While you were sleeping: Hogs beat Bears in all-night barnburner

FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 12 Arkansas Razorbacks struck for four runs in the rain in the bottom of the eighth inning and outlasted No. 22 Missouri State 11-10 early Monday morning to force a decisive final game at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.

The marathon game featured a rain delay of 1 hour, 25 minutes and concluded at 3:10 a.m., exactly six hours after it began on a rain-soaked day at Baum Stadium. The teams will play for the regional championship today at 6 p.m.

Arkansas used eight pitchers, the last freshman Evan Lee, who struck out first baseman Justin Paulsen to end the game and earn his second save. Sophomore Jake Reindl (4-1) recorded four outs after notching the save in the Razorbacks' 4-3 victory over Oral Roberts on Sunday afternoon in a game that was delayed nearly two hours due to rain.

Lee came on after Hunter Steinmetz's two-run home run when the Bears (42-18) were down to their final out in the ninth.

"There was an opportunity to put the dagger in them tonight and I wasn't going to let that slip past," Lee said.

An announced crowd of 5,825 was on hand for the start of the finale and several hundred hearty fans stuck it out to the end.

Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin was clearly unhappy about playing the bottom of the eighth inning in the rain after the Bears had taken an 8-7 lead in the top of the eighth on Blake Graham's RBI single.

Home plate umpire Ramon Armendariz signaled for the grounds crew to come out before the bottom of the eighth, but Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn vociferously argued that his team had to play defense in the rain in the top of the eighth. After a few moments, the umpiring crew determined the game would carry on.

"Games shouldn't be decided in the rain at 3 a.m.," said Guttin, who added that he'd never seen an umpire change his mind on calling for the tarp in his 35 years as a coach.

Van Horn countered by saying he thought the 85-minute rain delay that began in the top of the fourth inning at 11:10 p.m. should have sent the teams home for the night.

"We thought we'd probably just go home and pick this up tomorrow but people weren't having any part of that, so whatever," Van Horn said, adding that the rain let up shortly after umpires allowed it to continue in the eighth.

"I don't think it was that big a deal."

The winning rally for the Razorbacks (45-18) started on Luke Bonfield's single inside the first base bag against Jordan Knutson (8-3). Dominic Fletcher's single to right sent pinch runner Matt Burch into third base. Jax Biggers slow roller to second brought home Burch to tie the game 8-8.

Fletcher moved to third on a wild pitch by ace closer Jake Fromson, then scored the go-ahead run on another wild pitch.

After Carson Shaddy drew a walk, third baseman Jared Gates sent a slider from Fromson over the right-field wall for his fifth home run to give Arkansas an 11-8 Arkansas lead.

"That was one of the craziest games I've ever been a part of," Gates said. "See-saw, back and forth. Neither team was ever out of it so to speak."

When the first rain came, the Razorbacks were in the midst of their biggest outburst since erupting for 12, 9 and 16 runs in consecutive victories at the SEC Tournament last week against Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida.

Missouri State defeated the Razorbacks 5-4 in the late winner's bracket game on Saturday night to get in the driver's seat. Both teams pitching staffs have been stressed, and both are likely to have to piece together nine innings again as they did in their second meeting of the weekend.

Eric Cole, Chad Spanberger, Bonfield and Biggers had two hits each for the Razorbacks. Steinmetz went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI for the Bears, while Jake Burger, Blake Graham and John Privitera had 2 hits apiece.

Arkansas led off each of the first three innings with a double and each of those hitters -- Cole, Grant Koch and Biggers -- came around to score.

Missouri State starter Austin Knight, who posted two victories over the Razorbacks in mid-week games last season, labored in the first inning by throwing 35 pitches and giving up three runs.

Cole doubled into the gap in left-center field on a full count to ignite the rally. Spanberger drove him in with a single to right center and Bonfield kept the heat on with a single.

Fletcher's chopper to third base moved up both runners then Biggers brought them in with a long single into right center.

The Razorbacks, who scored nine first-inning runs during five games at the SEC Tournament, had not scored in the first inning in their first three games at the regional.

The Hogs kept after Knight in the second inning, starting Koch's double just out of the reach of left fielder Alex Jefferson deep in the gap. Jake Arledge bunted Koch over to third and Cole slapped a single into right field to plate Koch and make it 4-0.

Arkansas had a chance for more runs after Jefferson failed to catch Spanberger's towering fly ball after calling off center fielder Hunter Steinmetz, leaving runners at first and second. Knight rallied to retire Bonfield on a fly ball to center field and Fletcher on a fly to right.

The Bears got their potent offense into gear in the top of the third inning. Nine-hole hitter John Privitera ripped a single inside the third base bag and Steinmetz chased him to third with a sinking liner to right that deflected off the sliding Cole's glove for a double.

Justin Paulsen greeted reliever Cannon Chadwick with a ringing single to right field to make the cut the Bears' deficit to 4-2. Chadwick coaxed a pop up from Burger and a line drive from Jeremy Eierman before Blake Graham's single sent Paulsen to third. Chadwick's wild pitch allowed Paulsen to score and complete the three-run rally.

Van Horn replaced Chadwick with a 2-1 count on Jefferson and the left-hander Weston Rogers came on to retire the left fielder on a grounder to shortstop.

Rogers, a 6-4, 215-pound left-hander from Springdale Har-Ber, had last pitched in a game on April 25 in a 6-5 victory over Kansas State.

The Razorbacks got a couple of runs back in the bottom of the third on only one hit, Biggers' leadoff double. Shaddy followed with a walk and after Gates' sacrifice Koch drew a full-count walk to load the bases. Arledge was hit on the left arm by Tyler McAlister's second pitch, but Armendariz ruled Arledge did not try to get out of the way and called him back to the plate, infuriating Van Horn, who unsuccessfully argued Bonfield was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning Saturday.

Arledge walked to force in a run two pitches later. Cole's sacrifice fly brought in Koch to extend Arkansas' lead to 6-3 and right-hander Nate Witherspoon got Spanberger to ground out.

The Bears had runners on second and third base with two outs when the game was postponed in the third. When play resumed Matt Cronin retired Paulsen on a line drive to right field.

Burger broke out of an 0-for-10 slump in the sixth with an RBI single to score Privitera and cut the Bears' deficit to 6-5 in the sixth, then Eierman put Missouri State on top 7-6 with a two-run single.

Arkansas tied the game 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth when Shaddy's single brought in Spanberger, who led off the inning with a single, his second hit of the game.