FAYETTEVILLE -- Trevor Stephan's fifth-inning strikeout Friday night of Oral Roberts' No. 3 hitter Matt Whatley gave the Razorbacks 565 strikeouts on the season, tying the school record in the staff's first season under pitching coach Wes Johnson.
Stephan whiffed Brent Williams for the second out of the sixth inning to break the record, and he picked up his 10th of the game against Dylan Snipes in the same inning.
The 6-5 right-hander struck out six through three innings, then added two more in the fifth and sixth. He added his 11th in the seventh and 12th in the eighth. Stephan has six games with 10 or more strikeouts this season.
Kevin Kopps and Matt Cronin each struck out a batter in relief over the final 1⅔ innings in the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's 3-0 victory over the Golden Eagles. The Razorbacks struck out 14 as a team Friday.
The 2007 Razorbacks struck out 565 batters in 64 games, an average of 8.83 per game. This year's team is sitting at 571 and counting while averaging 9.52 per game.
Clutch cycle
Oklahoma State third baseman Garrett Benge hit for the cycle in the Cowboys' 6-5 loss to Missouri State, and he saved the toughest hit for last at a critical time.
Benge's RBI triple to the wall in right field came with two outs in the top of the ninth and scored Garrett McCain, who had singled with two outs and the Cowboys trailing 4-3. Benge scored the go-ahead run for a 5-4 lead on a wild pitch.
"He went 1 for 16 at the Big 12 Tournament, turned the page and walked in here and hit for the cycle," Oklahoma State Coach Josh Holliday said. "That's all you need to know about him."
Said Benge: "I was pretty excited whenever it first happened. But I mean, as soon as that was over, I just tried to switch my mind to defense, so I could compete well on defense. I tried to basically short-live it, but it was a great time, yeah."
Despite Benge's heroics, the Bears responded with two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win.
Knight for Hogs
Sophomore right-hander Blaine Knight (8-4, 3.08 ERA) will start today for Arkansas.
Knight was the No. 1 starter most of the season, but he has been No. 2 behind Trevor Stephan the previous three weekends after he was held a day for extra rest in the Vanderbilt series.
He said starting the second game doesn't affect his routine.
"I don't care as long as I pitch and help us win," Knight said. "That's all I care about. They bumped me back to rest because I was getting a little tired. I don't feel like there's anyone that you would call ace.
"Me and Trevor are pretty even keel across the board."
Mum's the word
Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin had a succinct answer when asked who will start tonight's winner's bracket game.
"No," he said.
Guttin did confirm Jeremy Eierman -- who went 2 for 4 against Oklahoma State with 2 home runs and 3 RBI -- will make his 59th start at shortstop.
Doug Still, Jordan Knudson and Dylan Coleman were the Bears' starters in Missouri Valley Conference play. Still, a junior left-hander, started Friday and threw 70 pitches in 51/3 innings.
Knudson (7-2, 4.55 ERA), a senior left-hander, got the final out in the top of the ninth inning Friday and threw five pitches. Coleman (8-3, 4.93), a sophomore right-hander, last pitched May 26 against Wichita State when he went 61/3 innings and had 13 strikeouts and allowed 3 earned runs in the Bears' 6-3 victory.
Odds are
Oklahoma State left fielder Garrett McCain, who came into the game hitting .394, was 0 for 3 when he faced Missouri State closer Bryan Young with two out and no runners on base in the bottom of the ninth.
McCain singled on a 1-1 pitch to avoid going hitless for what would have been only the 12th time in 56 games.
Koch to cleanup
Arkansas catcher Grant Koch returned to the cleanup spot against left-hander Miguel Ausua, ending a four-game run for freshman center fielder Dominic Fletcher in the four hole.
Koch hit fourth for the Hogs in the first 29 games and has batted in that spot 51 games overall. Fletcher has hit cleanup five times, Jared Gates has done it three times and Carson Shaddy has done it once.
Who's up?
Oklahoma State Coach Josh Holliday said he would start Joe Lienhard in today's loser's bracket game at 2 p.m.
Lienhard (3-2, 4.24), a 6-5 right-hander from Wichita, Kan., has 59 strikeouts and 32 walks in 622/3 innings. He has made nine starts and 12 relief appearances this year.
'Span' view
Missouri State Coach Keith Guttin's team was in the midst of a run to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament final in Springfield, Mo., last week, but he still managed to see some of Arkansas first baseman Chad Spanberger's five home run barrage at the SEC Tournament.
"Unfortunately we got rained out Saturday, and I watched it at home, the dismantling of Florida," Guttin said. "He's from an area we're very familiar with, so we've known about Spanberger since probably his sophomore year in high school. He's a very talented guy, and you've got to be careful with him."
Seed 16
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he'd like to see the NCAA be more transparent about how it ranks the 16 teams who host regionals. The NCAA ranks eight national seeds and rewards 16 teams with home regionals, but it doesn't seed all 16.
"I haven't really investigated it a lot, but would be nice if they did," Van Horn said. "You could see where you're at and what they're thinking. I'm not going to say it's secretive, but you just don't know what's going on there."
Tough schedule
Entering the regional, Arkansas had played 26 games against teams in the NCAA Tournament and posted a 15-11 record.
The Razorbacks' last 11 games were against SEC teams in the NCAA field.
"We're not going to be shocked by anybody," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "The team knows that.
"As far as just the level of competition, we're not going to run into anything we haven't seen before. It's just a matter of being able to handle it."
Sports on 06/03/2017