Tigers Kobe Brown (17 points, 10 rebounds), Xavier Pinson (15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists) and Dru Smith (15 points, 8 rebounds) after falling to Hogs on Saturday, 78-68.
Missouri’s Smith, Pinson, Brown after double-digit loss to Razorbacks
Tigers Kobe Brown (17 points, 10 rebounds), Xavier Pinson (15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists) and Dru Smith (15 points, 8 rebounds) after falling to Hogs, 78-68.
Moore joins Franklin, Wicklander after Hogs shut out Bulldogs, 5-0, on Saturday
Arkansas freshman Robert Moore (3-3, HR, 3 RBI) talks about another big day with centerfielder Christian Franklin and pitcher Patrick Wicklander (6 innings, 7 strikeouts) clinching series.
Van Horn talks about Hogs’ patience, finally getting to Gonzaga’s Alek Jacob
Arkansas clinched the series win over the Bulldogs with a 5-0 win Saturday where they finally managed to reach their starting pitcher, forcing him to pitch from the stretch position.
Joe after returning against Missouri on Saturday; Sills on hitting key shots down stretch
Isaiah Joe returned to the Razorbacks following minor knee surgery and scored 21 points with three assists against the Tigers on Saturday in a 78-68 win while Sills had 17 points.
Musselman glad to break losing streak with win over Missouri on Saturday
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman talked after the 78-68 win over the Tigers to break a five-game losing streak about the difference having Isaiah Joe back in lineup makes.
Hogs pick up six titles, but fall to 20th-ranked Auburn on Friday
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas scored above the 196 mark for the seventh consecutive meet on Friday night and snagged six event titles, but fell short to No.20 Auburn, falling 196.500-196.025.
Sophomore Kennedy Hambrick finished the night with scores of 9.900 or higher on three of four events for a 39.500 all-around score, good for her fourth-straight all-around title.
Rotation One | Vault
Arkansas posted a season-high 49.100 on the vault, led by three strong vaults from Hambrick, Sarah Shaffer and Amanda Elswick.
Shaffer’s Yurchenko half layout scored a 9.875 in the fourth spot, making it the fifth time this season she scored a 9.800 or higher on the vault.
Hambrick’s 9.900 was a season-high for the Pearland, Texas native as she showed off a Yurchenko 1.5 for the first time this season.
Elswick showed off her Yurchenko full with a 9.850 in the anchor position.
Rotation Two | Bars
After a rough start, the Gymbacks finished extremely strong and managed four-straight impressive scores. Hailey Garner started the upward trend when she stuck her giant full double-back dismount, scoring a 9.850.
Bailey Lovett’s beautiful ray earned her a 9.875 and Arkansas continued to climb.
Hambrick and Shaffer went back-to-back on the bars with 9.900s tying for the beam title. It was the first time in the bars rotation for Shaffer.
Rotation Three | Beam
Junior Sophia Carter earned her tenth career beam title, performing her back-handspring layout step-out series for the crowd.
Carter’s 9.900 helped Arkansas to its score of 49.200 in the event, second highest mark for the Razorbacks this season.
Rotation Four | Floor
Arkansas stayed confident through its final rotation, improving its overall score from last week, the Razorbacks finished with a 49.375 on the floor, led by Hambrick and Carter’s matching 9.925’s.
The duo each won the event title and combined, they have claimed five floor titles for Arkansas this season.
It is the fourth time this year that Hambrick’s beautiful roundoff back-handspring double pike and top-of-the-line performance skills earned her a 9.925 from the judges.
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.
Moore, Noland, Opitz after downing Bulldogs in second game of series
Razorbacks second baseman Robert Moore (2-3, 2 RBI), winning pitcher Connor Noland (6 innings, 3 strikeouts) and catcher Casey Opitz (3-4, 2 RBI) on the 9-3 win.
Van Horn after Hogs stay perfect on season with 9-3 win over Gonzaga
Arkansas advanced to 5-0 on the young season after working to a 9-3 win over the Bulldogs at Baum-Walker Stadium on Friday to guarantee at least a push in series.
