Arkansas rolls over Stanford in CWS

STANFORD BASEBALL

The Cardinal now face an elimination game

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Stanford left fielder Eddie Park watches an Arkansas home run go into the stands in the fifth inning of a College World Series game in Omaha, Neb. JOHN PETERSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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OMAHA, Neb. >> The No. 2 seed Stanford baseball team suffered a nightmarish loss to Arkansas in the College World Series, falling 17-2, in the most lopsided CWS game in 34 years.

Connor Noland allowed one run over 7 2/3 efficient innings, Chris Lanzilli hit a tie-breaking three-run homer for the Razorbacks. It was Stanford’s biggest loss in their 73 CWS games.

History appeared on Stanford’s side to start the game. Saturday’s blowout marked Arkansas’ first win over the Cardinal since the 1985 CWS.

Stanford (47-17) will play Auburn in an elimination game on Monday.

Stanford starter Alex Williams (8-4), the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, struggled for a third straight start in the NCAA Tournament. He gave up a triple to Braydon Webb on the game’s first pitch, hit a batter and issued a walk but got out of the inning down only 1-0.

Williams settled down over the next three innings, then gave up back-to-back singles in the fifth before Lanzilli hammered a changeup a dozen rows into the left-center seats to make it 4-1.

When Robert Moore followed with a base hit, the day was over for Williams, who has allowed 16 runs in his last 10 1/3 innings (13.94 ERA).

The Hogs (44-19) will face the winner of the Auburn-Mississippi game.

Arkansas scored 11 runs in the last three innings and finished with a season-high 21 hits, including Cayden Wallace’s 30th career homer in the ninth.

Noland (8-5) surrendered a homer to Stanford leadoff man Brock Jones on his third pitch, but with the help of a defense that turned double plays to get him out of two jams, Stanford didn’t score again until Carter Graham greeted reliever Kole Ramage with a base hit in the eighth.

Noland threw only 79 pitches on a hot, humid afternoon when the feels-like temperature reached 106 degrees.

He induced 11 groundball outs and seven fly outs, and his only strikeout came in the sixth inning. Other than Jones’ homer, all the Cardinal mustered against him were five singles and a walk.

Razorbacks fans rose and gave him an ovation, many of them “Calling the Hogs,” as he hugged teammates and walked from the mound to the dugout.