Join Mason Choate, Robert Stewart and Christian Cheetham as they break down Arkansas’ 17-2 beatdown of Stanford in the Hogs’ first game of the College World Series. The guys talk about Connor Noland’s gem, the lineup’s success and how the Hogs won.
Hogs rout Stanford in College World Series opener
OMAHA, Neb. — The Diamond Hogs put on one of the most complete performances of 2022 Saturday afternoon, stomping the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal 17-2 to begin their stint at the College World Series.
Senior center fielder Braydon Webb wasted no time getting the offense rolling, belting the first pitch of the game the other way for a triple. He scored on a sacrifice fly by senior designated hitter Brady Slavens, but the Cardinal quickly leveled the score, thanks to center fielder Brock Jones’ leadoff homer.
Stanford could not manage to get anything going at the plate after that, as Arkansas senior right-handed pitcher Connor Noland shut down the highest-ranked team remaining in the tournament. The ace tossed 7 2/3 innings with six hits allowed, a walk and a strikeout, giving up just one more run.
The Razorbacks got him some run support in the fifth inning, exploding for five runs. Graduate right fielder Chris Lanzilli took Stanford starter Alex Williams deep to left field for a three-run homer and a 4-1 lead.
Junior second baseman Robert Moore chased the right-handed Williams from the game with a single, which kept the momentum alive. Moore scored on a wild pitch, and junior left fielder Zack Gregory drove in another run with a single to center field to make it 6-1.
Arkansas tacked on three more runs in the seventh. Moore doubled and scored on a single from senior shortstop Jalen Battles, who came around on a knock by Slavens. Webb walked and scored the ninth run on sophomore third baseman Cayden Wallace’s RBI double.
Freshman first baseman Peyton Stovall became the ninth Razorback to record a hit, driving in two runs with a single up the middle in the eighth.
Senior right-hander Kole Ramage took over for Noland with runners on the corners and two outs. Cardinal first baseman Carter Graham drove in one run — charged to Noland — with a double to right, but Ramage recorded the third out without any further issues.
The Hogs struck six more times in the ninth. Wallace hit a two-run blast with nobody out, Stovall picked up another two-run single and Webb became the ninth Razorback to rack up two hits, driving in two more with his double to center field.
Senior righty Zebulon Vermillion retired the Cardinal in order in the ninth, sealing the emphatic victory for the Hogs.
Arkansas will take on the winner of Ole Miss-Auburn at 6 p.m. Monday at Charles Schwab Field. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN.
Stanford’s Brock Jones on first-inning homer, how Connor Noland responds
It was the only run of the game for the Cardinal until it was too late to matter.
Eric Musselman, players on talented freshmen, team in summer camp
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas’ Davonte Davis sees what this team could become
You got the idea Friday that vision is beyond what they’ve accomplished in his first two seasons.
“They potential is there,” Davis said Friday morning in the first media appearance of summer practices. “All it takes after that is work.”
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman may be taking care of that, with an emphasis on defense and some talented freshmen looking like leaders.
It’s all positives with star freshmen Nick Smith, Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh. Each of them have had some eye-opening moments in summer workouts.
Smith is the highest-ranked freshman ever for the Hogs.
And he hasn’t disappointed.
“The one thing with Nick is just his leadership, his toughness and how hard he goes,” Musselman said Friday. “You just don’t have a guy his age walk into a college practice and is really, really vocal from the get-go. He’s certainly done that.”
Walsh is another one that has certainly had his share of moments that obviously left the coaches talking after practice.
“He’s like a violent defender because of his aggressiveness,” Musselman said of Walsh. “We want him to continue with that mentality defensively but also play within the concepts that we’re putting in so that he stays out of foul trouble.”
With Musselman, anybody that gets two fouls in the first half gets a longer break because he’s on the bench until after the break. That’s become something of a thing Razorback fans have grown accustomed to seeing.
It’s what Musselman is working to eliminate with Walsh.
“He’s so aggressive defensively sometimes he can put himself where he tries to stab at the ball,” he said. “You’d much rather have a player be over-aggressive than under-aggressive and he innately is an overly-aggressive defender.”
That’s a lot of big words strung together, but the layman’s point of view is he doesn’t need to reach for the ball but don’t stop being aggressive.
Defense has been the biggest positive coming out out of whatever trickle of information leaks out of these summer practices.
Getting the freshmen to be able to play defense down low is the key and Walsh is going to have to hit the weight room. It’s an area where some of the bigger, experienced transfers will contribute the most.
“That’s the last piece of the puzzle,” Musselman said. “To be able to switch 1-through-5 so everybody can go down there and front the post. That’s where we would like to eventually get to.”
