Hogs coach Dave Van Horn praised his bullpen again after the starter struggled, then the bats warming up in 7-3 win Friday afternoon.
Noland on waiting for chance that came against Southeast Missouri
Hogs pitcher Connor Noland (4.2 innings, 2 hits, 5 strikeouts) had his best outing since he’s been in Fayetteville and just waited for opportunity.
Arkansas moves into lead on second day of SEC Indoor
Arkansas moved into the team lead during the second day of the SEC Indoor Championships by scoring 50 points Friday from three finals inside Randal Tyson Track Center.
The Razorbacks have scored 57 points overall and lead the field by 23 points through six of 17 finals. Following the Hogs are LSU (34), Ole Miss (25), Alabama (20), Auburn (18.5), Georgia (17), Tennessee (16), Texas A&M (16), and Florida (15).
“I’m so proud of our guys, they were dialed in and ready to go,” stated Arkansas men’s coach Chris Bucknam. “Ryan Brown got us started with an incredible jump and that was an amazing competition.
“Obviously, the heptathletes were working hard for two days and picked up some big team points along with some personal best scores. There’s more in the tank with those guys. I’m excited to watch those guys in the national championship.”
Arkansas totaled 27 points in the 5,000m final off a 2-3-4-5-6-8 finish. Gilbert Boit led the squad, producing a time of 14:01.25 as the silver medalist, while Jacob McLeod earned the bronze medal with a 14:03.98.
“I was hoping to win,” stated Boit. “Everything is about the points we can score, and we ended up with 27 as a team which is a nice total for the distance guys. We had to decide to help each other as team since we had six guys in the race.”
The Razorback distance crew also included Ryan Murphy with a career best of 14:04.88 in fourth place, along with Matt Young (5th, 14:10.61), Emmanuel Cheboson (6th, 14:11.66), and Myles Richter (8th, 14:14.65).
“In the 5k, the team points we scored there were huge,” noted Bucknam. “I’m pleased with that group, it was outstanding.”
Arkansas totaled 17 points from three Razorbacks finishing 2-4-5 in the heptathlon. Markus Ballengee repeated as silver medalist with a career best score of 5,898 points, improving his tally at the No. 4 position on the UA all-time list. Georgia’s Kyle Garland defended his title with a career best score of 6,012.
“It’s another great year with a repeat of last year,” said Ballengee. “We did even better this year. I think we’re right on the border of having all three of us qualifying for NCAA Indoor, which is super exciting. It’s so nice having teammates competing with you in an event like this, where we can rely and lean on each other.
“A silver medal is nice again. I’m just happy we got points for our team in the SEC Championships. It gets us closer to winning another team title.”
Daniel Spejcher set a career best of 5,654 points, moving to No. 7 on the UA all-time list, while Etamar Bhastekar scored 5,650 and was just shy of his PR of 5,680.
Ballengee’s second day included an 8.10 (957 points) in the 60m hurdles, a 15-11 (865) pole vault and 2:47.10 (796) in the 1,000m. Spejcher generated marks of 8.12 (952), 14-11 (775), and 2:45.19 (817). Bhastekar’s day included 8.27 (915), 16-6 ¾ (926) and 2:46.18 (806).
In a long jump competition including a pair of leaps over 27 feet and four more entrants over 26 feet, the Razorbacks collected a bronze medal and six points from Ryan Brown, who produced a career best of 26-7 ¾ (8.12) competing in the first flight of jumpers.
“I don’t even have the words to explain it,” Brown said of his stellar jump. “It was well overdue. It was time to produce.
“It really was a great competition. I’ve been dreaming of a competition like this coming from a DII school. Being in this competition and finishing in the top three, I’m elated.”
Brown, who bettered his previous indoor best of 26-5¾ (8.07), ranked 12th among SEC jumpers with a season best of 24-9 (7.54). His career best effort moves him to No. 7 on the UA all-time indoor list.
LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison claimed the long jump title with a meet record mark of 27-4 (8.33), which bettered the previous mark of 27-0¾ (8.25) by Florida’s Marquis Dendy in 2013. Silver medalist Carey McLeod of Tennessee matched the previous meet record.
Arkansas qualified eight from prelim races to Saturday’s finals and will total 19 entries on the final day.
