Arkansas 4, Dallas Baptist 3 - Final
There will be more games played at Baum Stadium this season. Arkansas advances to face the winner of the East Carolina Regional in Fayetteville next weekend.
Top-seed East Carolina was eliminated tonight by UNC-Wilmington.
Dallas Baptist opened the ninth with a double and an infield single off Cronin. Jameson Hannah, credited with the single, reached base after first base umpire David Brown ruled Hannah beat Jax Biggers' throw to first. Replay shows the throw beat Hannah by a half step.
Cronin got a flyball out to left, which plated a DBU run, then bounced back with a strikeout for the second out of the inning. Tim Millard then hit a flyball a mile high into left, but Kjerstad was there to make the catch and secure the regional title.
Much more to come on WholeHogSports later tonight.
Arkansas 4, Dallas Baptist 2 - End 8th Inning
Dominic Fletcher popped up to the DBU shortstop to kick off the home half of the eighth inning, Carson Shaddy struck out looking - much to the dismay of himself and more than 9,200 Arkansas fans – and Grant Koch flew out to left.
Matt Cronin is heading back to the mound with the hope of closing this one out and sending Arkansas to a super regional.
Arkansas 4, Dallas Baptist 2 - Middle 8th Inning
Matt Cronin got his first work of the regional in the eighth. He gave up a two-out single but struck out the side on fastballs of 91, 92 and 91 mph. He threw 17 pitches.
Two of the strikeouts were swing and misses, and he caught Hill Alexander looking to end the top half.
Arkansas 4, Dallas Baptist 2 - End 7th Inning
Luke Bonfield gave the ball a ride, but it died at the warning track in right-center field to end the inning. Arkansas stranded two in scoring position after Heston Kjerstad moved to second base on a passed ball.
Arkansas closer Matt Cronin is coming into the game in the eighth. He replaces Jake Reindl, who was superby in a seven-inning relief outing. Reindl allowed one run on five hits, struck out four and did not issue a walk. He threw 97 pitches, which is believed to be his career high.
He'll be on the all-regional team ballot that I will turn in.
Arkansas 4, Dallas Baptist 2 - Bottom 7th Inning
Heston Kjerstad is +2 in run differential tonight. He robbed Devlin Granberg's home run in the sixth and just hit a two-out RBI single to score Jared Gates from second base. The Razorbacks have runners on the corners with Luke Bonfield coming to the plate.
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - End 6th Inning
Arkansas went down in order in the home half of the sixth. Jake Reindl is coming back for more in the seventh. He has never thrown more than seven innings, which he did against Auburn earlier this year.
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - Middle 6th Inning
Heston Kjerstad just robbed All-American Devlin Granberg of a home run with a leaping catch at the wall in left field. The stadium is abuzz after that play, which sent Barrett Loseke sprinting back and forth in the bullpen and left Jake Reindl literally tipping his cap to Kjerstad from the pitcher's mound.
In a season of great defensive plays in the outfield, that might be Arkansas' best yet.
Kjerstad with a HR-robbing catch. #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/5xNnJzDwm1
— Hogtrough (@Hogtrough) June 4, 2018
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - End 5th Inning
Heston Kjerstad drew a two-out walk - his second of the game - but was stranded when Luke Bonfield flied out to center field. Arkansas hit a couple pretty well in that inning, but they were just loud outs to the outfield.
It is interesting that neither team has hit a home run yet in this game despite a favorable wind to right field. DBU hit nine home runs in its two previous games, while Arkansas hit six. It would not be surprising to see at least one deep ball in the late innings as pitchers begin to wear out and leave balls up in the strike zone more.
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - Middle 5th Inning
Jake Reindl nearly had his first 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, but Heston Kjerstad dropped a routine fly ball by Kody Funderburk. Reindl responded nicely, though, by striking out Luke Bandy swinging at a 0-2 slider to strand the runner at second base. Reindl and Bandy were former teammates at Shiloh Christian.
Reindl has saved Arkansas for five innings so far, erasing the mess left by Isaiah Campbell and working around a couple of jams of his own.
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - End 4th Inning
Jared Gates drew a five-pitch walk to chase Kody Funderburk, the DBU starting pitcher. Right-hander MacGregor Hines came out of the bullpen to strand two when Jax Biggers grounded out to the shortstop unassisted.
Jake Reindl will continue to pitch for Arkansas in the fifth. He has thrown 62 pitches and scattered five hits, and struck out three.
Arkansas 3, Dallas Baptist 2 - Bottom 4th Inning
Arkansas is ahead with a productive inning against DBU left-hander Kody Funderburk, as well as a little luck.
