Here we are on the seventh day of the College World Series and the final day before the championship series will get started.
Yesterday, we saw Oklahoma take down its former Big 12 rival and future SEC rival Texas A&M. Ryan Prager did not give the Aggies the outing they needed out of him. He lasted just 2.1 innings where he gave up three earned runs on four hits and a walk. He gave way to Jacob Palisch who competed his butt off for A&M going 5.2 innings while only allowing a run on three hits and a walk while punching out eight Sooner batters.
Unfortunately for the Palisch, the Aggies lineup was absolutely shut down by the Sooners’ David Sandlin and Trevin Michael. Sandlin went seven innings, allowing just a single run on a Dylan Rock solo homer while striking out a career-high 12 Aggies. Michael came in to slam the door shut over the final two innings, only allowing a single hit and single walk.
The Sooner offense got things rolling early with a three-run homer in the first inning by catcher Jimmy Crooks. From that point on, Oklahoma was in the driver’s seat of this one. Another Aggies error led to a run in the third inning. Finally, Tanner Tredaway plated a pair of insurance runs in the fifth inning with a two-RBI single.
I have doubted the Sooners the whole way in this College World Series, but they have answered the bell every time. After this 5-1 performance against Texas A&M, I cannot help but applaud this Oklahoma team that I thoroughly believed to be the least talented in the field in making it to the championship series.
In the later game, we saw Arkansas and Ole Miss square off for a fifth time this season, and we saw maybe the first tight game between two sides all College World Series long. Hagen Smith gave the Razorbacks about as strong of an outing as you can ask of a young pitcher like him. He went five strong innings, only allowing a single run on two hits and four walks while striking out eight. The bullpen, with the exception of closer Brady Tygart who hit a pair of Ole Miss batters and only threw a single strike in his only five pitches of the College World Series, was plenty strong. Senior lefty Evan Taylor and junior lefty Zack Morris combined four strong innings, allowing just a run on three hits and striking out five.
Ole Miss got a solid outing out of John Gaddis. Gaddis gave the Rebels five innings of two-run baseball. Jack Washburn and Jack Dougherty pitched admirably out of the bullpen, combining for four innings of one-run baseball while allowing just four hits, two walks and striking out six Razorbacks.
In the second inning, both offenses exchanged solo home runs by Chris Lanzilli for Arkansas and Kemp Alderman for Ole Miss. Brady Slavens tacked on an additional solo bomb for Arkansas in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead.
After the three tanks, both offenses were relatively quiet until late in the game. Michael Turner extended the Razorback lead with an RBI single. In the bottom of the ninth, Ole Miss got things rolling with their last gasp. Alderman singled to open the frame. Tygart hit consecutive batters before ending his Omaha debut. Morris proceeded to get two quick outs via a strikeout and a fly-out. Justin Bench closed the gap to a single run with an RBI single before shortstop Jacob Gonzalez flew out to right field to end the game. Arkansas survived 3-2 to fight another day.
The two will have a rubber match today to decide who gets to take on Oklahoma in a three-game set to win a national championship. Let’s break down today’s game:
Arkansas vs. Ole Miss (Round 3)
Dylan Delucia will make his second start of this College World Series. The junior college transfer righty is 7-2 this year with a 4.07 ERA. He has 98 strikeouts to 26 walks in his 86.1 innings pitched, but perhaps the biggest thing is he has looked unbelievable his last two times out on the mound. He went 5.2 innings against Southern Miss of four-hit, two-walk, scoreless baseball while striking out nine Golden Eagles. Then, he came back with an even more impressive performance on Saturday when he went 7.2 innings of one-run baseball against Auburn while only allowing four hits and striking out 10 Tigers.
Delucia is clearly feeling it, and why wouldn’t he? He has shut down two of the top-14 teams in the country his last two times out and made it look easy. Ole Miss has to feel confident that if they go down tonight, they are going down with their best bullet in the chamber.
Look for sophomore Josh Mallitz out of the bullpen in this one. The 6’3” righty has been strong this year in 29 innings, sporting a 1.24 ERA and striking out an impressive 44 to just 10 walks. Mallitz has not allowed an earned run in his last 14.1 innings pitched. Over that span, he has allowed just seven hits and two walks while striking out 24. He can go as long as his arm will allow tonight. Senior Brandon Johnson is also sitting in the bullpen ready to go today as well.
Arkansas will go with Connor Noland. The Razorback ace has an 8-5 record with a 3.75 ERA and has 106 strikeouts to 34 walks in 108 innings. Last time out, we watched Noland dominate a talented Stanford lineup. He went 7.2 innings of six-hit, two-run baseball. He only had a single strikeout but induced weak grounder after weak grounder. He needs to be strong tonight for Arkansas because the bullpen is not as deep as it has been all series.
Arkansas burned a lot of its left-handed pitching last night to squeak out the one-run win. Ole Miss has struggled with lefties, so the Rebels have to feel good about that and the fact that Noland is a righty. Arkansas cannot feel good turning the ball over to Brady Tygart who looked awful last night. Arkansas will be on the ropes if Noland is not sharp.
As I look at this game, I cannot help but feel like Tim Elko and Ole Miss have to feel confident today. They will see a lot of righties. They have better pitching set up for this one. I feel a clutch Elko hit late will give Ole Miss a chance to play for a national championship on Saturday. Give me the Rebs because they are just too hot right now.