OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas left-hander Kacey Murphy, scheduled to start Game 2 of the College World Series finals on Wednesday, walked up to Blaine Knight’s locker late Tuesday night with a sub sandwich in hand.
“Blaine, you’re perfect,” Murphy shouted, drawing a smile and a laugh from Knight, who started his final collegiate game and improved to a program-best 14-0 in 2018. Knight scattered seven hits over six solid innings against No. 3 national seed Oregon State, pacing Arkansas to a 4-1 win in the best-of-three series.
None of the seven hits came from Beavers star second baseman Nick Madrigal.
Madrigal, batting .395 entering the championship round, finished the night 0-for-4 and did not record a hit in a game for the first time in 11 games this postseason. The last time Madrigal went hitless came in a 4-1 loss to UCLA on May 26 in the team’s regular-season finale.
Madrigal was drafted fourth overall by the Chicago White Sox in the first round of the MLB Draft earlier this month.
Arkansas pitching coach Wes Johnson said the plan was to attack Madrigal. If he got hits, fine.
Johnson said that he, Knight and catcher Grant Koch prepared for him as if he were Florida infielder Deacon Liput, a 10th-round draft selection of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“We talked about it. I told our guys that we can’t be scared of contact with these guys,” Johnson said of preparing for the Beavers’ offense. “We have such advanced scouting now with TrackMan and everything I use, I think people nibble with (Madrigal). Let’s just go in there and go at the strike zone.”
Knight made waves on social media prior to the Razorbacks’ first game in Omaha when he adamantly stated he “didn’t care” if Texas second baseman Kody Clemens had 24 home runs going into the Father's Day matchup.
His approach remained the same with Madrigal and the rest of Oregon State’s lineup, which came in hitting .323 as a team.
Knight retired Madrigal all three times he faced him – a groundout to shortstop in the first, fly out to center in the third and a hard liner to Carson Shaddy at second base in the fifth. Madrigal’s shot to Shaddy came with two outs and stranded a pair of runners, and helped Arkansas keep its 4-1 lead intact.
In the top half of the fifth, a Madrigal error – only his third of the season – allowed Arkansas to plate its third run and take firm control against Beavers starter Luke Heimlich.
Knight was determined to make the second baseman hit his pitches. Following the inning-ending line out in the fifth, Knight said Madrigal had a few words for him as the two returned to their respective dugouts.
“That out was huge. He kind of popped off at me saying I got lucky after that,” Knight said. “I said, 'I just executed a pitch in because you had a hole in and look what you did.' Don’t get me wrong, this dude is an incredible athlete.
"He went No. 4 overall for a reason and he can hit, but like I said, as long as I executed my pitch and not his, I wasn’t worried about a thing tonight. He hit all three of my pitches hard, which is fine. I don’t care.”
Knight enjoyed a good bit of success against his opponents’ stars in Omaha. Combined, he held Clemens and Madrigal to 1-for-7. He didn’t care what the Beavers were hitting as a team. He wanted to make a statement, and holding Madrigal down went a long way toward doing so.
“I haven’t backed down from anybody all year long,” Knight said, “and I wasn’t going to start now.”