NCAA Baseball Regionals: Tre Has A Day In Fayetteville
The TCU Horned Frogs (39-22) have advanced to the finals of the Fayetteville Regional after a resounding win over No. 3 national seed Arkansas (42-17). The Horned Frogs came out swinging early, and even with two weather delays during the game, got the 20-5 win over the Hogs.
The 20 runs in the game set the record for most runs scored in any NCAA postseason game.
Shortstop Tre Richardson had an incredible day, not only at the plate, but in the field as well. He had five hits on six at bats. In the first inning, with Karson Bowen on third, Brayden Taylor on second, and Cole Fontanelle on first, Richardson slammed one to the scoreboard in right/center for his FIRST grand slam of the day.
After that homer, Kurtis Byrne would walk. Anthony Silva would hit a single then steal second. Anthony Davis came to the plate with two outs and singled to right field, scoring both Byrne and Silva.
TCU was up 6-0 before the Razorbacks even picked up a bat. Arkansas would get on the board in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run by Tavian Josenberger. It was the first of two homeruns on the day by the Arkansas center fielder.
Since TCU batted around in the first inning, Elijah Nunez once again led off the inning. He got on base with a single to left field. Bowen would then single, advancing Nunez to third base. That was it for starting pitcher Hagen Smith, one of Arkansas' best pitchers going into the postseason.
Zack Morris would come to pitch with two on and no outs. Taylor would single, scoring Nunez. Fontanelle would be walked, loading the bases with no outs. So just like in the first inning, with Bowen, Taylor, and Fontanelle on base, Richardson would come to the plate. And once again, he'd hit the bomb over the right field fence.
That's right. Two innings. Two Grand Slams for Richardson. He wasn't done, though. He'd get a 2-run homer in the sixth inning. Richardson ended the day with 11 RBIs, tying him with Shea Langeliers (Baylor 2019) for the most RBIs in an NCAA postseason game.
Mother Nature was up to no good once again. The game went into two weather delays. The first one came right after the top of the third inning and lasted for over an hour.
Sam Stoutenborough got the start for the Frogs. Even after the delay, he came back in and pitched four more innings, for six total innings pitched. He threw 96 pitches and gave up four earned runs on six hits, with three of those hits being home runs. He had five strikeouts and did not walk a batter. He got the win, taking his record to 4-0.
Next up: Arkansas now must face an elimination game with Santa Clara, who eliminated Arizona on Saturday night. Game Five of the Fayetteville Regional will be at 8:06 p.m. CT on Sunday, June 4. The finals of the Fayetteville Regional will be played on Monday, June 5. TCU will face the winner of the Arkansas/Santa Clara game. Time for Game Six is TBD. If necessary, Game Seven will be start approximately 30 minutes after Game Six concludes.
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