Arkansas opens home schedule with Razorback Invitational on Thursday

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas kicks off its 2019 home slate on Thursday when it faces Southeast Missouri State in the first of six games for the Hogs during the Razorback Invitational.

SIU-Edwardsville, Drake and IUPUI will also be participating in the tournament with a total of 13 games to be played in Bogle Park across four days.

Admission to all games at Bogle Park are free of charge, all seats are general admission.

Tournament Schedule

Mexican Roundup

Arkansas made its first trip out of the country last weekend, visiting beautiful Mexico for the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. The Razorbacks claimed wins over North Dakota State, Northern Colorado and Sacramento Stats, while dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker to #5 Washington.

 Holding Steady Ground

The Razorbacks remained at No. 12 in the USA Today/NFCA Polls in Week 2, holding strong at No. 12 in the Softball America poll as well. The Hogs did drop from #11 to #12 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

Back in Bogle 

Arkansas returns to Bogle Park for the first time since hosting the Fayetteville Regional, 275 days ago. In 2018, the Razorbacks were 27-2 at home, winning every series and dropping one game to Missouri (Mar. 24) and Alabama (Apr. 13). Since her arrival in Fayetteville, Coach Deifel is 47-28 in Bogle Park.

 The Week One ⇒ Week Two Upgrade

The Hogs closed out week one with a .290 average at the plate, tallying 38 hits on 32 runs and gave up 21 strike outs. With slight changes, the team regrouped and in week two batted .371 (+.081), recorded 43 hits (+5), rattled off 14 multi-base hits (+2) and gave up only 15 Ks (-6).

Storms and Haff: The One-Two Punch

With Storms and Haff working for the Hogs, Arkansas is fifth in the nation and first in the SEC in team ERA (.83). Arkansas is only one of two teams in the SEC with an ERA less than 1.00. The power duo has combined to pitch the most innings by two pitchers from the same team in the SEC (59.1)- they also have the most wins by two pitchers from the same team (8).

Multi-Hit Monsters   

Through nine games, 11 different Razorbacks have recorded multi-hit games. Five Hogs have recorded ten plus multi-hit games in their careers: Ashley Diaz, Hannah McEwen, Haydi Bugarin, Kayla Green and Katie Warrick. Diaz has accumulated 41 multi-hit games in the cardinal and white.

Scouting the Competition

Southeast Missouri State

Southeast Missouri leads the Ohio Valley Conference in several categories through two weeks of the 2019 softball season. The Redhawks are first in batting average (.333), slugging percentage (.552), hits (87), triples (8) and total bases (144). Southeast Missouri leads the nation with eight triples this season.

Senior right-handed pitcher Haley Thogmartin was named Ohio Valley Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 18. Thogmartin put together a 2-0 record with a 1.38 ERA in three appearances and two starts at the Louisiana Tech Invitational (Feb. 15-17). She combined on two shutouts and recorded 20 strikeouts to just three walks in 13 innings.

SIU-Edwardsville

The Cougars are headed to Fayetteville with a three-game win streak in tow, after downing host-team Southeastern Louisiana, 2-1 at SLU’s Lion Classic II. SIUE finished the tournament with a 4-1 record, with its only loss being to Prairie View A&M.

As a team, the Cougars are batting .284 with a .310 on base percentage. Leading the pack is Alyssa Heren, the senior outfield is batting .533 through five games, tallying eight hits in 15 at-bats. In the circle, SIUE looks to Corrina Rivas, who has a team-best 2.42 ERA. With a 2-1 record, Rivas has pitched 17.1 innings, giving up 11 hits, 11 walks, and recording 15 strikeouts.

Drake

Picked as the MVC Preseason favorite, the Bulldogs sit at 5-4 overall, returning from the Plainsman Invitational where they matched up against SEC opponent #20 Auburn and lost, 2-0 after holding the Tigers scoreless through four innings.

With nine games under their belt, the Bulldogs are batting .266 as a team, recording 58 hits and 46 runs scored. Drake’s top hitter, Macy Johnson is batting a .480 with 12 hits and three doubles. Nicole Newman is a both a top performer at the plate and on the rubber for Drake, leading the team with 11 RBI and with a 0.79 ERA through 26.2 innings pitched.

IUPUI

The Jaguars visit Arkansas with the Horizon League’s Pitcher of the Week, freshman pitcher Lexi Lucas. For the week, Lucas went 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA, allowing 12 hits in 17.2 innings pitched. Lucas took a no-hit bid in to the seventh inning against Mount St. Mary’s before giving up a double in the final inning. She threw the one-hitter using only 73 pitchers with 51 being strikes, striking out two batters and not issuing a walk.

Against the Field

The Razorbacks are a combined 19-6 against the four teams, being most familiar with Drake, who the Hogs boast a 10-5 record against. Arkansas has only seen SIU-Edwardsville once before, in 2010, when the Razorbacks defeated the Cougars, 9-3 in Fayetteville.