Boom.
arkansas.rivals.com
Arkansas punched its ticket to the 2022 College World Series in walk-off fashion Sunday evening.
After the Razorbacks tied it up on a Braydon Webb fielder’s choice, Brady Slavens drove in the game-winning run on a single in the bottom of the ninth to give them a 4-3 win over North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium.
The hit completed a sweep of the Tar Heels at the Chapel Hill Super Regional and sends Arkansas to Omaha for the 11th time in school history — and third time in the last four NCAA Tournaments.
“It never gets old, it's hard,” said Dave Van Horn, who’s been Arkansas’ head coach for seven of those trips now. “What never gets old is the satisfaction and smiles on the players’ faces. I mean, it's something they'll never forget. That's probably what I enjoy the most honestly now.”
It was a dramatic finish to a game that seemed to be trending North Carolina’s way the previous couple of innings.
Spectacular defensive plays by the Tar Heels ended the seventh and eighth innings, robbing the Razorbacks of a go-ahead run each time, and then a lightly used defensive replacement gave them the lead in the top of the ninth.
Tomas Frick led off the inning with a double down the left field line, but the next two North Carolina batters came up empty. That put all the pressure on Patrick Alvarez, who entered the game with a .121 batting average on just 33 at bats. He delivered with an RBI single off Hagen Smith.
Three outs away from forcing a decisive Game 3 and with closer Davis Palmero on the mound for his fourth inning of work, the Tar Heels quickly saw that lead erased.
“They knew what we needed to do,” Van Horn said. “If we’re down three runs, four runs, maybe even two runs, there would have a been a little conversation between me and the hitters.
“In this situation, I didn’t say a word. … They didn’t need me to say a word to them, and that’s the way I felt.”
Jalen Battles and Peyton Stovall started the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles and, pinch hitting for Zack Gregory, Kendall Diggs walked to load the bases. Three pitches later, the game was over.
Having already homered and swinging a hot bat, Webb swung at the first pitch he saw and hit it to the left side. Shortstop Danny Serretti got to it and threw out a runner at second, but the tying run scored and North Carolina couldn’t turn the double play.
At that point, the Tar Heels turned to reliever Caden O’Brien. It was a smart move on paper, as Slavens came into the game hitting just .231 with 20 strikeout in 65 at bats against lefties, but it didn’t work this time. The slugger took a ball before hitting a hard grounder by a diving second baseman who was playing in on the grass for the game-winner.
“I kind of knew when Braydon hit that, they were going to bring him in,” Slavens said. “They were warming him up. I faced him yesterday. I had seen him, seen all of his pitches and I felt comfortable. I put a good swing on it the first pitch I saw in the zone.”
Discussing the at bat in postgame interviews, you would have had no idea that Slavens had just collected the walk-off hit that sent his team to Omaha. That calmness was also evident as he stepped into the box.
“It’s just a game,” Slavens said. “You don’t need to make the moment bigger than what it was. We already tied the game, there’s no pressure. Just put a good swing on it.”
While the Razorbacks are moving on to the College World Series, North Carolina’s season came to a heartbreaking end.
“It was a rollercoaster of emotions for a number of different reasons, but it’s just baseball,” Serretti said. “It will rip your heart out. You can feel on the top of the world 30 minutes ago and then feel like garbage now. It sucks, but hats off to them.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Arkansas’ super regional-clinching win Sunday…
Lightning Delays
It never actually rained in Chapel Hill, but the game was delayed because of lightning on two separate occasions.
The breaks totaled nearly three hours and couldn’t have come at better moments for Arkansas. Each time, the Tar Heels seemed to have momentum and be on the brink of turning the game in their favor.
The first delay came early in the game. Arkansas loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second only for Gregory to look at strike three and strand them.
It was a big moment for starter Brandon Schaeffer, but before the North Carolina offense had a chance to capitalize on it in the third inning, lightning was detected within an 8-mile radius of the stadium.
When play resumed 1 hour and 46 minutes later, the Tar Heels went down in order in the top of the third inning and the momentum was officially gone.
The second delay came much later in the game. The score was tied 2-2 and Vance Honeycutt had just ended the seventh inning with a diving catch to rob Slavens of a go-ahead RBI single.
