Game 3
By: Austin Ulmer
OMAHA, Neb.- On the second day of the Men’s College World Series, game one featured two programs full of tradition, the Stanford Cardinal and the Arkansas Razorbacks. A sea of crimson filled the stadium with Razorback faithful, and propelled the Razorbacks to a dominating 17-2 win over the Cardinal.
But the main storyline of Game Three was Razorbacks starting pitcher Connor Noland, who with great command of his pitches, dominated the Cardinal lineup.
“I just stuck to the plan” Noland said, when referring to his approach to the Cardinal offense. Noland threw only 79 pitches, 55 of them for strikes, in 7 2/3 innings of work, surrendered just two earned runs on seven hits.
Braydon Webb led the game off with a triple to get the momentum going for the Razorbacks. He would be driven in by a sacrifice fly from the next batter Brady Slavens, giving Arkansas a 1-0 lead early in the game.
Brock Jones answered back for the Cardinal in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to left field, evening the score. Stanford hit a program-record 117 home runs on the season coming into the game on Saturday.
After both teams put a run on the board in the first inning, it turned into a pitching battle between both teams’ top arms. That was until the top of the fifth when Razorbacks Chris Lanzilli hit a three-run bomb to left-center field, giving Arkansas a 4-1 lead. Later in the inning, a wild pitch scored Robert Moore from third base extending the Arkansas lead to 5-1. Then the Razorbacks made it a 6-1 game off the RBI single from Zack Gregory.
The Razorbacks then went on to score three more runs in the top half of the seventh inning, moving their lead to 9-1.
Two more runs were added to the Razorbacks lead making it a 11-1 game, after Peyton Stovall drove in both Robert Moore and Jalen Battles.
In the bottom of the eight inning Stanford was able to plate Eddie Park off a Carter Graham double, making the score 11-2
Cayden Wallace then blew the game wide-open with a two run shot to right-center field in the top of the ninth inning, giving the Razorbacks an 11-run advantage, 13-2. Peyton Stovall then drove in his third and fourth RBIs on the day making the score 15-2, giving him two RBI base-hits in back-to-back innings. Braydon Webb went on to hit a rocket line drive to center-field driving in two more runs, giving the Razorbacks 21 hits on the day and a 17-2 victory to move the Razorbacks into the winner’s bracket and a matchup with a familiar SEC west foe.
Game 4
By: Jacob Thimjon
The lone unbeaten this postseason, the Ole Miss Rebels, remained perfect in tournament play with a 5-1 win over the Auburn Tigers.
The Rebels began their offensive attack in the top of the first inning when Ole Miss designated hitter Kemp Alderman delivered a two-RBI single to left field off Auburn starting pitcher Joseph Gonzalez to give the Rebels an early 2-0 lead.
Ole Miss extended their lead to 3-0 in the top of the third inning after left fielder Kevin Graham hit his 11th home run of the season that landed just beyond the outstretched glove of Auburn left fielder Mike Bello and into the Auburn bullpen.
The Rebels were complimented with a dominant pitching performance by freshman right-handed pitcher Dylan DeLucia (6-2; 4.35 ERA) as he retired the first 14 Tigers batters he faced.
DeLucia said his key to success on the mound against the Tigers was his ability to throw strikes.
“Throw it in the zone, let them hit it if they don’t get it good for me, but just let them put the ball in play and have my defense work for me,” DeLucia said.
Auburn center fielder Kason Howell collected the Tiger’s first hit in the top of the fifth inning with a two-out single to right field. DeLucia, however, struck out the next batter he faced, catcher Nate LaRue looking to retire the side.
Ole Miss second baseman Peyton Catagnier grounded out into a double play with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning and scored Alderman from third base to extend the Ole Miss lead to 4-0. Center fielder TJ McCants singled to left field later in the inning to widen the Rebel’s lead to 5-0.
Tigers’ junior right fielder Bobby Pierce scored Auburn’s lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning, delivering an RBI single through the left side of the infield to score infielder Garrett Farquhar to cut the Rebel’s lead to 5-1 with no out in the inning. DeLucia, however, retired the next three batters he faced to escape out of trouble.
DeLucia finished the game pitching 7 2/3 innings, surrendering four hits, one earned run and striking out 10.
“We couldn’t garner any offense,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said.
DeLucia gave way to an Ole Miss bullpen that hasn’t allowed an earned run since May 21. The Rebels bullpen continued its dominance by pitching three shutout innings to finish off the 5-1 win for the Rebels.
“We’ve battled back a lot, and one loss isn’t going to kill us,” Peirce said, “we’re going to come back Monday fighting.”
Auburn (42-21) faces the Stanford Cardinal (47-16) in an elimination game Monday at 1 p.m, while Ole Miss (38-22) advances to play Southeastern Conference rival the Arkansas Razorbacks (44-19) Monday at 6 p.m.
