Stanford suffers huge loss to Arkansas in their first game of the CWS

It was not pretty

Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

With redemption on the mind thanks to last year's devastating loss to Vanderbilt on a wild pitch that ended their season, Stanford was hoping to get off to as strong start in Omaha. 

However, the No. 2 seed Stanford Cardinal have found themselves in a very familiar situation this postseason, which is having suffered an early loss.

In their first game of the College World Series against Arkansas, the Cardinal trotted out Alex Williams who after being one of the best pitchers in the country all year. Williams has hit a major wall during the postseason and hasn't looked like himself by any means. The Cardinal are 0-3 in this last three starts, and opponents hitters are no longer having issues hitting his stuff. It was evident in the first inning that Arkansas was seeing his pitches well, as even when they were getting out they were hitting the ball hard.

Williams pitched just 4.1 innings throwing 85 pitches, while his counterpart, Arkansas' starter Chance Noland threw 7.2 innings with just 79 pitches. 

The game looked like it was going to be a typical Stanford game, as the Cardinal fell behind in the top of the first inning 1-0 thanks to the first batter of the game hitting a triple off of Williams and eventually being knocked in. The Cardinal seem to love the playing from behind game, as they have fallen behind in all but one of their postseason games.

 Brock Jones, who 247Sports rated as the best MLB Draft prospect in Omaha was able to answer with a solo shot of his own to tie the game up giving Stanford some confidence. 

B1 | 🌲 1, 🐗 1

That didn't take long...@BR0CKJONES draws the Cardinal even with his 21st homer of the year!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/dDvqSE8RP2

— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) June 18, 2022

The game seemed like it was going to be a tight one the rest of the way, until the fifth inning when the wheels fell off for Williams and eventual reliever Ryan Bruno on the mound.

After letting a couple men on, Williams gave up a three-run shot which was later followed by a wild pitch and RBI single against Bruno allowing for Arkansas to open up the lead to 6-1. 

A flurry of runs would come across for Arkansas in the following innings as after their explosive fifth inning they averaged nearly three runs an inning, totaling 17 scored on the day. The bats were as hot as they come for the Razorbacks, recording 21 hits to Stanford's seven. Arkansas was doing a ton of their damage with two outs, going 7-for-16 (.438) knocking in seven runs with just one out to play with. 

Not to mention, every Razorback's starter recorded a hit, and every person that came to the plate for the Razorbacks reached base.   

To say it wasn't pretty in the 17-2 loss for Stanford, who threw six pitchers during Arkansas' dismantling of their pitching staff would be an understatement.

The Cardinal will play the loser of Ole Miss and Auburn on Monday in an elimination game.