“I think it was Slavens and he just caught a piece of it and it just stayed in the air a little too long,” Honeycutt said. “I thought being able to hold them was important…but at the end of the day, they got us.”
Angel Zarate grounded out to start the eighth inning, but the sellout crowd was still on its feet and loud when Honeycutt stepped to the plate and fell behind 3-1. The Tar Heels were just about to get the go-ahead run on base with all the momentum when the umpires stopped play because lightning was once again within the 8-mile radius.
This delay was just 1 hour and 8 minutes, and Honeycutt walked on the very first pitch after play resumed. However, the crowd wasn’t into it as much and Smith eventually stranded two runners on base.
Sensational Start by McEntire
Van Horn didn’t want to give anything away about his pitching plans following the Game 1 win Saturday afternoon, saying only that he planned to pitch either a left-hander or a right-hander.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that he settled on the latter — redshirt sophomore Will McEntire. Pitching coach Matt Hobbs delivered the news to him via text after breakfast.
“I just knew I needed to do the job to get my team to Omaha,” McEntire said. “(I was) ready to go. I was excited.”
In the biggest start of his career, McEntire delivered. He scattered three hits and two walks across 5 2/3 scoreless innings, while also striking out four in an efficient 73 pitches.
What made the outing even more incredible was the fact that he threw 3 2/3 innings after the initial lightning delay — something he had last been asked to do before he was in an Arkansas uniform.
“I've done it two times I remember in high school,” McEntire said. “I’ve had experience doing it before, and I just knew exactly how to keep myself ready in that situation.”
Despite the long layoff, McEntire retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced after the delay, working around a two-out single in one of the innings.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning that North Carolina got a runner in scoring position. That came after a leadoff single and one-out walk.
Although he got the hot-hitting Serretti to hit a fly ball for the second out, Van Horn opted to pull McEntire before facing Alberto Osuna, who had two of the three hits he allowed.
Reliever Kole Ramage got Osuna to pop up in foul territory to end the inning, preserving the scoreless outing for McEntire, lowering his season ERA to 2.81 in 41 2/3 innings.
Asked about his emotions after the biggest outing of his young career, he was a man of few words.
“I don’t know,” McEntire said. “This is probably the best day of my life.”
UNC Fights Back
The ninth-inning dramatics were necessitated because North Carolina finally broke through in the seventh inning.
After scoring just one run in the first 15 innings of the super regional and trailing 2-0 in Game 2, the Tar Heels got a leadoff single from Mikey Madej and then Ramage plunked Tomas Frick to put the tying runs on base.
Facing Evan Taylor, Johnny Castagnozzi laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position. That’s when the Razorbacks turned to usual closer Brady Tygart.
He got pinch-hitter Eric Grintz to ground out, but it scored a run and moved the tying run to third. The latter part of that proved to be significant because Tygart spiked a breaking ball that got by Michael Turner for a wild pitch that tied the game.
Other Tidbits
~North Carolina was without starting third baseman Mac Horvath for Game 2 because he underwent a successful emergency appendectomy Saturday night. He was one of four Tar Heels who started every game this year, hitting .268 with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs.
~It didn’t go particularly well, but Ramage made his 92nd career appearance Sunday. That is tied with Kevin Kopps for the second most in UA history. Phillip Stidham holds the school record, making 105 appearances from 1989-91.
~Webb extended Arkansas’ lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the fifth inning. Not only was it the team’s 100th of the season, it created a three-way tie for the team lead. He, Slavens and Cayden Wallace each have 15 long balls.
Up Next
With the win, Arkansas punched its ticket to Omaha for the 11th time in school history, and third time in the last four NCAA Tournaments.
The College World Series is held at Charles Schwab Field — formerly known as TD Ameritrade Park — and is set to begin next Friday. The Razorbacks’ first opponent will be the winner of the Palo Alto Super Regional between Stanford and UConn. That series is tied 1-1 heading into a Game 3 on Monday.
BOX SCORE
HawgBeat - Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' Game 2 win over North Carolina
HawgBeat brings you several key takeaways from Arkansas' super regional-clinching win over North Carolina.
arkansas.rivals.com
Arkansas punched its ticket to the 2022 College World Series in walk-off fashion Sunday evening.
After the Razorbacks tied it up on a Braydon Webb fielder’s choice, Brady Slavens drove in the game-winning run on a single in the bottom of the ninth to give them a 4-3 win over North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium.
The hit completed a sweep of the Tar Heels at the Chapel Hill Super Regional and sends Arkansas to Omaha for the 11th time in school history — and third time in the last four NCAA Tournaments.
“It never gets old, it's hard,” said Dave Van Horn, who’s been Arkansas’ head coach for seven of those trips now. “What never gets old is the satisfaction and smiles on the players’ faces. I mean, it's something they'll never forget. That's probably what I enjoy the most honestly now.”
It was a dramatic finish to a game that seemed to be trending North Carolina’s way the previous couple of innings.
Spectacular defensive plays by the Tar Heels ended the seventh and eighth innings, robbing the Razorbacks of a go-ahead run each time, and then a lightly used defensive replacement gave them the lead in the top of the ninth.
Tomas Frick led off the inning with a double down the left field line, but the next two North Carolina batters came up empty. That put all the pressure on Patrick Alvarez, who entered the game with a .121 batting average on just 33 at bats. He delivered with an RBI single off Hagen Smith.
Three outs away from forcing a decisive Game 3 and with closer Davis Palmero on the mound for his fourth inning of work, the Tar Heels quickly saw that lead erased.
“They knew what we needed to do,” Van Horn said. “If we’re down three runs, four runs, maybe even two runs, there would have a been a little conversation between me and the hitters.
“In this situation, I didn’t say a word. … They didn’t need me to say a word to them, and that’s the way I felt.”
Jalen Battles and Peyton Stovall started the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles and, pinch hitting for Zack Gregory, Kendall Diggs walked to load the bases. Three pitches later, the game was over.
Having already homered and swinging a hot bat, Webb swung at the first pitch he saw and hit it to the left side. Shortstop Danny Serretti got to it and threw out a runner at second, but the tying run scored and North Carolina couldn’t turn the double play.
At that point, the Tar Heels turned to reliever Caden O’Brien. It was a smart move on paper, as Slavens came into the game hitting just .231 with 20 strikeout in 65 at bats against lefties, but it didn’t work this time. The slugger took a ball before hitting a hard grounder by a diving second baseman who was playing in on the grass for the game-winner.
“I kind of knew when Braydon hit that, they were going to bring him in,” Slavens said. “They were warming him up. I faced him yesterday. I had seen him, seen all of his pitches and I felt comfortable. I put a good swing on it the first pitch I saw in the zone.”
Discussing the at bat in postgame interviews, you would have had no idea that Slavens had just collected the walk-off hit that sent his team to Omaha. That calmness was also evident as he stepped into the box.
“It’s just a game,” Slavens said. “You don’t need to make the moment bigger than what it was. We already tied the game, there’s no pressure. Just put a good swing on it.”
While the Razorbacks are moving on to the College World Series, North Carolina’s season came to a heartbreaking end.
“It was a rollercoaster of emotions for a number of different reasons, but it’s just baseball,” Serretti said. “It will rip your heart out. You can feel on the top of the world 30 minutes ago and then feel like garbage now. It sucks, but hats off to them.”
Here are several other key takeaways from Arkansas’ super regional-clinching win Sunday…
Lightning Delays
It never actually rained in Chapel Hill, but the game was delayed because of lightning on two separate occasions.
The breaks totaled nearly three hours and couldn’t have come at better moments for Arkansas. Each time, the Tar Heels seemed to have momentum and be on the brink of turning the game in their favor.
The first delay came early in the game. Arkansas loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second only for Gregory to look at strike three and strand them.
It was a big moment for starter Brandon Schaeffer, but before the North Carolina offense had a chance to capitalize on it in the third inning, lightning was detected within an 8-mile radius of the stadium.
When play resumed 1 hour and 46 minutes later, the Tar Heels went down in order in the top of the third inning and the momentum was officially gone.
