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Fayetteville

Reindl saves the day for Hogs against Dallas Baptist

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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VIDEO FROM ESPN SEC NETWORK
FAYETTEVILLE — Top-seeded and fourth-ranked Arkansas finished a clean sweep of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional on Sunday night, defeating third-seed Dallas Baptist, 4-3, to reach their seventh NCAA Super Regional in program history.

The Razorbacks (42-18) are back in the super regionals for the first time since 2015, a year they reached the College World Series.

It was also the seventh time in history an Arkansas team made it out of a regional without recording a loss.

Arkansas will await to find out its opponent for the Super Regional, but knows it will face either South Carolina or UNC-Wilmington out of the NCAA Greenville Regional.

As a top-eight national seed, Arkansas will host the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament, but dates and game times for the Fayetteville Super Regional have not been set.

It will be the third time Fayetteville has hosted a super regional in school history.

In Sunday’s clincher, Arkansas fell behind early to the Patriots (42-21), giving up two runs in the first two innings, but the relief pitching of junior Jake Reindl was what turned the tides for the Hogs.

Arkansas responded with four unanswered runs over the remaining six innings, three coming by the fourth inning.

Reindl ended up earning the win tying a career-high with seven innings of one-run relief, getting teammate Isaiah Campbell off the hook, after he only lasted three batters.

Reindl scattered five hits and didn’t walk a batter, while striking out four. He moves to 3-1 on the year as Sunday’s appearance was his fourth of four innings or more and second of seven innings or more this year.

Heston Kjerstad delivered an RBI single for what proved to be the winning run and made a game-saving catch over the fence in left field. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

The Hitting

Unlike the previous two games of the regional, Arkansas had to manufacture its runs without relying on the home run.

With only four runs on seven hits, only first baseman Jared Gates finished with a multi-hit performance.

Gates went 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs scored as his lead-off single in the third led to the Hogs’ first run to start the rally.

His other single later in the game also led off an inning as he came around to score the important insurance run in the seventh.

It was the seventh multi-hit game for Gates this year and his second of the regional. Gates has had one of the hottest bats on the team over the last two weeks.

He is currently on a six-game hitting streak and is 9-for-20 (.450) during that span with three multi-hit games, four RBIs, and one home run.

In the fourth inning, Arkansas utilized back-to-back singles from Luke Bonfield and Dominic Fletcher to start the go-ahead rally.

They were both brought around to score after a Carson Shaddy groundout and an RBI single from Grant Koch. Six different Razorbacks recorded at least one hit in the game, while all but two starters reached base.

Jake Reindl came on in the first inning, didn’t have his best stuff, but made it work through seven innings. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

The Pitching

One week after having one of his best outings of the year, redshirt sophomore Isaiah Campbell did not have it working against Dallas Baptist Sunday night.

Campbell only faced three batters, giving up two walks and one hit, while throwing 13 pitches.

Luckily, Arkansas had not used Jake Reindl, Matt Cronin, or Barrett Loseke earlier in the regional and had all three of their arms available to help clinch Sunday’s win.

Loseke wasn’t needed against Dallas Baptist, but Reindl and Cronin both combined for nine innings of relief, allowing just two runs and striking out four each.

Reindl’s outing was reminiscent of his seven-inning outing of relief against Auburn (April 8) earlier this year where he retired the final 18 batters.

He got out of two bases-loaded jams in the first and fourth innings with only one run allowed and he retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.

Cronin closed out the game over the final two innings, locking up his 12th save of the year. He struck out the side in the eighth inning and punched out one more in the ninth, throwing 36 pitches.

He now is just one save away from tying the all-time school record for saves in a season (13 – Colby Suggs in 2013).

Since coming back from mono, Cronin has recorded saves in three-consecutive appearances out of the bullpen.

Second baseman Carson Shaddy (left) and first baseman Jared Gates were both named to the All-Tournament team along with four teammates. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

NCAA Fayetteville Regional All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Player: Devlin Granberg, Dallas Baptist

Pitcher: Kacey Murphy, Arkansas
Pitcher: Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss
Catcher: Riley Keizor, Oral Roberts
First Base: Jared Gates, Arkansas
Second Base: Carson Shaddy, Arkansas
Third Base: Casey Martin, Arkansas
Shortstop: Jimmy Glowenke, Dallas Baptist
Outfield: Devlin Granberg, Dallas Baptist
Outfield: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
Outfield: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
Designated Hitter: Daniel Keating, Southern Miss

Van Horn, players recapping winning NCAA Regional

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, reliever Matt Cronin, left fielder Heston Kjerstad and reliever Jake Reindl talked about the nailbiter 4-3 win over Dallas Baptist to clinch the regional.

