Arkansas pounded out 21 hits and Connor Noland pitched into the eighth inning in rolling past Stanford.
“I thought we played a fantastic game,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “It started on the mound with pitching. Outstanding. A lot of strikes. Defense behind him was outstanding as well. Turned a couple of double plays. Made all the plays that you would expect our team to make and maybe a couple you didn’t expect. We did a great job. And offensively swung the bat extremely well up and down the lineup. Got production 1 through 9. I think everybody might have had a hit today or a couple. And just played a really good ball game.”
Noland (8-5) was strong for 7.2 innings with six hits, two runs, one walk and one strikeout.
“I knew they were going to swing the bat,” Noland said. “They’re an aggressive team, they like to put the ball in play. We had the wind blowing in. I get a lot of ground balls normally. I just stuck to the plan. They’re very aggressive. Didn’t get a lot of two-strike counts. They just put the ball in play, and I let the defense work behind me.”
Peyton Stovall knocked in four, while Cayden Wallace (3 for 6) and Chris Lanzilli (2 for 5) both drove in three for the Razorbacks (44-19). Michael Turner had four hits, while Robert Moore reached five times with two hits and three walks while scoring three for Arkansas.
Braydon Webb hit the first pitch of the game to the wall in right for a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brady Slavens to give the Razorbacks the early lead. Arkansas loaded the bases later in the frame but could not add to their run total.
Brock Jones belted a leadoff in the bottom of the first as the Cardinal tied the game at 1-1.
The Razorbacks put up a crooked number in the top of the fifth. Slavens and Wallace started the inning with singles and Lanzilli smacked a three-run homer to give Arkansas a 4-1 lead.
“To play on this stage is really why I came here,” Lanzilli said. “And to do something like that is awesome. And to win the game is even better. I just want to keep it rolling.”
Moore singled and scored on a wild pitch, while Zack Gregory added an RBI single later in the fifth as the Hogs went up 6-1.
In the top of the seventh, Moore had a leadoff double and scored on a base hit by Jalen Battles to extend the advantage to 7-1. Later in the frame, Slavens had an RBI single and Wallace added a run-scoring double to make it 9-1.
Stovall delivered a two-run single in the eighth to push it to 11-1. Carter Graham had an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth for Stanford. In the ninth. Wallace had a two-run dinger, Stovall had a two-run single and Webb added a two-run double to make the final 17-2.
“We had one strikeout,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said. “We were seeing the ball well. We hit the ball right at them. Unfortunately, Brock hit a couple of balls into the teeth of the wind. And I gave them credit because Lanzilli’s home run, that was kind of the biggest pitch of the game. Their guy beat our guy. That’s all you ask when you come into the World Series.”