OMAHA, Neb. — The Arkansas baseball team is scheduled to play UCLA in an elimination game Tuesday night at the College World Series.
First pitch between the Razorbacks (49-14) and the Bruins (48-17) is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field. The winner of the game will play LSU in the bracket final beginning Wednesday.
UCLA lost 9-5 to LSU on Tuesday in the resumption of a game that was suspended Monday night due to thunderstorms. The game restarted at 10 a.m. in the fourth inning with the Tigers ahead 5-3.
Casan Evans, who earned his seventh save with a 1-inning relief appearance against Arkansas on Saturday, threw 4 1/3 strong innings for LSU (50-15) after the UCLA game resumed. Evans allowed 2 runs and 4 hits, and struck out 5 without a walk in 68 pitches.
Two runs were charged to Evans after Cooper Williams inherited a pair of base runners in the eighth inning. A fielder’s choice RBI by Payton Brennan scored Muliavi Levu from third base, and Blake Balsz followed with a 2-out RBI single to score Roman Martin.
The inning’s second pitching change was to LSU ace reliever Chase Shores, which resulted in an inning-ending fielder’s choice groundout by 9-hole hitter Phoenix Call to strand the bases loaded and preserve the Tigers’ 8-5 lead. Shores retired all 4 batters he faced to earn his first save.
LSU added a run in the bottom of the eighth on Jared Jones’ 2-out RBI single to center field. Jones, the All-America first baseman, had the big swing Monday night with a 3-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to put the Tigers ahead 4-3 after the Bruins had a 3-run top of the first against LSU starter Anthony Eyanson.
UCLA won 6-4 over Murray State in its first game in Omaha on Saturday. The loss to LSU snapped a 6-game win streak for the Bruins, who entered the day as the last unbeaten team in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
UCLA tied Oregon for the Big Ten regular-season championship and lost to Nebraska at the Big Ten Tournament championship game in Omaha last month. The Bruins swept a home regional over Fresno State, Arizona State and UC Irvine, and swept a home super regional over UTSA.
Tuesday’s game will be the first between Arkansas and UCLA since 1999 when the Bruins swept a midweek series in Fayetteville.
The game will feature All-America shortstops Wehiwa Aloy of Arkansas and Roch Cholowsky of UCLA. Both players were finalists for the Dick Hoswer Trophy that was won by Florida State shortstop Alex Lodise, and Cholowsky won the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s most outstanding shortstop. Aloy is a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
The Arkansas-UCLA game cannot begin until a game between Oregon State and Louisville is played Tuesday afternoon. That game will begin at 1:43 p.m., 43 minutes later than originally scheduled due to the length of the LSU-UCLA game that did not end until 12:33 p.m.
There is a chance for more weather interruption in Omaha on Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, there is a 50% chance of thunderstorms during daytime hours and a 70% chance of thunderstorms at night.
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