Advancing to finals were Amon Kemboi and Andrew Kibet in the mile, Phillip Lemonious and Tre’Bien Gilbert in the 60 hurdles, James Milholen in the 400, Roman Turner and Kristoffer Hari in the 60, and Kieran Taylor in the 800.
“You have to get those guys in if you want to score points,” noted Bucknam. “So that was really good. Overall, we have 19 athletes competing tomorrow and that’s the most of any team. We’re sitting in a good position, now we just need to close the hatch. We need to finish it off.”
Lemonious set a career best time of 7.68 to finish as the top qualifier in the hurdles. His time ranks No. 4 on the UA all-time list. Gilbert also set a career best of 7.74, third best among qualifiers, and moved to No. 5 on the UA all-time list.
“Phillip is getting smoother and really comfortable over the hurdles,” said Bucknam. “That takes time, and we didn’t have him available for our first three meets this season. Seeing his progression with Coach Case, he’s doing a phenomenal job. Tre’Bien had another big race and that’s been in the works.”
Another career best was turned in by Milholen with a 46.59, which secured the eighth and final spot to reach the final.
The men’s session on Saturday starts at 12:30 p.m. with field events while running finals begin at 2 p.m.
Musselman previews game with LSU, home crowd advantage
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman talked with the media Friday on the matchup with the Tigers and how students have provided great atmosphere.
Smith on handling increasing expections, staying focused
Arkansas’ win over Alabama has put them into the national spotlight and Justin Smith talked about how they are only looking at next game.
Torres on how Musselman has developed interesting team
Fox Sports Radio’s Aaron Torres was on Halftime on Friday afternoon talking about the interesting development with this team this season.
Tabor on Razorbacks having to come back again for win
Former Hogs pitcher Scott Tabor talked Friday morning on The Morning Rush about this team showing some fight with yet another comeback.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – Battles Tested
Tye & Tommy on the walk off win, Pittman thinking he didn’t get the AR job, Carnival Day and more!
Neighbors after Hogs come from behind in fourth quarter to get past Auburn
It wasn’t pretty, but Arkansas found a way to get a 74-69 win over what Mike Neighbors said was “the best 0-14 team in SEC history.”
Wicklander’s pitching, Battles pace Hogs’ comeback to down SEMO
It took some late-game heroics, but the Razorbacks can add another one to the win column.
Shortstop Jalen Battles drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning, poking an infield single past the reach of Southeast Missouri State pitcher Blake Cisneros to lift No. 2 Arkansas (4-0) to a 6-5 win on Thursday evening at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Hogs have now won 27 home openers in a row dating back to the 1995 campaign.
Arkansas’ bullpen once again did much of the heavy lifting after SEMO (2-2) staked an early 3-0 first-inning lead.
Right-hander Patrick Wicklander entered in relief of starter Caleb Bolden and tossed four scoreless innings, striking out three.
The Razorbacks chipped away using the long ball, powered by outfielder Christian Franklin and first baseman Brady Slavens’ homers in the bottom of the third and fourth inning, respectively. The dingers cut the deficit to one, which held until the top of the eighth when SEMO tacked on two runs to take its second three-run lead of the ballgame.
Arkansas entered the bottom of the ninth needing a rally. They got one
Battles’ single knocked in outfielder Cayden Wallace to trim the deficit to two before Franklin drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring left fielder Zach Gregory to make it a one-run game.
Third baseman Cullen Smith then tied the game at five, lifting a sacrifice fly to left to score Battles from third and send the Hogs and Redhawks to extras.
Right-hander Jaxon Wiggins took the mound in the top of the 10th and was once again phenomenal, picking up right where he left off last weekend at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown.
The freshman struck out a pair in a clean one-two-three inning.
Catcher Casey Opitz’s one-out double in the bottom of the 10th started Arkansas’ game-winning sequence. Wallace then drew a walk in an impressive 14-pitch at-bat before Smith was plunked, loading the bases for Battles.
The junior-college product came up clutch once again, sneaking a groundball off the pitcher’s mitt and into no man’s land between the mound and second base. Opitz dashed home to score the game-winning run and secure the Hogs’ fourth straight win.
The Razorbacks have now scored 23 of their 27 total runs this season in the sixth inning or later. Nine of those 23 runs have come in the ninth inning.
Arkansas continues its homestand against SEMO tomorrow afternoon. First pitch in the second game of the series is set for 3 p.m. inside Baum-Walker Stadium.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
