FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks have won 18 consecutive weekend series going back to 2019.
The No. 1 Razorbacks have to do it one more time in 2021 if they want to get back to the College World Series.
North Carolina State bounced back to beat the University of Arkansas 6-5 in a Fayetteville Super Regional game Saturday at Baum-Walker Stadium to force a winner-take-all third game at 5 tonight. The Razorbacks won the Friday opener 21-2.
“Well, they usually respond,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of his players. “They play pretty well when it comes down to winning a series. I think it’s going to be a great ballgame, and I look forward to it.”
Arkansas (50-12) has 13 victories this season when the Razorbacks have trailed by three runs, and they had a shot to do it again Saturday.
The Razorbacks scored three runs in the seventh inning to pull within 6-5 and had the tying run on third base and go-ahead run on first base when North Carolina State closer Evan Justice struck out Christian Franklin on a 2-2 pitch.
“Christian took some really good swings,” Van Horn said. “Fouled a couple pitches straight back. You’re thinking, ‘Man, maybe he’s going to get a hit here and tie this up.’ But Justice didn’t let it happen.”
Wolfpack starter Sam Highfill had retired 16 consecutive batters when Brady Slavens hit a home run to make it 6-3 with one out in the seventh inning. After Charlie Welch drew a walk, Justice came in and got Robert Moore on a flyout.
Cullen Smith singled up the middle, then Casey Opitz hit a grounder to shortstop Jose Torres that should have been the third out, but Torres made a wild throw. Opitz was safe and Welch scored.
Jalen Battles then had an RBI single before Justice ended the rally.
Justice then retired the Razorbacks in order in the eighth and ninth innings for his 11th save. He struck out Smith swinging on a 3-2 pitch for the final out.
“Got to give Justice credit,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t give us much the last couple of innings.”
North Carolina State (34-18) went with several seldom-used pitchers in Friday’s blowout after the Razorbacks led 10-1 through five innings.
“Nobody wants to get beat by that margin, but they knew how the game went and they knew how we got to this point,” Wolfpack Coach Elliott Avent said of his team’s resiliency. “Practice this morning was as good as it’s ever been. This team is very consistent, and the pulse of the team stays the same no matter what.”
Van Horn said he wasn’t surprised by how North Carolina State — which hasn’t lost back-to-back games since April 2-3 at Clemson — responded Saturday.
“They did a great job,” Van Horn said. “We kind of knew what was going on. They were throwing pitchers that they weren’t really planning on using here [on Friday]. So we took advantage of them, got some hits. A lot of things went our way. They walked a lot of us. It kind of just happened.
“But we knew [Saturday] was going to be tough. They would throw their guys at us. When they got ahead of us, it got real tough.”
North Carolina State hit three home runs and scored four runs off Ryan Costeiu in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.
Terrell Tatum hit a leadoff single before Torres hit a two-run home run. Luca Tresh followed with a home run. Costeiu got Devonte Brown on a groundout, but gave up another home run to Vojtech Mensik.
Caden Monke replaced Costeiu and struck out J.T. Jarrett and Austin Murr.
“They fouled off a lot of pitches and finally got something they could handle,” Van Horn said of the Wolfpack’s home run spree against Costeiu.
North Carolina State made it 6-2 in the sixth inning when Tresh scored from third on a groundout by Jarrett.
Costeiu replaced starter Lael Lockhart with one out in the third inning after North Carolina State got runners on second and third after Mensik and Jarrett had infield singles and advanced on Murr’s sacrifice bunt.
The Wolfpack pulled within 2-1 on Tyler McDonough’s RBI groundout, but Costeiu struck out Jonny Butler to end the inning.
Arkansas took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Welch’s two-run home run after Slavens drew a leadoff walk.
“I feel like they gave us their best shot,” Welch said of the Wolfpack’s play on Saturday. “We know who we are as a club, and we’re going into [Sunday] with full confidence.
“We came up a little bit short today, but we’ll be all right.”
Freshman right-hander Matt Willadsen (4-2, 4.47 ERA) could be the Wolfpack’s starter tonight, though Avent didn’t announce a starter.
Van Horn didn’t name a starter, either, but reliever Kevin Kopps — the SEC pitcher of the year — figures to be a key for the Razorbacks. Kopps threw two innings Saturday, but only 21 pitches.
“What we’ve been doing on a lot of Sundays,” Van Horn said of following the pitching plan that has been successful for Arkansas winning series. “Mixing it up and trying to get to Kevin.”
The Razorbacks have won their last three super regionals at home — against Missouri State in 2015, South Carolina in 2018 and Ole Miss in 2019 — by winning game three after winning game one and losing game two.
“I think any time you experience things, you can draw on that type of stuff to help you get through it a little bit,” Van Horn said. “But it’s a different year, we’re playing a different team.
“We’re still standing. We still have an opportunity. There are only a few teams left.”
Arkansas beat Nebraska two of three games last weekend to advance to the super regional.
“Stay true to who we are,” Welch said of Van Horn’s postgame message to the players. “Don’t do anything different.
“It’s all about winning the series. Two games. We know what we’ve got to do.”