TCU crushes Arkansas, sends Hogs to elimination game
The No. 3 national seed Arkansas Razorbacks (41-17) hit four home runs, yet suffered a crushing 20-5 loss to the 2-seed TCU Horned Frogs (39-22) in the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The 20 runs allowed is the most ever in the Dave Van Horn era and the most in a postseason game in program history.
Things fell apart right from the beginning for Arkansas starter Hagen Smith, who gave up a career-high eight earned runs on six hits, he walked two and recorded just three outs on 42 pitches. Of the 11 batters that Smith faced, nine reached base and eight scored.
After lefty Zack Morris relieved Smith and gave up three earned runs on two hits, right-hander Austin Ledbetter threw the next six innings for Arkansas. Ledbetter gave up six runs on nine hits and he struck out four.
TCU scored 14 runs across the first three innings before a weather delay shut the action down for 59 minutes before it resumed for the bottom of the fourth. Junior second baseman Tre Richardson hit three home runs, two of which were grand slams, and he drove in 11 total runs on the day.
Arkansas was outhit by the Horned Frogs, 21-10. The Razorbacks had just two hits with runners on base, while TCU had 14. The Horned Frogs did not issue a single walk to the Diamond Hogs in the game.
After recording the first out of the game on just three pitches, Smith allowed the three batters to reach base and TCU's Tre Richardson took the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field for a grand slam. Smith then gave up a walk and a single to allow six straight batters to reach.
The Arkansas lefty earned a strikeout for the second out, but then TCU nine-hole hitter Austin Davis hit a two-run single to right to make the Horned Frogs' lead 6-0. Smith finally got out of the inning after giving up six runs and throwing 37 pitches.
Razorback centerfielder Tavian Josenberger led the bottom half of the first off with a 386-foot solo shot off the Hunt Family Baseball Development Center in right field, but that was the only action for Arkansas in the frame.
Smith gave up back-to-back singles to start the top of the second and that was all Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn needed to see. The Arkansas skipper made the slow walk to the mound to relieve Smith and call left-hander Zack Morris out of the bullpen.
Morris gave up an RBI single to Brayden Taylor that made it 7-1 and he then walked Cole Fontenelle to load the bases with no outs. Richardson cranked his second opposite field home run in as many innings to put the Horned Frogs ahead 11-1.
Arkansas brought right-hander Austin Ledbetter in for the top of the third, and he gave up a one-out, three-run home run to Brayden Taylor that made the TCU advantage 13 runs.
As the teams walked off the field for the middle of the third inning, the game was sent into a lightning delay at 3:06 p.m. CT and play resumed 59 minutes later.
After Arkansas went scoreless in the bottom of the third, Ledbetter worked the first scoreless frame by a Razorback pitcher on the day in the top of the fourth.
The Razorback bats were able to get exactly one hit in each of the third and fourth, but couldn't capitalize. They did capitalize in the bottom of the fifth, when Josenberger hit his second homer of the game — third in two games — to score a pair of runs and make the deficit 14-3 after five.
TCU responded in the top of the sixth as Richardson hit his third home run of the day — a two-run shot this time — into the right field bullpen.
Jace Bohrofen's team-best 15th home run of the season was a solo shot over the scoreboard in right field that cut the deficit to a whopping 12 runs in the bottom half of the sixth.
An RBI single from TCU catcher Karson Bowen extended the Horned Frogs' lead to 17-4 in the top of the seventh. Harold Coll answered with Arkansas' fourth homer of the game to make the deficit 12 again in the bottom of the seventh.
After a scoreless top of the eighth from TCU, the game went into a second weather delay that lasted 51 minutes.
Right-hander Ben Bybee came on throw the final inning for the Razorbacks and he gave up three runs on four hits to make it the most runs given up by an Arkansas team in a postseason game in program history.
A scoreless bottom of the ninth brought a close to long-drawn-out game and sent Arkansas into an elimination game.
With the loss in the winner's bracket contest, Arkansas is now set for an elimination game against Santa Clara at 8 p.m. CT. As of now the game is set to be streamed on ESPN+, but that is subject to change.
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