DBU’s coach, players talk about loss to Razorbacks

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Dallas Baptist coach Dan Heefner along with players Delvin Granburg and Matt Duce talk with the media after being knocked out of the NCAA Regional by Arkansas, 4-3.

Dallas Baptist coach not sure of starter against Hogs

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Dallas Baptist coach Dan Heefner said after the Patriots beat Southern Miss 9-2 he wasn’t sure who would be starting on the mound against Arkansas in the finals Sunday night.

Gates’ steady play at first making difference for Hogs

Andy Hodges
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During Arkansas’ run through the regular season, the biggest question mark was first base.

Dave Van Horn really had a revolving door working there.

Here lately, though, he’s settled on senior Jared Gates. Oh, Hunter Wilson came in and had a big grand slam in the SEC Tournament, but Gates has been the man there for the last few weeks.

And it’s worked.

“We had a talk a while back and just told him he was playing, to relax a little bit and he just shook his head and we told him you’re the guy,” Van Horn said after Gates had a two-run homer for Arkansas on Saturday night. “He sure has responded.”

In two NCAA games, Gates has been steady in the field. Saturday night he even had a diving grab of a hot foul line shot late.

Then there was his two-run homer that jump-started a seven-run second inning for the Hogs.

“I just feel good up there right now,” Gates said after Saturday night’s game. “I had a rough season so far, but I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just seeing the ball really well and getting good swings on it. I just have a lot of confidence in myself right now and I’m just going to keep it going.”

He has provided some stability, which was the hunch Van Horn played by putting him there and apparently made the decision to stick with him, come hell or high water.

“Gates is a good defender and at the time, we weren’t getting much production out of the first baseman I was putting over there so I felt like I would go with the experienced guy,” Van Horn said. “He seems to make a lot of plays.”

It’s probably not a coincidence Gates’ insertion into the lineup goes hand-in-hand with some defensive improvement, but Van Horn isn’t putting that out there just yet.

“We played pretty good defense down the stretch in Hoover,” he said Saturday night. “We had one game where it didn’t go well and the last maybe 10 (games) where we made four errors in a game, but other than that, it’s been no errors or one. It hasn’t been costly errors. It’s always nice to see an outfielder make a dive and catch.”

That, combined with the hitting, could also be a big part of the pitching improvements. With Murphy came out for the bottom of the second, he had a seven-run cushion.

“It’s huge,” Murphy said. “It lets you relax a little bit. When you come out and they bloop one to the outfield or something, you’ve got plenty of run support to get out of it.”

That second inning, which saw the Hogs send 11 batters to the plate. But it was almost like a rain delay, Murphy said later.

“It was kind of a human rain delay to start the second,” he said. “I came out a little stiff and had to get back going.”

He did, simply dominating the Golden Eagles for eight complete innings.

“It really started on the mound with Casey Murphy’s performance … 70 strikes out of 100 pitches is pretty impressive,” Van Horn said. “Southern Miss has a lineup as good as anyone in the country. They are big and physical and if you make a mistake, they can hit it a long way.”

They did when Caleb Bolden came on to start the ninth. He promptly gave up a long homer and two more hits. He gave way to Bryce Bonnin, who some forgot was even on the roster.

Even that’s not bad because now for Sunday night’s game, Van Horn will have his top relievers ready behind starter Isaiah Campbell.

That’s thanks to Friday starter Blaine Knight and Murphy’s shut-down performance against Southern Miss.

“He saved our bullpen and gave us a chance to have our guys ready to go for the rest of the tournament,” Van Horn said.

That makes whoever wins Sunday’s first matchup between Dallas Baptist and Southern Miss face a tall mountain to climb to force a final game Monday night.

“We’ve been in this situation before,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “Last Saturday, a week ago, when Charlotte hit us for a loss that night we had to come back play the next day and certainly had to win two the next day with the second being a championship, but tomorrow we need to win two to get to Monday. But we’ll have to take the first game against Dallas Baptist before we can look ahead.”

In Dallas Baptist’s win over Oral Roberts, they had to go to the bullpen and they had to Friday against Southern Miss.

Arkansas doesn’t have that problem.

Thanks to Knight and Murphy in large part.

But some thanks to Gates for apparently stabilizing the Hogs’ defense.

Murphy, hitting powers Hogs past Southern Miss

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Top-seeded Arkansas had another ideal performance in its’ second game of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional on Saturday night.

The offense scored 10 runs for the second-consecutive night, while starting pitcher Kacey Murphy worked eight scoreless innings en route to a 10-2 victory over second-seed Southern Miss at Baum Stadium.

It’s the third time the Razorbacks have opened a regional by scoring at least 10 runs in its first two games; the Razorbacks reached the College World Series the other two times (2009, 1985).