Luke Bonfield reached with a one-out single and went first to third on a single in the next at-bat by Dominic Fletcher. It looked like Bonfield was out on a good throw from right fielder Luke Bandy, but third baseman Tim Millard missed the tag. Fletcher also was able to advance to second.
Bonfield scored on Carson Shaddy's RBI groundout to tie the game, then Grant Koch delivered a big two-out RBI single to right field to score Fletcher from third base and give the Razorbacks the lead.
The crowd is finally into the game. It is loud at Baum.
Dallas Baptist 2, Arkansas 1 - Middle 4th Inning
The top three hitters in the DBU order got on base in the fourth after Jake Reindl recorded two quick outs. The inning ended when clean-up hitter Garrett Wolforth popped up to catcher Grant Koch, stranding the bases loaded.
The Patriots have stranded eight runners through four innings.
Dallas Baptist 2, Arkansas 1 - End 3rd Inning
Jared Gates singled and manufactured a run in the third. He moved over on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on a delayed steal. He scored on a fielder's choice RBI by Eric Cole to put the Razorbacks on the board for the first time and give some life to this big crowd.
Gates' hit was the first against DBU left-hander Kody Funderburk, who has only needed 35 pitches so far. Arkansas is providing him a lot of first-pitch outs, including Casey Martin on a fly out to end the third.
Dallas Baptist 2, Arkansas 0 - Middle 3rd Inning
The Patriots have put the lead batter on base each inning. In the third it was shortstop Jimmy Glowenke who made it aboard with a leadoff single. Tim Millard also had a one-out single to give DBU its seventh base runner.
DBU wasn't able to score this time, though, after Jake Reindl struck out Matt Duce with a good 1-2 breaking ball and Kody Funderburk flied out to center field.
Reindl has pitched pretty well considering how quickly he was needed. His pitch count is 45.
Dallas Baptist 2, Arkansas 0 - Middle 2nd Inning
Kody Funderburk, who also is the DBU designated hitter, provided himself some run support with a leadoff single and run scored in the second. He came home when Devlin Granberg hit into a fielder's choice for the second out.
The inning ended with Jake Reindl striking out Jameson Hannah to strand a runner at third.
There were some extracurriculars in between innings when police intervened in some kind of altercation in the DBU fan section. It was difficult to tell from our vantage point what exactly happened.
Dallas Baptist 1, Arkansas 0 - End 1st Inning
Dallas Baptist shortstop Jimmy Glowenke made a great throw to rob Eric Cole of a leadoff single, then got Casey Martin by a step on a hopper for a second quick out. Heston Kjerstad walked after he was called back to the plate for being intentionally hit by a pitch, but he was stranded when Luke Bonfield struck out swinging at a 3-2 pitch.
Dallas Baptist 1, Arkansas 0 - Middle 1st Inning
The Razorbacks are probably as happy as they can be about trailing 1-0. Jake Reindl did a great job of limiting the damage, limiting DBU to one run after it loaded the bases with no outs.
Devlin Granberg, the All-American outfielder, scored on a fielder's choice RBI from Garrett Wolforth, but Reindl struck out Tim Millard on a 1-2 slider for the second out and got Matt Duce to pop up to Casey Martin at third base to end the inning.
Reindl got a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked to the dugout.
Arkansas 0, Dallas Baptist 0 - Top 1st Inning
Isaiah Campbell has put Arkansas in a big jam in the first inning and he has already been pulled from the game. Jake Reindl inherits the bases loaded with no outs.
Campbell issued a pair of full-count walks to open the game, then a single to Jimmy Glowenke. Dave Van Horn pulled him after the hit.
Campbell continues to be an unpredictable pitcher for Arkansas - great one week and off the next. The leash had to be short with him tonight because of the magnitude of the game, but also because the big bullpen arms haven't been used this week.
Pregame
Arkansas and Dallas Baptist are set to play in the regional championship at 7 p.m. An Arkansas win would clinch the regional championship, while a DBU win would force a winner-take-all game Monday at 6:30 p.m.
The Razorbacks will throw Isaiah Campbell, the right-hander who has been increasingly good late in the season. Arkansas also has a fresh bullpen tonight by virtue of its starters throwing a combined 16 innings in the first two games.
DBU will throw left-hander Kody Funderburk, who is 1-2 with a 6.80 ERA in 14 appearances, including 13 starts.
The weather is beautiful tonight after a cool front moved through last night. The temperature will be around 80 degrees at first pitch, but the humidity is a lot lower than the first two games of this regional.
Linus Baker is tonight's home plate umpire.