FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With both pitching staffs running on fumes, this had the makings of a slugfest — until Arkansas’ TJ Forrest took the mound.
Forrest pitched into the sixth inning on two days of rest, and the Razorbacks beat Washington State 7-2 Monday night for the championship of the Fayetteville Regional. The Hogs advanced to a super regional at top-seeded Arizona State, which will begin Saturday.
“It all started with TJ on the mound,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We got off to a good start, we had the lead and it was our night.”
Forrest (8-0) started Friday night and threw 80 pitches, but with the Razorbacks facing elimination Monday, the senior came back for only his fifth start of the season. He pitched 51/3 innings, allowing two runs — one earned — on four hits. He walked one and struck out four.
“We didn’t expect him to go 51/3,” Van Horn said. “We were just hoping for three. He looked like he had pretty good stuff to me. In the fourth inning, I thought he was throwing harder than he was in the first.”
Arkansas ace Drew Smiley, who had thrown 119 pitches in a Saturday night start, relieved Forrest and shut down the Cougars for 22/3 innings. Then Brett Eibner pitched the ninth.
Washington State (37-22) went with a pitcher-by-committee approach in its fifth game of the four-day regional. Paris Shewey (7-3) started for only the second time this season — and after appearing in relief each of the previous three days.
Shewey allowed the first three Arkansas batters to reach base, and they all came around to score in the top of the first. The Razorbacks (43-19) added three more runs in the third to make it 6-1.
Collin Kuhn, the regional’s most outstanding player, doubled home two runs in that third inning.
Arkansas and Washington State played for the seventh time in the last two seasons, with the Razorbacks winning all but one matchup.
The Cougars lost 6-4 to Arkansas on Saturday, meaning Washington State needed to win three straight to advance from the regional. The Cougars beat Kansas State and Arkansas on Sunday — with Washington State’s James Wise starting both games on the mound.
The last game with Arkansas proved too much of an obstacle.
“If we held them to seven, I thought we’d win the ballgame,” Washington State coach Donnie Marbut said. “Their guy Forrest threw a really good game.”
Kuhn led off the game with a walk, and Zack Cox — who was drafted Monday night by the St. Louis Cardinals — hit a single. Eibner, who started the game in the outfield, hit a single to score Kuhn, and Andy Wilkins hit a sacrifice fly that scored Cox.
James McCann made it 3-0 with a run-scoring single, and Forrest took it from there.
“I came out trying to keep the ball down, getting groundballs and pop flies,” Forrest said. “Our defense did most of the work.”
Shewey pitched 21/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Seth Harvey relieved him with the bases loaded and one out in the third, and Tim Carver greeted Harvey with an RBI single to make it 4-1. Kuhn’s double brought home two more runs.
Arkansas loaded the bases in the fifth, but Andy Wilkins hit a flyball that was caught at the wall in center field, missing a grand slam by only a few feet.
Matt Fanelli hit a solo homer for Washington State in the second inning, and Derrick Bleeker hit one for Arkansas — the first of his career — in the seventh.
The Razorbacks are trying to reach the College World Series for the second straight season.
“Arkansas is a really good club,” Marbut said. “We knew by getting in the losers’ bracket it would be tough.”
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