Hogs unable to overcome Bears

FAYETTEVILLE — Before a crowd of 10,369 the Arkansas Razorbacks and Missouri State Bears battled to the end with the Bears prevailing, 5-4, as the game neared midnight Saturday at the Fayetteville Regional winner’s bracket game at Baum Stadium.

Arkansas dropped into the Fayetteville Regional loser’s bracket final against the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles team that Arkansas beat 3-0 in Friday night’s first round of the four-team double-elimination tournament.

“I guess it’s always easy to say when you win that it was a tremendous college game,” Missouri State coach Keith Guttin said. “But I think even if the score went the other way I would have felt that way. I just thought it was an extremely well-played game by both teams.”

Guttin had cause to say much the same Friday when his Bears with a two-run home run in the ninth overcame Oklahoma State, 6-5, a did Van Horn Friday when Arkansas pitchers Trevor Stephan, Kevin Kopps and Matt Cronin handed ORU their first shutout and beat ORU ace lefty Miguel Ausua, who also pitched well.

“Yeah, it was a good game, obviously,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said postgame from Saturday night’s loss. “I thought Missouri State did a good job punching in runs. We had runners all over the bases and couldn’t get a big hit.”

Or a big hit by pitch. Following Chad Spanberger’s leadoff walk with Arkansas down 5-4 in its ninth, Luke Bonfield (3 for 5) was so positive he was hit by reliever Jake Fromson’s 0-2 pitch that he exploded with rage when home plate umpire Brandon Cooper merely called it a ball.

Van Horn also protested to no avail. Still distracted, Bonfield couldn’t check his swing on an outside pitch. Bonfield struck out followed by Dominic Fletcher hitting into a doubleplay putting Arkansas up against ORU, who eliminated Oklahoma State, 14-6, Saturday afternoon.

The by then tired loser’s bracket winner would have to beat Missouri State twice to advance against the Fort Worth Regional winner to play in the best two of three Super Regional determining one of the eight playing for the national championship at the College World Series in Omaha.

“I think what you guys probably all saw was pretty self explanatory,” Bonfield said. “I thought it hit me. He (Cooper) obviously didn’t. That’s what happened, and that’s how the game went. I definitely let that dictate the rest of the at bat. Obviously it’s something I need to do better.”

Van Horn restricted his comment to “It looked like he got hit by the pitch. The umpire said he didn’t see it, and then we had a strikeout and obviously a doubleplay, and the ballgame is over. We got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Missouri State took a 1-0 lead on Arkansas starter Blaine Knight’s second pitch that leadoff man Hunter Steinmetz deposited over the right field fence.

Arkansas tied it 1-1 off Bears starter Dylan Coleman with No.

9 hitting third baseman Jack Kenley’s two-out RBI singleto score Jax Biggers, the first of two that Coleman walked in the second inning.

Steinmetz struck again with a third inning one-out single followed by Justin Paulsen launching a two-run home run over the right field bullpen and into the night.

Knight, the hard-luck loser given that the sophomore righthander from Bryant yielded but four hits and struck out eight against two walks, didn’t yield a hit until Jeremy Eierman’s oneout sixth single.

By then Knight had thrown

102 pitches and was even 3-3 on the scoreboard when Van Horn summoned reliever Cronin.

The freshman lefty who saved Friday’s victory over ORU by striking out the last batter representing the game’s tying run, got too unnerved Saturday to duplicate Friday’s feat. He beaned Blake Graham with his second pitch. Though Graham, after being checked out at length was able to stay in the game, Cronin, shaken, walked Alex Jefferson loading the bases.

Senior right-hander Dominic Taccolini was summoned.

Grant Koch, Arkansas’ AllSEC sophomore catcher but suffering a rare nightmare going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, missed a Taccolini pitch off his glove. The passed ball scored Eierman with the go-ahead run charged to Knight. The other runners also advanced enabling Graham to score on Jack Duffy’s grounder to short.

Arkansas banished Coleman while scoring two in the fifth.

Spanberger and Bonfield (3 for 5) scorched consecutive deflected singles up the middle. Fletcher doubled down the right field line scoring Spanberger. Coleman hit Carson Shaddy with his 100th pitch bringing on Knutson who was Friday’s winner in relief over Oklahoma State. Knutson fielded a nubber by Biggers and threw to first while Bonfield scored. Koch’s third strikeout ended the inning.

Koch also ended the seventh after Arkansas scored though with a hard grounder fielded by third baseman Jake Burger. Bonfield singled leading off and was forced at second on Shaddy’s one-out grounder. Shaddy would tour the bases on three wild pitches for Arkansas’ last run.

Arkansas reliever Jake Reindl survived a shaky eighth, and Missouri State closer Fromson closed the disputed ninth.