No. 3 overall seed Arkansas beats Creighton 8-3 to capture Fayetteville Regional

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Logan Maxwell drove in three with a pair of home runs and Justin Thomas Jr. delivered a three-run shot to back a 13-strikeout performance from starter Gage Wood as No. 3 overall seed Arkansas beat Creighton 8-3 on Sunday to win the Fayetteville Regional and earn a berth in the super regionals.

Wood (3-1) allowed three hits in six innings and two of them came in the fourth inning after he struck out the first two batters. Teddy Deters singled before Wood hit Will MacLean with a pitch. Ben North homered on the next pitch to get Creighton within 6-3.

Maxwell homered to left field off starter Garrett Langrell (7-2) for a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Thomas homered to center in the second for a 5-0 lead and Ryder Helfrick added a solo shot in the third.

Maxwell homered leading off the fifth and Charles Davalan added an RBI triple in the sixth to cap the scoring. Gabe Gaeckle allowed two hits in three shutout innings for his first save.

The Razorbacks (46-13) — making their 36th appearance in the NCAA Tournament — have advanced to the College World Series 11 times but never won it. They were runners-up in 1979 and 2018.

Creighton (43-16) eliminated North Dakota State 11-10 earlier Sunday. The Bluejays have played in 12 tournaments and made their only CWS appearance in 1991.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports