Sensational Stephan, Spanberger
Hogs’ pitcher strikes out 12; first baseman breaks tie in 3-0 victory.
FAYETTEVILLE — Trevor Stephan threw 71/ shutout 3 innings, and hot-hitting Chad Spanberger broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning double as the No. 12 Arkansas Razorbacks nipped Oral Roberts 3-0 in Game 2 of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional on Friday.
Stephan (6-3) struck out 12 on a career-high 116 pitches and left to a standing ovation with one out in the eighth inning at Baum Stadium before an estimated crowd of 11,088, the fifth largest in school history.
Spanberger’s RBI double into the right-field corner broke up a pitchers duel between Stephan and Oral Roberts left-hander Miguel Ausua (11-3) and continued a torrid run-producing streak for Spanberger, who was named MVP of the SEC Tournament after hitting five home runs and driving in 10 runs last weekend.
“Trevor and Miguel, they went at it now,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of the starting pitchers. “It reminded me of a Friday night game in the SEC. We feel fortunate to beat them.”
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (43-17) improved to 67-35 against Oral Roberts, including 5-2 in NCAA regional play, and threw the first shutout this season against the Golden Eagles. The Razorbacks advance to tonight’s winners bracket game at 7 against No. 22 Missouri State, which beat Oklahoma State 6-5.
Oral Roberts (42-15) will play in the elimination game at 2 p.m. against Oklahoma State.
The Golden Eagles left 10 men on base and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position against the Hogs.
“Their guy was really good,” Oral Roberts Coach Ryan Folmar said of Stephan. “I thought he was the difference in today’s game. We knew coming in he was going to be good. He didn’t gave up many hits and he struck out a bunch. Boy, he did that tonight.”
Stephan got out of jams with the help of strikeouts in the third inning and escaped trouble again in the fourth.
“I was kind of locked in early, then went through a little rough stretch in the third and fourth and then I found it again,” said Stephan, whose strikeouts helped Arkansas reach a school-record 571 for the season.
Jake Arledge, who went 2 for 4, scored a run for the Razorbacks in the seventh inning against Ausua, then drove in an insurance run in the eighth. Jack Kenley, starting at third base for defensive purposes, also went 2 for 4 and scored the game’s first run.
Kevin Kopps relieved Stephan with one out and two runners on in the eighth, and he got out of the inning with a strikeout of Noah Cummings and a tapper back to the mound from Brent Williams. Kopps gave up a pair of singles and recorded two outs in the ninth inning, but freshman left-hander Matt Cronin struck out Nick Roark to earn his first save and give the Hogs 14 strikeouts on the night.
The Golden Eagles had the first scoring threat in the third inning after designated hitter Trevor McCutchin’s leadoff double over the first-base bag, but Stephan wriggled out of the inning unscathed.
No. 9 hitter Sam Grellner bunted McCutchin to third before Stephan fanned Roark. Cal Hernandez drew a fourpitch walk, then Matt Whatley drew a full-count walk to load the bases. Stephan attacked cleanup hitter Noah Cummings for a strikeout on three pitches without Cummings swinging his bat to end the inning.
Arkansas had a chance to score in its half of the third, but a strong defensive play kept the Hogs off the board.
Kenley hit a one-out chopper up the middle for Arkansas’ first hit, then Spanberger’s slow roller up the middle produced another infield single with two outs. Luke Bonfield laced a single into left field on an 0-2 pitch, but left fielder Michael Hungate fired a strike to the plate to beat Kenley with room to spare. Whatley applied the tag to end the threat.
Oral Roberts got consecutive one-out singles from Dylan Snypes and Hungate in the fourth before a couple of sterling defensive plays by the Hogs. Second baseman Carson Shaddy timed his leap perfectly to snare McCutchin’s line drive for the second out, then shortstop Jax Biggers made a running stop on Grellner’s bouncer up the middle and backhanded the ball to Shaddy, who caught it bare-handed and touched second for the final out.