Hogs Try to Save their Season in Arkansas vs Santa Clara Elimination Game

Arkansas baseball, Arkansas vs Santa Clara, Fayetteville Regional
photo credit: Baumology

The Razorbacks will play the first of what they hope are three straight games with their season on the line Sunday night. It starts with an Arkansas vs Santa Clara rematch for a spot in the Fayetteville Regional final.

Barely an hour removed from a 20-5 shellacking at the hands of TCU, Arkansas will have to put the loss behind it quickly for the 8 p.m. CT first pitch against the Broncos, which knocked out Arizona on Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

The winner of this game will have to beat TCU twice on Monday to advance to the super regional.

As always, Best of Arkansas Sports is at Baum-Walker Stadium and will provide live, inning-by-inning updates from Arkansas vs Santa Clara below…

LIVE UPDATES — Arkansas vs Santa Clara

Pregame Tidbits from Fayetteville Regional

Despite being the higher seed and having an identical record in the Fayetteville Regional, Arkansas will be the “away” team for this game. That is due to Arkansas being the home team twice and Santa Clara being the road team twice already.

Left-hander Brandon Gomez will start for Santa Clara. The junior has a 3.50 ERA with 51 strikeouts and only 10 walks in 54 innings this season. This will be his ninth start of the year. He’s also made eight relief appearances.

Arkansas has switched up its lineup once again, moving Caleb Cali to second in order to get Ben McLaughlin in the lineup at third base. Cali’s first 44 starts this season were all at third. Brady Slavens has moved all the way down to the 7 hole.

The crowd at Baum-Walker Stadium for the Arkansas vs Santa Clara elimination game is significantly smaller than the Razorbacks’ first two games, both of which drew 11,000-plus fans.

T-1st: Arkansas 2, Santa Clara 0

To start the game, Josenberger fouled off a couple of pitches before working a full-count leadoff walk. After the seven-pitch walk, Bohrofen followed with an RBI double to the right-center gap. Josenberger scored easily from first. Bohrofen tagged up to third on Wegner’s fly out to right and then scored on McLaughlin’s sacrifice fly to left. Diggs followed with a walk, but was stranded when Cali went down swinging. It was a 24-pitch inning by Gomez.

B-1st: Arkansas 2, Santa Clara 0

Berring worked the count full before drawing a leadoff walk. Then Dawson Brigman flied out to center and O’Hara flied out to left. With two outs, Berring swiped second. However, he was stranded there when Manzo took strike three. Tygart threw 17 pitches.

T-2nd: Arkansas 2, Santa Clara 0

Gomez made quick work of the Razorbacks in the second inning, getting Slavens and Bolton to ground out to second sandwiched around a strikeout by Rowland. It was a 10-pitch inning for Gomez, who is up to 34 through two.

B-2nd: Arkansas 2, Santa Clara 0

After a pop out to third by Coleman Brigman, Tygart walked Lance in a full count. He was stranded, though, as Williams lined out to center and Ferroggiaro grounded out to second. Tygart is up to 30 pitches through two innings.

T-3rd: Arkansas 3, Santa Clara 0

Josenberger went down looking to start the third inning. Bohrofen followed with a strikeout, as well, but it was swinging. With two outs, Jared Wegner crushed a solo home run to left-center to make it 3-0. McLaughlin also made really solid contact, but his line drive was caught in left for the final out. Gomez has thrown 49 pitches through three innings.

B-3rd: Arkansas 3, Santa Clara 0

Steck grounded out to third to start the home half of the inning. Berring followed with a line drive that just got over Bolton’s glove at short for Santa Clara’s first hit of the game. Tygart bounced back to strike out Dawson Brigman and get O’Hara to ground out to short. It was an 11-pitch inning, bringing his total to 41.

T-4th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 0

An error by the first baseman allowed Diggs to reach to start the bottom of the fourth. After Cali went down looking, Slavens grounded out to short, but it allowed Diggs to move to second. That set the stage for Rowland’s two-out RBI single. Bolton followed with some solid contact to left, but it was caught just in front of the warning track to end the inning. Gomez is up to 62 pitches through four innings.

