OMAHA, Neb. – Stanford baseball dropped its opening game of the 2022 Men's College World Series with a 17-2 defeat to Arkansas, Saturday at Charles Schwab Stadium.
The Cardinal (47-17) will now play the loser of Auburn-Ole Miss on Monday, at 11 a.m. PT.
Arkansas (44-19) led off the game with a triple to the right field wall, and the runner scored on a sacrifice fly caught by Eddie Park for the early 1-0 lead. Stanford escaped a bases-loaded jam with Alex Williams catching the batter looking on a called strike three, and the Razorback lead was short-lived as Brock Jones homered to left field on the third pitch he saw to draw the game level at 1-1.
Jones finished the game 1 for 4 with his 21st homer of the year.
Williams struck out six over 4 1/3 innings before the Razorbacks recaptured the lead with a five-run top of the fifth inning, and they added runs in the final three innings for the final score line. Williams was charged with the loss to move to 8-4 on the season.
A double from Carter Graham down the right field line plated Park in the bottom of the eighth to give Stanford its second run of the afternoon.
Arkansas starter Connor Noland was efficient on the mound, tossing 7 2/3 innings and throwing just 79 pitches. The right-hander improved to 8-5 on the season.
All nine Arkansas starters finished with multiple hits as the Razorbacks scored 17 runs on 21 hits.