Hogs cruise into Fayetteville Regional final
FAYETTEVILLE — The Conference USA champions could not score Saturday night off of Arkansas junior starting left-hander Kacey Murphy.
Nor could Southern Mississippi (44-18) prevent Arkansas (41-18) from scoring seven runs in the second inning, which included a tworun home run by senior first baseman Jared Gates, a tworun home run by junior right fielder Eric Cole, a two-run triple by redshirt senior second baseman Carson Shaddy and an RBI single by sophomore center fielder Dominic Fletcher.
The net result was a second consecutive 10-2 victory for the Razorbacks, co-champions of the Southeastern Conference’s West Division. The win was celebrated by most of the 10,211 fans in attendance at Baum Stadium.
Arkansas added two runs in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by junior shortstop Jax Biggers and a single by freshman third baseman Casey Martin. The hosts of the Fayetteville Regional finished scoring in the top of the ninth inning on consecutive doubles by Fletcher and Shaddy.
Murphy (8-4, 2.86 ERA) needed little run support against the regional’s second seed. He allowed no runs on just two hits with five strikeouts and one walk on 100 pitches in eight complete innings.
The Razorbacks were in the winner’s bracket after a
10-2 victory on Friday against Tulsa-based Oral Roberts (3820) thanks to eight complete innings by junior ace righthander Blaine Knight (11-0,
2.74). Arkansas advanced to Sunday’s championship game as the lone unbeaten in the four-team double-elimination tournament.
The winner of the Fayetteville Regional will advance to play in a super regional against the winner of the Greenville Regional hosted by No. 12 East Carolina (44-17) in South Carolina. The winner of two out of three games between the two will play for the national championship at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Arkansas had the opportunity to win the regional Sunday night against the winner of the afternoon’s loser bracket survivor. Southern Miss met Dallas Baptist (42-20) again after the Patriots eliminated Oral Roberts, 15-9, on Saturday. Dallas Baptist advanced to Sunday night’s game with a 9-4 victory over Southern Miss.
A winner-take-all championship game will be held at
6:30 p.m. today, if necessary. Arkansas opened Saturday night’s game hitting lefty Stevie Powers (5-2) hard but to no avail in the first inning. Cole lined out to third base before Martin and freshman left fielder Heston Kjerstad reached base on singles only to be left stranded.
Gates was 2-for-5 on Friday and began his 3-for-5 day on Saturday with a home run off of Powers. Shaddy walked as the first of Arkansas’ 11 batters in the second inning.
Junior catcher Grant Koch flied to center before Gates defied lefty vs. lefty percentages and powered a 1-1 pitch to the opposite field for his home run. Biggers then walked and switch-hitter Cole, batting right-handed against the southpaw, hit his full-county home run to the opposite field.
Powers struck out Martin, but hit Kjerstad with a pitch and walked senior designated hitter Luke Bonfield. Righthander Mason Strickland warmed up in the bullpen, but Southern Miss coach Scott Berry stayed left on left with Powers against Fletcher.
Fletcher whacked an RBI single into the right-center gap with Bonfield taking third. Batting for the second time in the inning, right-handed hitting Shaddy greeted Strick-
land with a two-run triple to right-center before Koch was retired for a second time.
Shaddy, Gates, Cole and Martin all singled in the fifth as Arkansas scored two off Strickland. Biggers’ sacrifice fly scored one. Martin’s single to left-center scored the other, though Cole was thrown out also trying to score.
Stifled for eight innings by Murphy, the Golden Eagles feasted on freshmen Caleb Bolden for its runs in the ninth. Bolden was tagged for Matthew Guidry’s home run, Luke Reynolds’ single and Matt Wallner’s RBI double before he was relieved by fellow freshman Bryce Bonnin.
Bonnin walked Hunter Slater but was bailed out by first baseman Gates, who had turned in a defensive gem in the eighth, snagging Daniel Keating’s line drive and stepping on first to double off Slater. Bonnin struck out Cole Donaldson to keep top relievers Matt Cronin, Jake Reindl and Barrett Loseke still unused in the tournament and fresh in the bullpen.