FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas is preparing for one last stop in it’s five-game road trip, a double-header against Sun Belt opponent UT Arlington on Tuesday.
Game one against the Mavs is slated for 11 a.m.
The two teams will meet for only the seventh time since 1999, with the series leaning in favor of the Razorbacks, 4-2.
Coach Courtney Deifel and the Hogs secured the series lead with a sweep of UTA last season in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks shut out the Mavs in game one 6-0 before holding off a UTA comeback in game two, 10-6.
Arkansas (22-9, 4-5) is closing out its road stint after a weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee where the sophomore Mary Haff put on a show for the Big Orange fans on Saturday, serving up 15 strikeouts to the Lady Vols in the Razorbacks’ 1-0 win over the fifth ranked team.
The Hogs dropped the series, 2-1 but will look to bounce back when they continue SEC play on Friday when they host #18 Kentucky for a three-game weekend series.
After a few weeks away from the plate with an injury, sophomore Danielle Gibson returned to the plate last weekend against Tennessee and will be showing off her team leading batting average and slugging percentage at UTA on Tuesday.
Gibson’s seven home runs leads the Hogs, but she is only one of nine Razorbacks who have gone yard this season.
Keys to a victory
Errors have cost the Hogs 37 runs this season, including three runs during the series loss to #5 Tennessee. Arkansas will have to play a clean game to prevent extra base hits and UTA base runners.
The Razorback pitching staff has been lights out for the Hogs this season, but UTA has given up only 65 outs at the plate this year, so the pitcher-batter dual will test the Hogs in the circle.
In the polls
After dropping three straight to unranked teams, the Razorbacks dropped in the polls but remained in the top 20, a series win over No. 16 South Carolina helped the Hogs cruise into Week 6 ranked No. 15 by USA Today/NFCA, No. 18 by ESPN/USA Softball and No. 18 by Softball America.
Just keep running, just keep running
Arkansas has looked to three different Razorbacks to add speed to the bases this season: freshman Sam Torres, sophomore Keely Edwards, and senior Carley Haizlip.
Together the trio has contributed 24 runs Edwards and Torres together have contributed 18.
Reaching for the stars … or first base
Hannah McEwen capped off a 26-game reached-base streak at #5 Tennessee on Sunday.
McEwen has earned a hit in all but three games this season, McEwen also built a 14-game hit streak as well, the longest by any Hog this season.
