FAYETTEVILLE – The overall No. 3-seed Arkansas Razorbacks (45-13) took it to Creighton (42-15) in a 12-1 rout in the semifinal round of the Fayetteville Regional Saturday night at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Junior southpaw Zach Root twirled a gem, posting six scoreless innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts while issuing only one walk.

SEC Player of the Year Wehiwa Aloy and Ryder Helfrick each went yard twice, while Cam Kozeal hit his third long ball in as many games and Logan Maxwell also recorded multiple hits. Every Arkansas hitter reached base safely at least once.

Arkansas will take on the winner of Creighton/North Dakota State in the Fayetteville Regional Final tomorrow night at 8 p.m. CT.

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Top 1st:

Charles Davalan worked a seven-pitch at-bat against Big East Freshman of the Year Wilson Magers for a leadoff walk. Creighton nearly turned two on a grounder by Wehiwa Aloy to short, Davalan was tagged out at second but Aloy reaches after first baseman Will MacLean mishandled the throw.

Bluejays record the second out on a pop out by Logan Maxwell, then Aloy attempted to steal second and the throw was too high. Aloy hesitated and sprinted towards third, but is not able to beat the tag.

Bottom 1st:

Junior lefty Zach Root started the bottom of the frame with his first strikeout on a 1-2 count, getting Tate Gillen looking on a nasty breaking ball. Matt Scherrman knocked a single up the middle past Wehiwa Aloy, he reached first but the second Bluejay is put away at on a fielder’s choice tagging Scherrman at second. Ben North grounds out to end the inning.

Top 2nd:

Helfrick grounded out down the third base line but a red hot Cam Kozeal continued his tear with a one-out solo oppo bomb to left field, his 15th long ball of the season and third in as many games. Magers got Kuhio Aloy swinging on a full count on the ensuing at-bat before Brent Iredale barreled a single into left and the Hogs got two runners on via a four-pitch walk that was issued to Reese Robinett.

9-hole hitter Justin Thomas Jr. knocked a single to deep short and the throw to second is bobbled resulting in the bases loading up with Hogs. Iredale comes home after Davalan is plunked on a two-pitch at-bat. The bases are left stranded after Magers got Wehiwa swinging on a full count.

Bottom 2nd:

Connor Capece nearly got Creighton on the board, but Davalan is able to get under the deep fly ball to left with the sun in his eyes. Teddy Deters took first after Root dinged hm on the foot then the Hogs almost got out of the inning, but the 6-4-3 comes up just short as MacLean beat the throw to first after Wehiwa recorded the out at second. Maxwell emphatically ends the frame on a Superman catch on the right field line.

Top 3rd:

Right after his web gem play, Maxwell knocked a leadoff single up the middle and Ryder Helfrick lines a single through the left side to put two runners on with no outs. Kozeal tattooed a two-RBI double to right at nearly 100 MPH off of the barrel to give the Hogs a 3-0 advantage with two runners in scoring position. Magers got Kuhio swinging on an off-speed low in the dirt for the first out.

Iredale grounded out to third and Scherrman throws home in time to get a sliding Helfrick out. However, a single to right by Robinett on the next at-bat brought Kozeal home.

Bottom 3rd:

Root completes his first 1-2-3 inning of the night, finishing the frame getting Scherrman looking for his second strikeout.

Top 4th:

Shea Wendt relieved Magers, who allowed seven hits with four strikeouts through three innings. Charles Davalan chopped to second on a first pitch swing and is out at first on the throw. Wehiwa drew a one-out, full count walk and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch.

Maxwell went down swinging, but Wendt issued two his second and third free pass of the inning to Helfrick and Kozeal to juice the bases. Kozeal is out at second on a fielder’s choice and the Hogs leave the bases juiced for the second time.

Bottom 4th:

Root has really settled in and starts the inning with a strikeout swinging against Nolan Sailor and then punched out the third consecutive Creighton batter on a 96 MPH 2-seamer. After sitting down six straight batters, Root issues a 3-1 walk to Capece and then Deters singled to right putting runners on first and second for the Bluejays prompting pitching coach Matt Hobbs to visit the mound. Root rebounded and got MacLean looking on a breaking ball to escape.

Top 5th:

Iredale flied out to right on a first pitch swing and the Hogs continued the streak of getting a runner on safely in each inning as Robinett jogged to first after being issued a walk. Robinett stole second after Thomas fouled out the third, then Davalan was issued a four-pitch walk with two away.

Wehiwa extended the Arkansas lead to 7-0 with a three-run bomb to left for his 19th homer of 2025 and second of May.

Bottom 5th:

Dakota Duffalo hits back to the mound and, in a juggling act, Root collects and throws to first for the out. Kyle Hess grounds out to third then Root got Gillen looking for his sixth strikeout of the evening to sit down the side in order for the second time.

Top 6th:

Helfrick leads off the inning with a bang by smashing the Hogs’ third long ball of the night.

Wendt retired the next two batters but issued his sixth walk to Iredale to keep the inning going. Iredale advanced to second on a wild pitch, then Robinett got a free pass to first on another walk issued by Wendt. A deep flyout to right by Thomas stranded Iredale and Robinett.

Bottom 6th:

Root records his seventh strikeout getting Scherrman looking on a 2-2 count. Wehiwa stumbled, but completed the out at first on a grounder by Sailors, but Ben North tagged Root for his first extra base hit of the night. Damage was avoided when Capece grounded right to Kozeal.

Top 7th:

Anthony Unga came on to pitch and Davalan worked a full count to draw yet another walk, then stole second. Wehiwa launched his second rocket of the evening nearly 400 feet for a two-run shot to make it 10-0, then Maxwell continued the offensive momentum with a single up the middle.

Not to be outdone, Helfrick smacked his second long ball, also to left, for two more RBI prompting Creighton to bring Shane Curtin to the mound, who got Kozeal swinging on three pitches to record the first out.

Working around a runner on first, Curtin issued a four-pitch walk to Kuhio and struck out the rest of the side as the top half mercifully ended.

Bottom 7th:

Fresh out of stretch time, Ben Bybee relieved Root, who tossed six scoreless innings and struck out seven. Bybee began his outing issuing a full count walk, then responded with a strikeout against McLean with a 94-MPH fastball up in the zone.

A single by pinch hitter Jack Torosian got something going for Creighton, putting runners on first and second, then a walk issued to Hess juiced the bags. The Bluejays got their first run on the board via a fielder’s choice to make it 12-1 with two away, but a flyout to Thomas in center completed the frame.

Top 8th:

The Bluejays sat down the first two Hogs before Curtin issued Creighton’s 11th free pass to Wehiwa on a four-pitch walk. At the plate pinch hitting for Logan Maxwell, Kendall Diggs went down looking.

Bottom 8th:

Freshman Steele Eaves, a Lonoke native, takes over on the mound and struck out Sailors on five pitches. Eaves completed the 1-2-3 inning with consecutive groundouts to third.

Top 9th:

Helfrick leads off the inning with a full count walk, but the Bluejays turned two on a Kozeal groundout to second. After reaching base twice previously via walks, Kuhio records his first hit on a single to left-center. A sprinting Deters gets under an Iredale fly ball in right for the final out.

Bottom 9th:

Colin Fisher is on the mound to finish off the Bluejays. A Jaxon Goldberg single through the right side was sandwiched between two flyouts to center field. Fisher got Hess swinging to end the game.

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