OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas made it look easy opening the College World Series on Sunday afternoon against Texas.
But it took awhile.
Thanks to a rain delay of nearly three hours, the Razorbacks had an eight-run sixth inning that stretched across the rain delay and pulled away for an 11-5 win.
The Hogs will now face the winner of the Florida-Texas Tech game in the winner’s brack Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In that sixth inning, the first 10 batters reached base — five before and five after the delay. Following a homer by Luke Bonfield, Jax Biggers and Eric Cole drew bases-loaded walks to stretch Arkansas’ lead to 5-2 before lightning and rain moved into the area.
When they started again, the Hogs picked up right where they left off. Casey Martin hit the first pitch he saw for an RBI single and Heston Kjerstad followed with a two-run single.
After Bonfield was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, Dominic Fletcher drove in two more runs with a single and Carson Shaddy capped the inning with an RBI single of his own.
Although Barrett Loseke threw one inning before the delay and recorded two more outs when play resumed, the large lead allowed Arkansas to save its other two relievers, Jake Reindl and Matt Cronin.
Kole Ramage, Bryce Bonnin and Cody Scroggins combined to give up three earned runs over the final 2.1 innings.
Both starting pitchers went five innings, with Blaine Knight improving to 13-0 after allowing only two earned runs on four hits and one walk. He tied a single-season record with the 13 victories, matching totals by Rich Erwin and Steve Krueger in 1979 and 1980, respectively.
Nolan Kingham was far less effective for the Longhorns. He was charged with five earned runs, giving up nine hits and one walk.
It didn’t take long for Arkansas to take the lead. Following a perfect first inning by Knight, Eric Cole doubled to lead off the home half and then scored on an RBI single by Kjerstad.
Texas answered in the third inning, with Tate Shaw leading off with a triple and then scoring on a groundout by Ryan Reynolds.
In the fifth, the Longhorns used some small ball to take the lead. Masen Hibbeler hit a sharp grounder, but Jax Biggers bobbled it and it was called an infield single. Shaw followed with a bunt single and Reynolds moved them up with a sacrifice bunt.
A sacrifice fly by David Hamilton gave Texas a 2-1 advantage, but the Razorbacks regained the lead the next half inning on Bonfield’s home run.