It’s also the 13th time that Arkansas has reached the regional final since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

Arkansas (41-18) scored seven runs on Southern Miss (44-17) in the second inning, its most in an inning since game two of a doubleheader against Kentucky (Seven-run first – March 17), and forced the Golden Eagles starter to exit the game after only 1.2 innings pitched.

Senior Jared Gates and junior Eric Cole both homered in the second, going the opposite way both times, for their fifth and 13th home runs of the year, respectively.

Gates and Cole both finished with two RBIs apiece, while Cole tied a team high with three hits in the game, his 11th game with three or more hits this year.

On the mound, junior Kacey Murphy matched his teammate Blaine Knight from the day before with eight innings of work, locking up his eighth win of the year and ninth quality start.

Murphy did Knight one better by going eight scoreless, while giving up just two hits, walking one, and striking out five.

The eight innings of work was a career-high, topping his previous high of 7.1 innings against Texas A&M (May 12) earlier this year.

With Saturday night’s win, Arkansas will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to find out its opponent for the regional final as Southern Miss and Dallas Baptist will play an elimination game at 2 p.m.

The winner will advance to face the Razorbacks later in the day.

The Hitting

Five different players recorded multi-hit games Saturday night with Cole and redshirt senior Carson Shaddy leading the way with three hits each.

Cole finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs, both coming off the homer in the second.

Shaddy earned his fifth three-hit game of the year, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, falling just a home run shy of the cycle.

Shaddy’s two-run triple scored the final runs of the big second inning and was the fifth three-bagger of the year for Arkansas.

Arkansas’ Jared Gates gets a hug from on-deck batter Jax Biggers after his second-inning homer scored Carson Shaddy. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Senior Jared Gates, sophomore Dominic Fletcher, and freshman Casey Martin all went 2-for-5 at the plate Saturday with Gates’ two-run big fly starting all the scoring in the second inning.

It was the second home run of the postseason for Gates and one of, now, six hit in the regional.

Of the six home runs hit by Razorbacks this weekend, four have gone the opposite way as both of Heston Kjerstad’s home runs last night and Gates’ tonight found the left field Hog Pen, while the switch-hitting Cole took one out to right field from the right side of the plate.

With the two home runs hit tonight, Arkansas now has 90 for the year, which continues to lead the SEC and is only two away from tying the all-time school record for home runs in a season (92 in 2010).

The Pitching

Once again, Arkansas was able to save the main portion of its bullpen with the eight-inning outing by Murphy.

Not only was it the longest outing of Murphy’s career, but it was his third outing of seven or more innings this season. Both eight-inning outings by Knight and Murphy this weekend are currently the longest by any Razorback starter this year.

Pitcher Kacey Murphy put together a masterful eight innings against Southern Mississippi, giving up no runs, just two hits while walking just one. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Murphy finished the game with 100 pitches thrown with 70 of them going for strikes. He retired 10 in a row to start the game before Southern Miss got its first baserunner via a walk in the fourth.

Murphy didn’t even allow a hit until the fifth inning.

Up Next

Arkansas moves into the regional final with the win over Southern Miss and will await the winner of the Golden Eagles and Dallas Baptist from the loser’s bracket.

Whichever team advances out of that bracket will have to beat Arkansas twice to reach the Super Regionals.

A win tomorrow for the Hogs will place them in their seventh Super Regional in school history.

First pitch between Southern Miss and Dallas Baptist is set for 2 p.m. at Baum Stadium. The winner will face Arkansas at 7 p.m. later in the day.

Van Horn, players after Hogs bomb Golden Eagles

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, first baseman Jared Gates, pitcher Kacey Murphy and second baseman Carson Shaddy recapping the Hogs’ 10-2 win.

Knight named to pair of All-American teams this week

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Junior right-hander Blaine Knight earned All-America honors earlier this week from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, becoming the 42nd All-American in Arkansas Baseball history.

Just days before opening up the NCAA Fayetteville Regional for the Razorbacks, Knight was given second-team All-America status by Baseball America and third team honors by Collegiate Baseball.

Knight is first Arkansas pitcher named All-American since Keaton McKinney in 2015 and first non-freshman All-American pitcher since Ryne Stanek in 2013.

Knight has been the Arkansas ace all season racking up a perfect 11-0 record as the Hogs’ Friday night starter with six wins coming in conference play.

That 11-0 record is good for the most wins in the Southeastern Conference and he’s the only pitcher in Division I with an 11-0 record this year. His 11 wins also tie for the third most in a season in school history.

The junior has struck out 88 batters in his 16 appearances this season and walked only 22 for a 4.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Over his three seasons for the Hogs, Knight has built up a 4.12 strikeout-to-walk ratio and has struck out 230 batters, good for fifth-most in school history

Knight was, arguably, one of the best pitchers in the conference this year as he built up a 3.70 ERA in SEC games over 58.1 innings, while holding opponents to a .253 batting average.