B-4th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 0

Tygart struck out Manzo and Coleman Brigman to start the fourth. Then Lance hit a slow roller to the left side and McLaughlin came over and fielded it in front of Bolton. He fired to first for the out. Tygart is up to 55 pitches through four innings.

T-5th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 0

After a fly out to right by Josenberger, Bohrofen poked a singled into right for his second hit of the game. Wegner followed with a four-pitch walk. It’s the third walk of the game for Gomez, a season high. McLaughlin hit the ball hard, but it was a deep fly out to center – deep enough for Bohrofen to tag up to third. With runners on the corners and two outs, Diggs chased a pitch out of the zone to strike out. Gomez is at 81 pitches.

B-5th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 0

Williams went down looking to start the bottom of the fifth. In a full count, Ferroggiaro hit a line drive to left, but it hung in the air long enough for Wegner to catch it. With two outs, Steck was plunked on the first pitch of his at bat. Tygart fell behind 3-0 against Berring, but battled back and got him to ground out to short to end the inning. He’s up to 77 pitches.

T-6th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 0

The new pitcher for Santa Clara is right-hander August Souza. He promptly struck out Cali, who is now 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the nightcap. Slavens then grounded out to short. Rowland went down swinging to end the inning. Souza needed just nine pitches.

B-6th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 3

Dawson Brigman opened the bottom of the sixth with a grounder up the middle that Cali got to, but had no play, so it went down as an infield single. Tygart thought he had strike three in a 2-2 count against O’Hara, but it was called a ball. He ended up walking. Tygart bounced back to get Manzo to fly out to left. Coleman Brigman then struck out swinging. In a 2-2 count, Santa Clara called a timeout and brought its batter and runners in for a meeting. When play resumed, Lance ripped a double off the wall in left to drive in two. That’s it for Tygart.

Right-hander Will McEntire is now pitching for Arkansas. He induced a grounder by Williams, but McLaughlin’s throw was wide. He reached on the E5 and a run scored. Ferroggiaro followed with a chopper up the middle, but Bolton showed great patience and fired a strike to first when the ball came down, just getting him. That saved a run.

T-7th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 3

Bolton drew a four-pitch walk to start the seventh. In a full count, Josenberger fouled off a couple of pitches before flying out to right. Bohrofen hit a grounder to the left side that the third baseman fielded and got the out at second, but couldn’t quite turn two, giving Bohrofen a fielder’s choice. Santa Clara challenged the call, but replays confirmed he was safe. With two outs, Wegner grounded into a fielder’s choice of his own to end the inning.

B-7th: Arkansas 4, Santa Clara 3

McEntire needed 12 pitches to strike out the side in the seventh. Steck and Berring went down swinging, while Dawson Brigman took strike three. McEntire is up to 22 pitches in 1 1/3 innings.

T-8th: Arkansas 6, Santa Clara 3

McLaughlin hit a chopper that got over the pitcher’s head and reached on an infield single. That’s it for Souza. The new pitcher is right-hander Skylar Hales, who got roughed up by Arkansas on Friday. He promptly gave up a two-run bomb to Diggs.

Hales bounced back to retire the next three Razorbacks. Cali went down swinging, Slavens grounded out to short and Rowland lined out back to the pitcher. Hales got a glove on it and juggled it before finally securing it for the final out.

B-8th: Arkansas 6, Santa Clara 3

O’Hara flied out to center to start the eighth. Manzo popped out to first. Coleman Brigman struck out. McEntire has retired seven straight. He’s at 36 pitches in 2 1/3 innings.

T-9th: Arkansas 6, Santa Clara 3

Bolton popped out to first. Josenberger took strike three. Bohrofen struck out swinging, giving Hales a quick 1-2-3 inning. He’s retired six straight since the Diggs home run.

