OMAHA, Nebraska — Wednesday marks day six of the Men's College World Series in Omaha, and the competition has been on fire all week long at Charles Schwab Field.
But right across from the ballpark at Rocco’s Pizzeria and Cantina, there’s a different type of competition, and they’re also keeping score.
“I’m like, you know, I think I can get some Jell-O shots, and get them in team colors and we’ll throw a board up and kind of get things going a little,” said Kevin Culjat, the owner of Rocco’s.
Arkansas fans have not only been enjoying wins on the field but at the bar as well.
“I put the plaque up above it and thought maybe someone will try to get to 3,000 [Jell-o shots] or maybe try to chase that record a little,” Culjat said. “And then I end up with Ole Miss and Arkansas, and it just kind of spirals from there.”
It only took Razorback fans three days of competition this year to beat the previous record of 2,965 Jell-O shots by Mississippi State during last season’s tournament.
And they’re continuing to rack up the numbers.
“We bought like 10 buckets, which is like 200 Jell-O shots,” said Razorback fans Chris Ridings.
When asked how many he would drink, Hog fan Pat Flippo said: “As many as we can handle.”
With how much success Rocco’s has had with Hog fans, restaurant owner Kevin Culjat is deciding to give back to the Razorback community.
For every jello shot Razorback fans consume from the beginning to the end of the College World Series, Culjat will donate $2 to the Full Circle Food Pantry at the University of Arkansas (he is doing the same for the University of Mississippi and its fans).
With Razorback fans already having consumed over 7,000 jello shots, that means over $14,000 is headed to the campus food pantry.
“When you start having people buy them 200, 300, 500, a thousand at a time, I realized we had a much bigger deal on our hands,” Culjat said. “My wife and I just felt like, 'hey, we need to do something and help these people out.'”
Culjat says he’s been so busy, that he hasn’t reached out to the food pantries yet but is excited to make the donations at the end of the tournament.
“We’ll write a couple of really big checks to a couple of really good organizations here at the end of the series,” Culjat said.
And thanks to the energy from the Razorback faithful this week, the Hogs have earned themselves at least one more fan.
“Woo Pig Sooie baby,” Culjat exclaimed.