FAYETTEVILLE -- Missouri State second baseman Dylan Becker greeted Zach Jackson with an RBI single to pull the Bears within one run in the sixth inning of Sunday's NCAA Super Regional game at Baum Stadium.
Then Jackson -- Arkansas' All-SEC closer -- took over.
Super regional glance
All Times Central Best-of-3, x-if necessary
MARYLAND AT VIRGINIA
Charlottesville, Va.
GAME 1 Virginia 5, Maryland 3
GAME 2 Virginia 5, Maryland 4
Virginia advances
FLORIDA STATE AT FLORIDA
Gainesville, Fla.
GAME 1 Florida 13, Florida State 5
GAME 2 Florida 11, Florida State 4
Florida advances
VA. COMMONWEALTH AT MIAMI
Coral Gables, Fla.
GAME 1 Miami 3, VCU 2
GAME 2 Miami 10, VCU 3
Miami advances
CS FULLERTON AT LOUISVILLE
Louisville, Ky.
GAME 1 Cal State Fullerton 3, Louisville 2
GAME 2 Louisville 9, Cal State Fullerton 3
TODAY Louisville vs. CS Fullerton, 6 p.m.
VANDERBILT AT ILLINOIS
Champaign, Ill.
GAME 1 Vanderbilt 13, Illinois 0
TODAY Illinois vs. Vanderbilt, 3 p.m.*
x-TODAY Illinois vs. Vanderbilt, TBA
*Postponed Sunday because of weather
LA.-LAFAYETTE AT LSU
Baton Rouge
GAME 1 LSU 4, La.-Lafayette 3
GAME 2 LSU 6, La.-Lafayette 3
LSU advances
TEXAS A&M AT TCU
Fort Worth
GAME 1 TCU 13, Texas A&M 4
GAME 2 Texas A&M 2, TCU 1
TODAY TCU vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
MISSOURI STATE AT ARKANSAS
Fayetteville
GAME 1 Arkansas 18, Missouri State 4
GAME 2 Missouri State 3, Arkansas 1
GAME 3 Arkansas 3, Missouri State 2
Arkansas advances
The sophomore right-hander with the mid-90s fastball and devastating curveball struck out Joey Hawkins and got Tate Matheny on a flyout with runners on first and third to keep the Razorbacks ahead.
Jackson ended up retiring all 11 batters after Becker's single to slam the door on the Bears and help Arkansas hang on for a 3-2 victory before an announced crowd of 11,694.
The Razorbackers (40-23) won the best-of-3 series against Missouri State (49-12) to advance to the College World Series, where the Razorbacks will open against Virginia Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
Jackson earned his ninth save and struck out six of the 12 batters he faced, including Matheny swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the game and set off a wild celebration on the field.
"I feel as a college baseball player, you live for that moment right there," Jackson said.
"Jackson's a big leaguer," Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin said. "He's got a breaking ball that very few people on Earth can hit."
Jackson smiled when Guttin's comment was repeated to him and credited Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn.
"I'll take that as a huge compliment," Jackson said. "When I'm out there, I have faith in Coach Jorn with every pitch he's calling.
"If he feels like my curveball is going to work for me, then that's what I'm going to go to."
Jackson has 87 strikeouts in 56 2/3 innings this season. He lowered his earned run average to 1.91 with Sunday's performance.
"He's unreal," said James Teague, who pitched the first four innings for the Razorbacks. "When it comes time to get it done, he's who you want out there because he's the most determined pitcher I've ever seen."
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he would have preferred to bring Jackson in to start the seventh inning, but he and Jorn agreed it was time to put Jackson in after the Bears put two runners on with one out against Arkansas reliever Lance Phillips.
" Zach's been our man," Van Horn said. "We put him in there and he gave us 11 outs. He did it."
Jackson's 3 2/3 innings Sunday was his longest stint since April 24, when he also went 3 2/3 in Arkansas' 7-6 victory over Mississippi State.
"I thought he was great today, because he was all around that zone," Van Horn said. "He was right there. When he missed it was just a little bit."
Jackson said he only threw two changeups among his 61 pitches.
"Mainly I threw fastballs and curveballs," he said. "I just tried to mix it up to where they didn't know what was coming."
Jackson said he got a pitch up on Becker's single.
"After that I felt like I found the zone," he said.
Jackson pitched a scoreless ninth inning Saturday in Missouri State's 3-1 victory throwing 18 pitches.
"We haven't been able to watch him throw much this year, but we've heard a lot of things, and he showed it today, getting out of a tough jam," Becker said.
Arkansas -- the visiting team because Missouri State won a coin toss and chose to be the home team -- took a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Jordan Knutson (6-2).
Bobby Wernes hit a one-out single, Andrew Bentinendi walked and Tyler Spoon followed with an RBI single. Benintendi scored on Rick Nomura's sacrifice flyout and Brett McAfee singled to drive in Spoon, who stole second.
"After that first inning I thought, 'OK, we'e going to put up some runs,' " said Spoon, a junior right fielder. "Unfortunately it didn't happen. Their pitcher did a great job of keeping us off balance after that, but our pitchers were just incredible today."
The Bears made it 3-1 with an unearned run off Teague in the third inning. Wernes, the third baseman, couldn't field Jake Burger's ground ball that should have been the third out. Teague walked Spencer Johnson and Blake Graham singled in Burger.
Miissouri State loaded the bases with two oust in the second inning, but Teague got Hawkins on a popup to get out of the jam.
The Bears left 10 runners on base and were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
"If we get a few knocks early, maybe Jackson isn't in a save situation," Guttin said. " So that was critical today."
Spoon said he and Benintendi, in center field, are always glad to see Jackson come into a game Arkamsas is leading.
"Me and Andrew look at each other and say it's over," Spoon said. "He's just been incredible for us and been a workhorse. Without him, we wouldn't be here."
Jackson has 16 strikeouts against 28 batters he faced in NCAA Tournament play, including striking out 10 of 12 in the Stillwater regional last weekend.
"But it just sounds like 16 outs to me," Jackson said. "Anyway you can get them out this late in the season, you're going to be happy with it."
Sports on 06/08/2015