season crown, they were knocked out of the league tourney at home the day before the championship round.
When they secured the title this year by winning three straight elimination games, the Lebanon High School grad called the experience “bittersweet.”
The thought of Northern Kentucky celebrating the 2024 title at Nischwitz Stadium had been festering for 12 months.
“It’s been a long time coming. We worked all year for this. We dreamed about this every day. And we’re going to prepare to do something that’s never been done here — win a regional,” he said.
The Raiders will be making their 12th NCAA tourney trip — and Arnold is right: still no regional crowns — facing top-seeded Vanderbilt in Nashville at 6 p.m. Friday (SEC Network). Louisville and East Tennessee State will play in the other regional game at 2 p.m.
It’s a gruesome draw. Vandy has the longest NCAA tourney streak in the country at 19 straight appearances (after missing the event for 22 consecutive seasons), has won three of the last six SEC tourneys and captured national titles in 2019 and ’14.
But the Raiders know what they’re getting into. They historically test themselves in the non-league season with regular trips to SEC country.
“I spend every day with these guys, and nobody is scared of anything. Everyone is up for any challenge. We’re just a bunch of guys who will do anything for the guy next to him,” Arnold said.
“We’ve got a lot of talented guys. We’re full of depth. You saw it (in the HL tourney). We were able to play that many games and still fire out as many pitchers as we did. It’s a team that’s gritty, hard-working and won’t back down from anybody.”
That’s Arnold’s DNA, too. He went 5 for 13 at the plate with a homer and six RBIs in the three do-or-die games and made the all-tourney team along with MVP Patrick Fultz, Boston Smith, Garrett Peters and Chet Lax.
A three-year starter, Arnold is batting .263 this year and hit .250 and .258 in the two years before that.
Where he excels most is in the field. He committed just two errors in 86 chances during an injury-played 2024 season and has only six in 199 chances this year.
His size (6-3, 210) helps him cover ground and get to balls other short stops can’t.
The second-team all-league pick also relishes the air-traffic-controller aspect of the position, being in the middle of it all.
“I love leading these young guys in the infield. We pick each other up. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” he said.
Fultz, a junior third baseman in his third year as a starter, has marveled at the plays Arnold makes — and also how he deals with the ones he occasionally botches.
“Playing next to him on defense as a young guy my first year, he’d already had some reps at third. We had a lot of practice together. Then he was moved to short, and I took over at third. He’s been a good, calming voice for me,” the Springfield Shawnee grad said.
“He’s just been a steady guy. He’s been the same guy every day regardless of how he’s playing. That’s been encouraging to me in terms of how to handle the failure of this game.”
Maybe it’s the small-town upbringing that’s kept him grounded.
Those Lebanon roots run deep.
“I never forget where I came from. That’s Lebanon. I still have a bunch of friends over there. I wouldn’t be here today without them,” Arnold said.
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