He was named to the All-SEC Second Team prior to last week’s SEC Tournament, his first All-SEC distinction.

Overall, Knight leads the team and is fourth in the conference with a 2.74 ERA and is third in the SEC in innings pitched (95.1).

He has gone less than five innings only twice this season and has worked six or more innings in six consecutive starts, including last night’s 10-2 win over Oral Roberts to open the NCAA Tournament.

Knight tied a career-high with eight innings pitched against the Golden Eagles in Arkansas’ regional opener on Friday, allowing only three hits and walking one. It was his eighth start this year of six or more innings and one walk or less.

Knight and the Hogs continue their NCAA regional tonight against two-seed Southern Miss with first pitch from Baum Stadium at 7 p.m.

The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the regional final.

Golden Eagles coach, players after shutting out Dallas Baptist

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Southern Mississippi coach Scott Berry along with players Cole Donaldson and Nick Sandlin recapped their 9-0 win over Dallas Baptist on Friday night at the NCAA Regional.

Dallas Baptist coaches, players after loss to Southern Miss

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Dallas Baptist coach Dan Heefner along with players Trevor Conn and Devlin Granberg talk to the media after losing to Southern Mississippi, 9-0 on Friday night in the NCAA Regional.

Razorbacks run away from ORU to win regional opener

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas opened up the 2018 NCAA Fayetteville Regional with a runaway 10-2 victory over Oral Roberts on Friday afternoon at Baum Stadium.

Freshman outfielder Heston Kjerstad hit two of the Hogs’ four homers, while right-hander Blaine Knight tied a career-high with eight innings pitched and only two runs allowed.

Kjerstad, who had just one hit in last week’s SEC Tournament, showed why he was picked as the SEC Freshman of the Year when he went the opposite way with home runs in the third and eighth innings, accounting for four of Arkansas’ 10 runs.

He also singled in the fifth to finish 3-for-5 with two runs scored and tied a career-high with four RBIs.

On the mound, Knight had one of his best outings of the season, working an efficient eight innings on 104 pitches, while only allowing three hits, two being solo home runs, and just one walk.

The victory moves Knight to 11-0 on the year, keeping him as one of only two pitchers in the SEC with 11 wins.

The win for the Hogs (40-18) is their 40th of the year, marking the 22nd season that Arkansas totaled 40 or more wins and 10th time under Dave Van Horn.

It was also their fourth-straight regional opening victory, putting them into the winner’s bracket to face the winner of two-seed Southern Miss and three-seed Dallas Baptist on Saturday.

The Hitting

Of the 10 Arkansas players that made a plate appearance on Friday, all recorded at least one hit in the game with Kjerstad leading all players with three hits.

As a team, Arkansas finished with 14 hits in the game, its most in an NCAA Tournament game since knocking 18 against Missouri State in the 2015 Super Regional.

Kjerstad’s multi-home run game was second of the year and gives him 13 for the season, tying him with fellow freshman Casey Martin for the team lead.

He also joins Martin in good company as he has tied the Arkansas freshman record for home runs in a season last set by Zack Cox in 2009.

Along with Kjerstad’s big day, sophomore Dominic Fletcher finished 2-for-4 with two singles, his 19th multi-hit game of the year.

Jax Biggers also had a two-hit day, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to finish off a four-run inning for the Hogs and up their lead over ORU to 6-1.

Since returning from his finger injury in last week’s SEC Tournament, Biggers is 5-for-10 (.500) over three games with two multi-hit games and two RBIs. The home run was his fourth of the year.

Arkansas’ other homer came at the start of the sixth inning when redshirt senior Carson Shaddy hit his 11th of the year with a solo shot into the Hog Pen. It was Shaddy’s first home run since May 11 and 10th coming at Baum Stadium.

Friday’s game against Oral Roberts was the sixth game this year that Arkansas has hit four or more home runs.

As a team, the Hogs are now up to 88 for the season, which still leads the SEC and is the second most in a season in program history. Arkansas needs just four more home runs to tie the school record of 92 set in the 2010 season.

The Pitching

All of the Razorback pitching leaned on Knight, who saved the bullpen with his eight-inning outing.

It was Knight’s longest outing since March 31, 2017 at Alabama and his sixth-straight start this year of six or more innings.

Knight’s only mistakes came in the fifth and seventh innings when he gave up two solo home runs to Riley Keizor, but the three hits allowed was his lowest in five appearances.

Redshirt sophomore Cody Scroggins came in to finish off the ninth inning for the Razorbacks, striking out one in his 13th appearance of the year.

Up Next

Arkansas moves on to the winner’s bracket of the Fayetteville Regional and will play the winner of Southern Miss and Dallas Baptist on Saturday at 7 p.m.

A win on Saturday will put the Hogs into the regional final.

All games tomorrow will be broadcast on ESPN3.

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