No. 3 Arkansas (44-13, 20-10 SEC) slugged its way past the North Dakota State Bison (20-33, 13-15 Summit) early to take the Fayetteville Regional opener on Friday afternoon, 6-2, at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Razorbacks have now won nine consecutive regional openers and will face the winner of Kansas-Creighton game tomorrow night.
Arkansas baseball vs NDSU: Fayetteville regional
NDSU took the lead early in the top of the first inning with SS Jake Schaffner drawing a leadoff walk and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by RF Dante Smith. After 3B Davis Hamilton struck out, CF Sam Canton drove in Schaffner with an RBI single to left field to hand the Bison a 1-0 lead. Canton was caught trying to steal second to end the frame.
Arkansas responded immediately in the bottom of the first with LF Charles Davalan legging out an infield single to leadoff the frame. SS Wehiwa Aloy ripped a double to right field to place runners in scoring position and RF Logan Maxwell plated Davalan with an RBI sacrifice fly to left to tie the game. Wehiwa Aloy moved up to third base after C Ryder Helfrick fouled out to left and DH Kuhio Aloy drew a walk to put runners on the corners with two outs. 2B Camden Kozeal roped an RBI single to right to cash Wehiwa Aloy and give the Hogs a 2-1 lead after the first inning of play.
LF Colten Becker tied the game in the top of the second with a leadoff solo shot to right field for his sixth home run of the season. After recording the first two outs of the frame, RHP Aiden Jimenez gave up a walk to 1B Alex Urlaub and a double to 2B Luis Garcia. Schaffner was intentionally walked to load up the bases and Jimenez struck out Smith to get out of the jam and keep the game tied.
1B Reese Robinett started out the bottom of the second by drawing a walk and moved up to second base on a sacrifice bunt by CF Justin Thomas Jr. Davalan lifted a single to center to put runners on the corners and Wehiwa Aloy scored Robinett with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field to retake the lead, 3-2.
Helfrick led off the bottom of the third by dropping down a bunt single and later stole second with one out. Kozeal drove him in for his second RBI of the day with a double to center to extend Arkansas’ lead to two, 4-2.
Jimenez went 3.2 innings on the mound in his second start of the season (19th appearance) while allowing two runs, five hits and four walks while carving up three batters on 63 pitches (36 strikes). LHP Parker Coil was placed on the hill with two outs in the top of the fourth with two outs and a runner on first. He forced Schaffner to ground out to second to close out the frame.
The Razorbacks lengthened their lead to four in the bottom of the fifth thanks to some two-out hitting. Kuhio Aloy lined a single up the middle and Kozeal launched a two-run home run to right center for his 14th bomb of the year and third hit of the day.
Coil fired 3.1 scoreless innings in his 13th appearance of the season and allowed three hits while striking out four batters on 49 pitches (34 strikes). LHP Landon Beidelschies was inserted on the bump to start the top of the eighth. The southpaw finished out the game with two scoreless innings of work while allowing just one hit with four strikeouts on 30 pitches (21 strikes).
The Razorbacks will play the winner between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Bison will take on the loser in an elimination game at 2 p.m. The streaming/channel options for both games are TBA.