FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - Arkansas relied on a pitcher who threw 14 1/3 innings and 203 pitches in two days and a catcher who caught four games in that time to beat Wichita State twice Sunday and win an NCAA regional baseball title.
Charley Boyce threw the final 7 2/3 innings in Sunday's second game just a day after throwing 99 pitches in a losing effort Saturday and beat Wichita State 4-3.
Catcher Brady Toops forced the deciding game when his two-out, ninth-inning grand slam gave Arkansas an 11-9 victory in the first game of the day.
Boyce (9-2) relieved Daryl Maday in the second inning and he kept Wichita State off balance after giving up two doubles in the third. He retired 19 of the last 23 batters he faced.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said he and pitching coach Dave Jorn started cringing every time they asked Boyce if he could go back out for another inning.
``They kept coming up to me after every inning and asking me how was I feeling,'' Boyce said. ``I told Coach Jorn in the seventh that I hadn't come this far to come out now.''
Arkansas, which had to beat Wichita State twice Sunday after losing to the Shockers 4-3 on Saturday, will host Florida State in an NCAA Super Regional next weekend.
Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson criticized Van Horn's decision to leave Boyce in so long.
``We're two different types of programs,'' Stephenson said. ``We would never pitch a guy like that under any circumstances for any victory. I don't care if it's a national championship.''
Van Horn defended his decision, especially since Boyce is not a power pitcher. The sophomore can throw in the high-80s, but he was topping out at 84 mph on Sunday.
``It's a tough call. Would I do it again? Yes,'' Van Horn said. ``This is our team and that's the way we've played all year. I'm OK with it. He can say whatever he wants to say.''
Wichita State's sixth error allowed Arkansas (43-22) to score the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. Haas Pratt hit a single off Adam Bengtson (1-2) and Scott Bridges came in as a pinch runner.
Bridges advanced to second on a bunt, then to third when Bengtson's pickoff attempt sailed into center field. He scored when Shockers shortstop Nick McCoola couldn't handle Brett Hagedorn's grounder.
Van Horn said the two victories on Sunday were representative of how the team had played all year.
``This has been our whole season,'' said Van Horn, who coached Nebraska to the College World Series in 2001 and 2002. ``We've got a bunch of gritty guys who want to play and will do whatever it takes to win.''
Wichita State (49-16) led 2-1 on McCoola's home run in the second and added a run on two third-inning doubles by Logan Sorensen and Brandon Green.
Freshman pitcher Kyle Touchatt held Arkansas hitless through 4 1/3 innings until senior reserve Bubbs Merrill hit his first home run of the season. Merrill, who followed Van Horn when he left Nebraska and came to coach Arkansas in 2003, made his seventh start of the season in the regional championship.
Touchatt pitched six innings, his longest outing of the year, giving up just two hits and three runs, two earned. He struck out three and walked three.
Merrill's home run cut the lead to 3-2 and Arkansas tied the game in the fifth against Touchatt without a hit. Jake Dugger reached on a walk, moved to second on a balk and then scored on Shawn Smarsh's throwing error on a grounder to second by Casey Rowlett.
Touchatt opened the sixth by giving up a single to Pratt and then committed an error on Danny Hamblin's bunt attempt. Toops moved both runners over with another bunt, but Touchatt forced two grounders to leave them stranded in scoring position.
In Sunday's first game, Toops gave Boyce a chance to pitch against Wichita State again with a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning. That lifted Arkansas to an 11-9 victory and forced a deciding game.
Toops hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Kyle Banick (3-4). The ball went just over the glove of left fielder Phil Napolitan, capping a five-run ninth inning. Toops' grand slam, the first for Arkansas this year, was the fifth lead change of the game.
``It really is the biggest hit of my life,'' Toops said. ``I've had a couple of big hits but this one really topped it off. As I was stepping into the box I was thinking, 'This is what we live for.'''
Maday (4-0) gave up a one-out single in the ninth before closing out the victory. Maday came back and started the second game, but only lasted 1 1/3 innings and gave up the home run to McCoola.
Wichita State scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth and was all set to advance to a super regional.
The Shockers reclaimed the lead at 7-6 when Nick Blasi scored on Napolitan's single in the bottom of the eighth. Arkansas center fielder Casey Rowlett fielded Napolitan's hit cleanly and his throw beat Blasi to the plate, but Toops bobbled the ball.
Wichita State added two more runs with RBI singles in the eighth from Drew Moffitt and Brandon Green.
Toops made up for the bobble with his fourth home run of the season.
Arkansas fans replaced their traditional ``Go Hogs Go'' cheer with ``Go Haas Go'' when Pratt went to the plate with two outs in the ninth and with runners at first and third.
Down to his last strike, Pratt beat out an infield single to drive in Rowlett and cut the lead to 9-7 to set up Toops' blast.
Monday
July 7th, 2025
1:54AM
