Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Final
Arkansas is officially one win away from its first baseball national championship.
[FULL RECAP: Arkansas defeats Oregon State in first game of championship series]
Rutschman, on Loseke's 0-1 offering leading off the home ninth, singled through the left side for Oregon State's first hit since Zak Taylor was thrown out at second base in the seventh. Van Horn then pulled Loseke and called on Matt Cronin.
Cronin struck out Malone on five pitches for the first out, then fanned Gretler and got pinch hitter Andy Armstrong to line out to Jax Biggers at short to end it. He threw just 13 pitches.
We will have much more from this game later on WholeHogSports.com.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Middle 9th Inning
In the home eigth, Loseke needed just 10 pitches to get through the big bats in Oregon State's lineup. The Beavers' 1-3 hitters are a combined 2-for-12 with a pair of strikeouts tonight. Nick Madrigal, who entered the game hitting .395, is 0-for-4.
In the top of the ninth, Chamberlain issued a two-out walk to Bonfield and Dave Van Horn brought out Jack Kenley to pinch run. Chamberlain got Fletcher to pop up in foul ground, but third baseman Michael Gretler and Rutschman collided and dropped the ball. Neither player was issued an error on the play.
Fletcher struck out to end the top half. Loseke is heading back to the mound to try to close out Game 1.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Middle 8th Inning
Christian Chamberlain has made Arkansas look silly since entering the game in relief of Luke Heimlich. He's struck out nine in 3 2/3 innings of work and allowed only one hit. As a team, Arkansas has struck out 14 times tonight.
Loseke returns to the mound in the eighth, where he'll face 2-3-4 in the Beavers' lineup.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - End 7th Inning
Barrett Loseke came on in relief in the seventh and struck out his first batter on three pitches. Zak Taylor then singled down the line in left past a diving Casey Martin, but Heston Kjerstad came up firing to Carson Shaddy at second and hosed Taylor at second. The throw beat the runner by a good 5-6 feet.
Loseke then sat down Steven Kwan to end the inning. He threw only 10 pitches.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Middle 7th Inning
Dominic Fletcher doubled off the wall in right-center, but was stranded at second base when Shaddy struck out looking. Arkansas has left eight on base tonight.
Barrett Loseke is on to pitch for Arkansas. Blaine Knight's final line: six innings, seven hits, one earned run, one walk and six strikeouts on 97 pitches – 66 strikes.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - End 6th Inning
Blaine Knight retired the first two Oregon State hitters he faced in the sixth on five pitches. After a seven-pitch walk, he had to work for the third out. Gretler, on the seventh pitch of his at-bat, grounded to Casey Martin, who fired to second for the force out.
Kjerstad, Bonfield and Fletcher are due up for Arkansas in the seventh.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Middle 6th Inning
The Razorbacks threatened to add to their lead again in the top half, but Casey Martin grounded into a fielder's choice and left the bases loaded. It's the second consecutive inning Arkansas (7 LOB) has left the bases loaded.
Blaine Knight returns to the mound for Arkansas in the sixth having thrown 78 pitches so far. He will face 4-5-6 in the Beavers' order.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - End 5th Inning
Blaine Knight hangs his third consecutive zero and gets Arkansas out of some trouble. Following a single, Grenier singled down the line in right. Initially, the first base umpire ruled it a foul ball, but video review overturned the call, placing Beavers runners on the corners with two away.
Nick Madrigal stepped into the box against Knight and lined out sharply to Carson Shaddy at second.
Shaddy, Gates and Koch are due up for the Razorbacks in the sixth.
Arkansas 4, Oregon State 1 - Middle 5th Inning
After Dominic Fletcher's first-pitch pop-up to first to open the fifth, Arkansas kicked it in gear offensively. Carson Shaddy drew a four-pitch walk, then Jared Gates singled to right, moving Shaddy to third.
Grant Koch followed with a hard-hit single to left to knot the score. He's 2-for-2 with a pair of sharply hit balls tonight.
Jax Biggers then took a pitch off his right arm to load the bases. It's the 19th batter Heimlich has hit by a pitch this season. Heimlich then hit Eric Cole on the foot, and Arkansas has its first lead of the night.
Casey Martin squibbed one off the bat to Nick Madrigal at second, who bobbled the ball as he turned to throw to second. Everyone is safe and Arkansas extended its lead to two runs.
Heimlich's night is done. He was rattled much of this inning and for bits of the fourth. He finishes his outing having given up three hits and three earns runs over 4 1/3 innings. Reliever Christian Chamberlain is now on the mound for the Beavers.
Chamberlain enters and immediately walks Kjerstad. Oregon State's staff cannot find the zone right now, and Arkansas' contingency of fans is letting them know.
Bonfield and Fletcher went down on strikes to end the top half. In all, Arkansas plated four runs on two hits and an error.
Oregon State 1, Arkansas 0 - End 4th Inning
Larnach led off the home fourth with a ground-rule double to left. Heston Kjerstad lost the ball in the sun and never saw it off Larnach's bat. Rutschman then singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Then things got interesting.
Malone hit a ball to Jared Gates at first base and fired to second, where Rutschman did not slide and was called for interference. Malone, who would have otherwise been safe if not for the interference call, was the second out of the inning at first base.
Michael Gretler then struck out to end the inning, and Blaine Knight was able to strand Larnach at third and avoid further damage.
Oregon State 1, Arkansas 0 - Middle 4th Inning
Heimlich cruised through the heart of Arkansas' order for a second time, striking out Casey Martin on three pitches again. Kjerstad made Heimlich work a bit before flying out to center on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. Bonfield then grounded out to short for a second time.
Heimlich has allowed just one hit tonight and struck out five, but has thrown 66 pitches – 42 strikes – through four.
Oregon State 1, Arkansas 0 - End 3rd Inning
Blaine Knight bounced back from allowing a run in the second and sat down the Beavers in order in the third on 14 pitches. He is at 45 pitches – 31 strikes – to this point.
Casey Martin, Heston Kjerstad and Luke Bonfield are due up for Arkansas.
Oregon State 1, Arkansas 0 - Middle 3rd Inning
Grant Koch gifted Arkansas its first hit of the night with a single to center off Heimlich. Jax Biggers then struck out looking on a pitch that appeared a bit low of the zone, and Eric Cole grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the top half.
Heimlich has thrown 49 pitches through three innings.
Oregon State 1, Arkansas 0 - End 2nd Inning
The Beavers used a leadoff double, infield hit and a single to center to plate the first run of the night. Michael Gretler scored Trevor Larnach on a 2-0 offering from Knight.
After the run-scoring single, Knight rebounded with a pair of strikeouts – one swinging, one looking – to close the home second. He has four strikeouts through two innings and his pitch count sits at 31.
Grant Koch, Jax Biggers and Eric Cole are due up for the Razorbacks in the third.
Arkansas 0, Oregon State 0 - Middle 2nd Inning
Arkansas made Luke Heimlich work a little more in the second inning. Luke Bonfield and Carson Shaddy each drew full counts, and Shaddy worked a nine-pitch walk for the game's first base runner. Jared Gates flied out to deep right field to end the inning.
The Razorbacks had not put a lot of good swings on Heimlich until the final two at-bats of the inning. Shaddy had good contact on a foul ball that put him behind 1-2 and Gates' fly out was probably the best swing so far of the night.
Heimlich threw 23 pitches that inning and his pitch count is 36 through two innings.
Arkansas 0, Oregon State 0 - End 1st Inning
Blaine Knight was perfect in the bottom of the first, striking out Steven Kwan, getting Cadyn Grenier to fly out to right field and getting Nick Madrigal to ground out to shortstop.
Knight's fastball was clocked at 95 mph multiple times that inning. He looks sharp.
Arkansas 0, Oregon State 0 - Middle 1st Inning
Arkansas freshmen Casey Martin and Heston Kjerstad struggled with Luke Heimlich's slider in the first inning. He threw three straight sliders to Martin, who swung through all three. Heimlich got ahead of Kjerstad 0-2 with a couple of fastballs that were called strikes, then struck him out swinging at the slider in the dirt.
Eric Cole worked a seven-pitch at-bat to lead off the game and grounded out. Heimlich's fastball was clocked at 90-92 in that inning and his slider was between 78-81 mph.
Pregame
It is finally time to play the national championship. Arkansas and Oregon State will begin at 6:05 on a beautiful night in Omaha. The rain moved out overnight and the sun has been shining all day here in Nebraska.
Oregon State might be the designated home team tonight, but this is a home game for Arkansas. There might be more Razorback fans here tonight than have been at a game in Baum Stadium all season. The outfield is almost exclusively red, with the exception of one of the 15 sections. A lot of people in orange have congregated in Section 129 in left-center field.
Everywhere you turn in Omaha you see Razorback fans this week. It feels kind of like the Liberty Bowl in Memphis a couple of years ago when Arkansas easily had the most fans in a game that was not too far from campus and the fan base.
Two of the nation's elite pitchers are on the mound tonight. Blaine Knight (13-0, 2.88 ERA) has defeated a who's who of top pitchers this season and tonight he goes head-to-head against Oregon State senior left-hander Luke Heimlich (16-2, 2.80 ERA), who is the two-time Pac-12 pitcher of the year.
Tonight's umpires are: Travis Katzenmeier at home plate, Perry Costello at first base, Chris Coskey at second base, Joe Burleson at third base, Barry Chambers in right field and Billy Van Raaphorst in left field.
Arkansas is wearing its home gray jerseys with red hats tonight. Oregon State is wearing black tops, white pants and hats with orange bills, white fronts and black backs.