NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL TOURNAMENT STILLWATER (OKLA.) REGIONAL

Make it a double

Benintendi, Spoon provide oomph in 4-run 6th

Arkansas' Bobby Wernes (7) celebrates as he crosses the plate in front of Oral Roberts catcher Matt Whatley, left, as Wernes scored on a double by Andrew Benintendi that also scored Joe Serrano in the sixth inning of a game at the Stillwater Regional of the NCAA college baseball tournament in Stillwater, Okla., Friday, May 29, 2015. Arkansas won 8-6. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Arkansas' Bobby Wernes (7) celebrates as he crosses the plate in front of Oral Roberts catcher Matt Whatley, left, as Wernes scored on a double by Andrew Benintendi that also scored Joe Serrano in the sixth inning of a game at the Stillwater Regional of the NCAA college baseball tournament in Stillwater, Okla., Friday, May 29, 2015. Arkansas won 8-6. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

STILLWATER, Okla. -- The bottom of the batting order kept No. 20 Arkansas close, then Andrew Benintendi and the big bats delivered in the late innings to power the Razorbacks past Oral Roberts 8-6 Friday in the opening game of the NCAA regional at Reynolds Stadium.

Benintendi went 3 for 4, including a go-ahead, two-run double in the Hogs' four-run sixth inning, and ran down a couple of hard shots in the soggy outfield to help propel Arkansas (36-22) into the winner's bracket game at 6 tonight.

The No. 2 seed Razorbacks will face No. 1 seed Oklahoma State or No. 4 seed St. John's.

"I thought our team did a good job of hanging in there," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. "It seemed like the first three or four innings nothing was going our way. We were struggling."

Oral Roberts starter Guillermo Trujillo (10-4) held the Hogs to four hits and led 3-2 through five innings, but Trujillo's third time facing the top of the order was not as successful as the first two times.

Arkansas' 1-2-3 hitters had been 1 for 6 before Joe Serrano and Bobby Wernes led off the sixth inning with singles.

Oral Roberts Coach Ryan Folmar called on off-speed left-hander Hayden Holley to face the left-handed hitting Benintendi, the SEC player of the year. Benintendi launched a 1-0 pitch into the right-field corner to put Arkansas ahead for good, 4-3.

"They brought in a lefty who didn't throw very hard," Benintendi said. "First pitch he threw a slider in, and I was just trying to get something to maybe swing at and I did."

Tyler Spoon followed with an RBI double to the gap in right-center field to drive in Benintendi, and Spoon scored the inning's fourth run on Rick Nomura's single up the middle to make it 6-3.

"That was a huge inning for us," Van Horn said. "We felt like that was the time for us to get it going. We had the top of the lineup third time up, you've had a chance to see a guy and maybe you can figure it out a little bit."

Holley entered the game with an 0.83 earned run average, but he gave up two runs and retired one batter, that coming on Clark Eagan's sacrifice bunt.

"We felt like the matchup was what was best for us at the time," Folmar said of bringing in Holley to face Benintendi. "Hayden's come in, and I know you guys have seen his numbers, he's come in a lot of spots like that and has been able to execute pitches.

"Guillermo competed hard for us ... and we hoped the bullpen would come out and kind of solidify the middle of that game. It didn't happen, and we move on to tomorrow."

Arkansas increased its lead to 8-3 in the eighth inning as Eagan ripped a triple to the wall in right-center field that scored Benintendi and Spoon, who had opened the innings with singles against Jacob McDavid.

The extra runs came in handy because side-arming Lance Phillips ran into trouble in the ninth. He yielded a one-out single, a two-out walk and ORU slugger Anthony Sequeira cut the lead to 8-6 when he hit a 3-2 pitch over the right-field fence for a three-run home run. Van Horn called on right-hander Josh Alberius, who came came on to record the final out and post his first save.

Arkansas closer Zach Jackson snuffed out an Oral Roberts threat in the top of the eighth inning with the score 6-3. Van Horn chose to limit Jackson to 15 pitches, and pulled him after Eagan's triple made it 8-3.

Oral Roberts (41-15) scored two runs in the first inning against Trey Killian on an RBI double by Sequeira, the Summit League Player of the Year, and a sacrifice fly from Audie Afenir.

Killian lasted five innings, giving up eight hits and exiting with a 3-1 deficit. The Golden Eagles left six runners on base against the right-hander.

"Their guy made some big pitches in big moments," Folmar said.

No. 9 hitter Tucker Pennell brought in Arkansas' first run with a single up the middle in the second inning after Michael Bernal walked and stole second.

Arkansas trailed 3-1 in the fifth before Nomura led off the bottom of the inning with a double and scored on Bernal's single up the middle, which extended the shortstop's hitting streak to 11 games.

Sports on 05/30/2015

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