B-9th: Arkansas 6, Santa Clara 4

McEntire won a nine-pitch at bat by Lance, getting him to strike out swinging. Williams also worked the count full before singling through the left side. McEntire went to pick off Williams, but Slavens wasn’t holding him on, so it’s a balk. A wild pitch then moved Williams to third. Ferroggiaro delivered an RBI single to center, bringing the tying run to the plate. That’s it for McEntire.

The new pitcher is left-hander Hunter Hollan. Steck worked the count full, but grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

FINAL: Arkansas 6, Santa Clara 4

BOX SCORE – Arkansas vs Santa Clara

Starting Lineups – Arkansas vs Santa Clara

Santa Clara BaseballArkansas Baseball
1. JonJon Berring – LF1. Tavian Josenberger – CF
2. Dawson Brigman – 2B2. Jace Bohrofen – RF
3. Michael O’Hara – RF3. Jared Wegner – LF
4. Efrain Manzo – 1B4. Ben McLaughlin – 3B
5. Coleman Brigman – CF5. Kendall Diggs – DH
6. Eamonn Lance – DH6. Caleb Cali – 2B
7. Malcolm Williams – SS7. Brady Slavens – 1B
8. Thomas Ferroggiaro – 3B8. Parker Rowland – C
9. Ben Steck – C9. John Bolton – SS
Pitching: Jr. LHP Brandon GomezPitching: So. RHP Brady Tygart

How to Watch the Fayetteville Regional

Friday, June 2

Game 1: Arkansas 13, Santa Clara 6
Game 2: TCU 12, Arizona 4

Saturday, June 3

Game 3: Santa Clara 9, Arizona 3 – Arizona eliminated

Sunday, June 4

Game 4 – TCU 20, Arkansas 5
Game 5 – Arkansas vs Santa Clara – 8 p.m. CT – elimination game

Monday, June 5 (If Necessary)

Game 6 – TCU vs. Game 5 Winner – TBD
Game 7 – If the Game 5 Winner Wins Game 6 – TBD

Composite College Baseball Top 25

Unlike football and basketball, which have just the AP and Coaches Polls all year (with football adding the CFP rankings late in the season), college baseball has six major polls. Collegiate Baseball used to be included, but it was dropped due to severe inconsistencies in its rankings. Perfect Game also didn’t update its poll this week, so only four polls are used in these rankings.

To get a better feel for how teams stack up, BoAS has combined those rankings into a single top 25 by using a points system in which a No. 1 ranking = 25 points, No. 2 = 24 points and all the way to No. 25 = 1 point. We will update this each week throughout the season…

TeamConferenceChangePoints
1. Wake ForestACC100
2. FloridaSEC96
3. VanderbiltSEC+490
4. ArkansasSEC87
5. ClemsonACC+186
t-6. LSUSEC-178.5
t-6. StanfordPac-12-378.5
8. Coastal CarolinaSun Belt70
9. Miami (Fla.)ACC69
10. VirginiaACC63
11. CampbellBig South+460
12. East CarolinaAAC52
13. Oklahoma StateBig 12+448
14. Dallas BaptistC-USA43
15. UConnBig East-441
16. Southern MissSun Belt+838
17. Oregon StatePac-12-133
18. TennesseeSEC-529
19. AlabamaSEC+721
t-20. MarylandBig Ten+818
t-20. South CarolinaSEC+218
22. West VirginiaBig 12-415
23. Indiana StateMVC+413
t-24. TexasBig 12-411
t-24. TCUBig 12N/A11
Receiving votes: Auburn (10), Kentucky (9), Duke (7), Oregon (2), Boston College (2), Texas A&M (1)

MOVED IN: Alabama (19), Maryland (t-20), Indiana State (23), TCU (t-24)
MOVED OUT: Auburn (19), Boston College (21), Duke (t-22), Kentucky (25)

Conference Breakdown

  • SEC: 7
  • ACC: 4
  • Big 12: 4
  • Pac-12: 2
  • Sun Belt: 2
  • AAC: 1
  • Big East: 1
  • Big South: 1
  • Big Ten: 1
  • C-USA: 1
  • MVC: 1

***

More coverage of Arkansas baseball and the Fayetteville Regional from BoAS…

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