Although he was a little late to summer practices, arriving earlier this week, Black has made a huge impression in a short time.
“He comes in and literally knew almost our entire playbook that we put in so far,” Musselman said about Black, who was playing for gold-medal Team USA at the FIBA U18 Americas Championships in Tijuana, Mexico. “Kind of speechless.”
That is an achievement right there. Muss is rarely at a loss for words.
“He literally was asking about third and fourth options on the plays and we’ve got some guys that have been here since Day 1 that are still trying to figure out the second option,” Musselman said about Black.
In the time he spent hanging out with the Oakland Raiders and some other football teams when he was between jobs, Musselman saw something similar.
“Almost like a quarterback room,” he said. “That’s what I thought I was in. I thought I was with an NFL veteran QB who was asking questions and had just missed a couple of OTAs or something.”
Black brings something special to the offensive side of this team.
“I’ve only been around him for 45 minutes on the floor yesterday,” Musselman said, “but I think guys are going to enjoy playing with him, and he’s got a high IQ. He plays both sides of the ball.”
But like the other freshmen, they will have to adapt to the college game in the weight room because, well, it’s a little different.
“We’re asking a lot of our strength and conditioning program this summer to try to get six players up to speed,” Musselman said.
Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor- June 17, 2022
Phil’s stuck in a sea of Aggies!!! HELP!!! Did Stanford pitcher fuel the fire? Ask Phil presented by Stadium Shoppe and the Golden Hour!
Guest- Aaron Torres
Halftime is LIVE from DJ’s Dugout in Omaha, Hogs play tomorrow, CFB and more
11:30 – Aaron Torres
Phil’s stuck in a sea of Aggies!!! HELP!!! Did Stanford pitcher fuel the fire? Ask Phil presented by Stadium Shoppe
and the Golden Hour! Call or text, 877-377-6963
David McMurray talks about the exciting world of Powerboat racing
What it’s like behind the wheel of one of the boats, how to watch the event in Branson this weekend.
Bud Light Next Morning Rush Podcast: Live from Branson for the Powerboat Nationals!
Tye and Tommy are live from Branson for the Powerboat Nationals as they talk Hogs in Omaha, SEC, Powerboat racing and more. Guests Stewart Grimms from Explore Branson, Phil Elson and David McMurray from Powerboat Racing.
What Dave Van Horn, players said after Thursday’s practice
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas has gotten better as the season progressed and now they have a chance to reach their goal.
Like every year it’s to finish in Omaha, which is where they are.
Until the final out last weekend in the Super Regional against North Carolina, only the biggest Razorback fans actually believed it would happen.
This team has gotten better.
“I don’t know,” Hogs coach Dave Van Horn said after their first practice in Omaha ahead of Saturday’s opening game of the College World Series against Stanford. “We’re a better team than we were in February. We’re a better team than we were in April.”
The pitching staff finally getting back to midseason form along with finding the bats for key hits are the reason they are here.
The original goal is still in front of them.
And you probably didn’t see it coming, either, a month ago.
Hogs will get rematch of Elite 8 game with Baylor in SEC-Big 12 Challenge
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — This is going to be billed as the rematch of an Elite 8 game.
The only problem with that when Arkansas goes to Baylor on Jan. 28 is the players will be completely different.
That is the matchup for the Razorbacks in the 2023 SEC-Big 12 Challenge for this season.
The 10th annual challenge will feature 10 games played on the same day in a matchup of two premier college basketball conferences.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will once again televise the event it helped create to boost ratings after the dust has settled on football bowl games. Start times and network designations will be announced at a later date.
The Hogs will play in the challenge for the ninth straight times, going 4-4 in the previous games (losing odd-numbered years and winning only in even-numbered seasons).
The Hogs helped the SEC win last year’s challenge, 6-4, with a 77-68 home win over West Virginia. It was the second year in a row the SEC won, losing the Challenge just one time in the last six years.
The Arkansas and Baylor rivalry dates back to the Razorbacks’ first season of basketball (1924-24) when both schools were members of the Southwest Conference.
The teams have met on 144 previous occasions, making the Bears fourth (tied) among Arkansas’ most common opponents behind Texas A&M (161), Texas (155) and SMU (155) while being tied with Rice (144).
The Hogs own a 96-48 advantage in the series, including a 37-32 mark in games played in Waco.
The teams have only played three times since 1990-91 after Arkansas left the SWC for the SEC and all three were on neutral courts — Jan. 5, 2008, in Dallas; Dec. 20, 2009, in North Little Rock; and Mar. 29, 2021, in Indianapolis.
