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FAYETTEVILLE — Over the weekend, Arkansas fans once again proved they are among the best in college baseball.

Lining up for the Hog Pen in the wee hours of the morning and packing 10,000-plus inside Baum-Walker Stadium have become the norm in Fayetteville, but the way they treated Central Connecticut really sets them apart.

When the Blue Devils were announced as the No. 4 seed for the Fayetteville Regional, the initial reaction was, “Who?” A school from the northeastern part of the U.S. whose football team plays at the FCS level, many fans and media expected them to be a cupcake.

Head coach Dave Van Horn even went against his usual strategy and held ace Isaiah Campbell back for Game 2, but Central Connecticut earned some respect by preventing a blowout in an 11-5 loss in the opener.

The magic happened Saturday. Playing Cal, a Pac-12 school led by reigning Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Vaughn, the Blue Devils did something they had never done before: win an NCAA Tournament game. (It was also the second ever for the Northeast Conference, with the first ironically being Bryant beating Arkansas in 2013.)

They countered every punch thrown by the Golden Bears before throwing the knockout blow in the form of a three-run home run by Dave Matthews.

While most games not featuring the host school draw only a handful of fans at regionals, more than a thousand still showed up for Central Connecticut’s games and Arkansas fans adopted it as their second school. It was very much like March Madness, when neutral observers gradually begin rooting for Cinderella as it closes in on an upset.

After the game, the Blue Devils were treated like royalty. Tailgaters outside the stadium offered them free beer - don’t worry NCAA, they didn’t accept - and a young fan even returned Matthews’ home run ball. (As you can see in the tweets below, he was properly rewarded the next day.)