Dust Begins to Settle in College World Series

And then there were four.

After elimination games yesterday and today, the College World Series field has been shaved in half, with LSU and Texas sitting at 2-0, while Arizona State and Arkansas needing to beat teams they’ve already lost to in order to stay alive.

Certainly both Arkansas and Arizona State have shown over the past two days they will fight for every inch, and in turn, make LSU and Texas earn it should they be knocked off.

Arkansas went into the ninth inning of last night’s game down 3-1, and appeared dead in the water after Virginia retired the first two batters, but Zack Cox singled up the middle and Brett Eibner blasted the tying home run to left field, giving the Hogs new life, and sucking the life out of the Cavaliers.

The game went into the 12th inning, where Andrew Darr gave the Razorbacks their first lead of the ball game, and ultimately Arkansas’ seventh win in eight extra inning contests this season.

After their colossal collapse against Texas on Tuesday night, you can forgive the Arizona State Sun Devils if they got off to a sluggish start Thursday afternoon.

Throwing one of the best pitchers in the game, Arizona State blew a 6-0 lead and eventually was blown out by the Longhorns, forcing them into the elimination game with North Carolina.

The Tar Heels took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth before the Sun Devils finally woke up when Kole Calhoun, collected four of his team high six RBI on one swing of the bat, a grand slam home run over the right field fence.

Calhoun continued to impress, giving his team a two-run lead with a double in the bottom of the seventh, and sparking an eight-run outburst that cinched Arizona State’s chance at redemption against Texas on Friday evening.

LSU will take on Arkansas in the early game on Friday, in the fifth meeting between the two teams this season, with the Tigers winning three of them so far.