Arkansas eliminates Santa Clara, advances to Fayetteville Regional final
The No. 3 national seed Arkansas Razorbacks (43-17) kept their season alive late Sunday night with a 6-4 win to eliminate Santa Clara (36-20) and advance to the Fayetteville Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.
After giving up a program posteason-high 20 runs in a loss to TCU in a game that was delayed twice due to weather earlier in the day, the Diamond Hogs fought to live another day.
Arkansas starting pitcher Brady Tygart gave a valiant effort across a career-long 5 2/3 innings and a career-high 99 pitches. The right-hander gave up two earned runs on three hits, walked three and struck out six.
Tygart was relieved by Will McEntire, who had just thrown 81 pitches Friday against the Broncos. The right-hander proceeded to throw 2 2/3 innings and he gave up one earned run on two hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
Arkansas managed to get home runs from Jared Wegner and Kendall Diggs in the contest and the trio of Wegner, Jace Bohrofen and Ben McLaughlin combined for three RBIs at the top of the order.
Tavian Josenberger drew a seven-pitch leadoff walk to start the top of the first inning and he was driven in on an RBI double from Bohrofen. McLaughlin drove Bohrofen home with an RBI sacrifice fly out and that put the Razorbacks ahead 2-0 after the top of the first.
It took Tygart just 30 pitches to keep the Broncos scoreless through the first two innings to make way for a Wegner's solo home run in the top of the third. His 14th long ball of the year put the Razorbacks ahead by three.
The Broncos earned their first hit on a one-out single from JonJon Berring in the bottom of the third. Tygart bounced back by retiring the next two to keep Santa Clara scoreless.
Diggs led the top of the fourth off by reaching on an error and he scored via a two-out RBI single from Parker Rowland that made the Arkansas lead 4-0.
Another scoreless frame from Tygart in the bottom of the fifth made it the longest outing of his career. The right-hander returned for the sixth inning and he looked good after recording the first two outs.
On a 2-2 count with two outs, Tygart's pitched was drilled to left for a two-run double from Santa Clara's Michael O'Hara. That hit ended Tygart's after 99 pitches and brought right-hander Will McEntire on in relief.
An unearned run scored via a throwing error on McLaughlin at third to trim Arkansas' lead to 4-3, but McEntire was able to limit the damage to just that.
McEntire struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh and his offense responded with run support in the top of the eighth. An infield single from McLaughlin started things off and he came around via a two-run shot from Diggs.
Arkansas took a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth and McEntire wasn't able to finish things up. After giving up a one-out RBI single to Thomas Ferroggiaro, McEntire was relieved by lefty Hunter Hollan.
Hollan induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and keep Arkansas' season alive.
With the win, Arkansas advanced to the regional final against 2-seed TCU on Monday at 2 p.m. CT. If Arkansas beats the Horned Frogs in that game, it will force a Game 7 of the regional at 8 p.m. CT.
Final Stats
