FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas played one of its best games to date this season with a 12-1 win over Creighton to move into the finals of the Fayetteville Regional Sunday night at 8 p.m.

Arkansas (45-13) got outstanding pitching from Zach Root and the bullpen and hit five home runs while blasting out 13 hits. Dave Van Horn obviously liked what he saw from his team after his last two struggled at this spot in regional play.

"I just thought we played a complete game," Van Horn said. "Zach pitched great. We played good defense and obviously got some timely hits, hit some home runs. They put us on base a few times. They walked us probably 10 or 12 times. Some of them were in the middle of the game when we had things under control a little bit. But really it was because we pitched extremely well, threw a lot of strikes and made them earn everything they got. Creighton hit a couple of balls hard at us but for the most part I thought Zach just did a tremendous job setting the tone. Then offensively we got some big hits, especially with two outs, that created a little bit of separation. Yeah, it was a good ball game for us."

Wehiwa Aloy and Ryder Helfrick each hit a pair of home runs and Cam Kozeal also hit one over the fence. Aloy knocked five runs, Helfrick three and Kozeal two. Aloy and Helfrick were part of the Arkansas team that lost on Saturday night last year.

"Yeah it’s very cool," Aloy said. "We’re just trying to compete and help our team to win no matter what. And the job’s not finished, we’ve got one more, so yeah, it’ll be a lot of fun."

Root (7-5) pitched 6.0 innings allowing just three hits, no runs, walked one and fanned seven. He had 94 pitches with 55 of them strikes including 98 mph on one pitch.

"Yeah, that was the game plan," Root said. "Zach Barr, director of scouting, put together a plan. It was, they’re not in a Power 5 conference and the thought process was they haven’t really seen the kind of velo we’ve got. So just going out there and make them hit the heater. That’s what I went out and did."

Van Horn was asked if he knew early on this was going to be one of those games?

"Well, you know, even a couple of the games that didn’t go well for him, he’d have an inning or two where he looked awfully good," Van Horn said of Root. "But he looked awfully good right from the beginning of the first inning. We felt like he had really good stuff. He had a breaking ball that he could land. Fastball’s in the mid 90s very consistently, and he’s throwing a little bit of a changeup here and there. Maybe a cutter. But yeah, we felt like he was going to be really good today. He had a good week of rest and it felt good getting him out of there with 94 pitches. If the game would have stayed a little tighter, we would’ve let him go more."

Arkansas scored two in the top of the second. Kozeal opened the inning with a solo shot over the fence. Brent Iredale singled with one out. Reese Robinett followed with a walk and then Justin Thomas Jr. singled to load the bases. Charles Davalan was hit by a pitch to plate Iredale.

In the third, the Hogs plated two more runs. Logan Maxwell singled to start the inning. Helfrick singled to move him to third. Kozeal's double plated Maxwell. Kozeal eventually scored on a single by Robinett.

In the top of the fifth, Arkansas added three more runs for a 7-0 advantage. Robinett and Davalan walked then Aloy unloaded his first home run of the night. This one a 3-run shot.

The Hogs moved to 8-0 when Helfrick hit a solo shot in the top of the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Aloy hit a home run with Davalan on base. Maxwell singled and Helfrick blasted another home run making it 12-0 Arkansas. Van Horn liked the attitude of the team going into the game.

"I think we were loose, but I think we were pretty serious, too, today," Van Horn said. "You could just tell. I’ve been around them a lot, obviously, and I really didn’t have to say anything to them today like, ‘Hey, you need to lock in,’ or anything. I just watched them and they just seemed like they were focused."

Ben Bybee relieved Root in the seventh. He allowed one hit, walked two and surrendered the lone run of the game for Creighton. Steele Eaves worked a perfect eighth and Colin Fisher allowed one hit, but otherwise shut down the opponent in the ninth. Van Horn likes his team being 2-0 and knows that is a big advantage.

"You got 2-0, 1-1, mentally it’s a big difference," Van Horn said. "And then you have the burden of knowing how many more games you have to win to try to get to Monday. It weighs on you a little bit. Winning this game and not having to get into our bullpen too much frees us up to get ready for tomorrow with the thought of we have a lot of guys available."

Creighton used four pitchers on the night. Starter Wilson Magers (6-3) got the start and took the loss. He allowed seven hits, four runs, walked one and fanned four. Shea Wendt, Anthony Unga and Shane Curtin followed him to the mound. Unga was the one who gave up the seventh-inning home runs to Aloy and Helfrick.

Creighton (42-15) and North Dakota State (21-33), a 4-3 winner over Kansas Saturday, will meet Sunday at 2 p.m. in an elimination game. The winner will face Arkansas at 8 p.m. If Arkansas wins they advance to the super regionals. If they lose Sunday night the same two teams will play again on Monday.