The second delay came much later in the game. The score was tied 2-2 and Vance Honeycutt had just ended the seventh inning with a diving catch to rob Slavens of a go-ahead RBI single.
“I think it was Slavens and he just caught a piece of it and it just stayed in the air a little too long,” Honeycutt said. “I thought being able to hold them was important…but at the end of the day, they got us.”
Angel Zarate grounded out to start the eighth inning, but the sellout crowd was still on its feet and loud when Honeycutt stepped to the plate and fell behind 3-1. The Tar Heels were just about to get the go-ahead run on base with all the momentum when the umpires stopped play because lightning was once again within the 8-mile radius.
This delay was just 1 hour and 8 minutes, and Honeycutt walked on the very first pitch after play resumed. However, the crowd wasn’t into it as much and Smith eventually stranded two runners on base.
Sensational Start by McEntire
Van Horn didn’t want to give anything away about his pitching plans following the Game 1 win Saturday afternoon, saying only that he planned to pitch either a left-hander or a right-hander.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that he settled on the latter — redshirt sophomore Will McEntire. Pitching coach Matt Hobbs delivered the news to him via text after breakfast.
“I just knew I needed to do the job to get my team to Omaha,” McEntire said. “(I was) ready to go. I was excited.”
In the biggest start of his career, McEntire delivered. He scattered three hits and two walks across 5 2/3 scoreless innings, while also striking out four in an efficient 73 pitches.
What made the outing even more incredible was the fact that he threw 3 2/3 innings after the initial lightning delay — something he had last been asked to do before he was in an Arkansas uniform.
“I've done it two times I remember in high school,” McEntire said. “I’ve had experience doing it before, and I just knew exactly how to keep myself ready in that situation.”
Despite the long layoff, McEntire retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced after the delay, working around a two-out single in one of the innings.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning that North Carolina got a runner in scoring position. That came after a leadoff single and one-out walk.
Although he got the hot-hitting Serretti to hit a fly ball for the second out, Van Horn opted to pull McEntire before facing Alberto Osuna, who had two of the three hits he allowed.
Reliever Kole Ramage got Osuna to pop up in foul territory to end the inning, preserving the scoreless outing for McEntire, lowering his season ERA to 2.81 in 41 2/3 innings.
Asked about his emotions after the biggest outing of his young career, he was a man of few words.
“I don’t know,” McEntire said. “This is probably the best day of my life.”
UNC Fights Back
The ninth-inning dramatics were necessitated because North Carolina finally broke through in the seventh inning.
After scoring just one run in the first 15 innings of the super regional and trailing 2-0 in Game 2, the Tar Heels got a leadoff single from Mikey Madej and then Ramage plunked Tomas Frick to put the tying runs on base.
Facing Evan Taylor, Johnny Castagnozzi laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position. That’s when the Razorbacks turned to usual closer Brady Tygart.
He got pinch-hitter Eric Grintz to ground out, but it scored a run and moved the tying run to third. The latter part of that proved to be significant because Tygart spiked a breaking ball that got by Michael Turner for a wild pitch that tied the game.
Other Tidbits
~North Carolina was without starting third baseman Mac Horvath for Game 2 because he underwent a successful emergency appendectomy Saturday night. He was one of four Tar Heels who started every game this year, hitting .268 with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs.
~It didn’t go particularly well, but Ramage made his 92nd career appearance Sunday. That is tied with Kevin Kopps for the second most in UA history. Phillip Stidham holds the school record, making 105 appearances from 1989-91.
~Webb extended Arkansas’ lead to 2-0 with a solo home run in the fifth inning. Not only was it the team’s 100th of the season, it created a three-way tie for the team lead. He, Slavens and Cayden Wallace each have 15 long balls.
Up Next
With the win, Arkansas punched its ticket to Omaha for the 11th time in school history, and third time in the last four NCAA Tournaments.
The College World Series is held at Charles Schwab Field — formerly known as TD Ameritrade Park — and is set to begin next Friday. The Razorbacks’ first opponent will be the winner of the Palo Alto Super Regional between Stanford and UConn. That series is tied 1-1 heading into a Game 3 on Monday.
BOX SCORE
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