No. 3 Arkansas (46-13, 20-10 SEC) had it all working together in its dominant victory over the Creighton Bluejays (43-16, 17-4 Big East), 8-3, on Sunday night in the Fayetteville Regional final at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Razorbacks are advancing to the super regionals for the first time since 2022 while striking out 20 batters, the most in an NCAA Tournament game for the Hogs since 2003.
Arkansas baseball vs Creighton, game two: Fayetteville Regional
Arkansas opened up the scoring early in the bottom of the first inning with SS Wehiwa Aloy reaching on a one-out single down the left field line. RF Logan Maxwell smashed a two-run home run to left for his 11th bomb of the season to give the Hogs a 2-0 lead.
The offensive attack continued in the bottom of the second. 3B Brent Iredale drew a one-out walk, and 1B Reese Robinett lined a single up the middle off the glove of Creighton. 2B Kyle Hess to place runners on the corners. CF Justin Thomas Jr. went deep with a three-run blast to left field for his ninth homer of the year to give Arkansas an early five-run lead.
With one out in the bottom of the third, C Ryder Helfrick smacked a solo shot to left for his third home run of the regional and 13th of the season.
The Bluejays got back in the game in the top of the fourth after the first two batters struck out to begin the inning. RF Teddy Deters singled up the middle, and 1B Will MacLean was hit by a pitch to put a pair of runners on. SS Ben North crushed a three-run homer to center to cut the deficit in half, 6-3. RHP Gage Wood struck out C Connor Capece to end the frame and settle things down.
After Wood threw up a zero in the top of the fifth, Maxwell led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo shot to center field for his second home run of the night to put the Hogs back up by four, 7-3.
Arkansas built its lead back up to five with Iredale getting hit by a pitch for the second time of the night to lead off the frame. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Robinett and moved to third on a ground out by Thomas. Davalan drove in Iredale with an RBI triple to center field to score the game’s first run, which did not come off a home run.
RHP Gabe Gaeckle relieved Wood to begin the top of the seventh inning. Wood was phenomenal on the mound in his eighth start of the season. The Batesville, Ark., native went six innings while allowing three runs and three hits with a career-high 13 strikeouts on 89 pitches (64 strikes). Gaeckle picked up the three-inning save while allowing two hits. He carved up seven batters on 42 pitches (31 strikes) to send Arkansas back to the supers.
The Razorbacks will stay home at Baum-Walker Stadium for the super regional and will take on the winner of Monday night's Knoxville Regional final between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Times, dates and streaming/channel options are TBA.