Arkansas shows depth in 400-meters in qualifying meet Friday
FAYETTEVILLE — Among a trio of victories in the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday, the Razorbacks produced a 1-2 finish in a pair of events and displayed their depth in the 400-meters.
Racing in Winston-Salem, the Arkansas distance medley improved its time and standing on the current collegiate list.
Roman Turner and Keshawn Andrews were the first pair of Razorbacks to accomplish a 1-2 finish on the night, with times of 6.75 and 6.77 in the 60-meter. Then Gilbert Boit and Graham Brown completed the feat in the 3,000-meter. Boit clocked 8:07.12 with Brown nearing his career best with an 8:22.88.
Jalen Brown established a career best of 46.27 to lead a 2-3-4-5-6 performance by the Razorbacks in the 400-meter.
Following were Hunter Woodhall (46.92), James Milholen (47.02), Nick Hilson (47.16) and Lesley Mahlakoane (47.34). Brown’s effort moves him to No. 10 on this season’s collegiate list.
“It was a good pre-meet to the SEC Championships,” said Arkansas men’s assistant coach Doug Case. “The 400-meter group ran really well, and I think we had four PRs from them tonight. Now we have a couple of sprinters who rank among the top 10 in the NCAA 400-meter list. All the short sprinters and hurdles ran right around their best times, it was a good tune-up for SECs.
“Gilbert Boit ran a nice time in the 3,000-meter, which will get him into the fast heat in the conference meet. We also had a group race in the distance medley relay and those guys ran a time that puts them fifth in the nation, which is a good performance when you convert the time over. We expect to have a really good SEC meet.”
In North Carolina, the Razorbacks clocked 9:39.16 as runner-up to BYU (9:38.02) and ahead of Virginia Tech (9:40.07) and Washington (9:43.45). The crew running for Arkansas included Luke George (2:59.08), Travean Caldwell (47.93), Kieran Taylor (1:51.66) and Cameron Griffith (4:00.48).
With the event being run on a flat 200m track, the time for Arkansas will convert to 9:31.40 and currently ranks the team fifth on the NCAA descending order list. More DMR races are scheduled for Saturday at Notre Dame.
In the 60m hurdles at the Arkansas Qualifier, the Razorbacks placed four in the final. Carl Elliott III won the race in 7.81 as Tre’Bien Gilbert finished third in 7.89. Then multi-event athletes Daniel Spejcher (8.22) and Tyler Brendel (8.28) finished fifth and seventh.
Tylin Jackson set a PR of 21.09 as runner-up in the 200m, finishing as the top collegian, behind a 20.84 for alum Kenzo Cotton. Reese Walters ran 1:53.86 to place second in the 800m.
Multi-eventers Etamar Bhastekar and Markus Ballengee both cleared 16-0¾ in the pole vault. After the hurdles final, Brendel long jumped 22-2 ¼ with Spejcher reaching a distance of 21-11½.
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.
Noland’s six solid innings, Moore’s big hit paces Hogs past Bulldogs, 9-3
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas put up multiple runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to post a 9-3 victory over Gonzaga on Friday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks (5-0) improved to 2-0 in the season series over the Bulldogs (2-4), with two games left to play on Saturday and Sunday. Arkansas scored nine runs on nine hits, while allowing just three runs on five hits.
A third of the Hog’s hits in game two came from catcher Casey Opitz, who was a double away from the cycle. All three of his hits came during the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, giving him five hits over the last two days.
He was joined by outfielder Christian Franklin and infielder Robert Moore with multi-hit performances on Friday.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Connor Noland picked up his second win of the year after tossing 6.0 innings against the Zags.
He allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits, walking three and striking out three to move to 2-0 on the year. Last season, Noland didn’t earn his second win until his 11th start.
Arkansas also got three solid frames out of the bullpen, seeing RHP Marshall Denton, lefty Zack Morris and right-hander Jacob Burton combine for two walks and a strikeout over 11 batters.
After three-and-a-half scoreless innings, the Hogs finally drew first blood with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
After Goodheart was hit-by-a-pitch and moved to second, Christian Franklin shot a full-count single up the middle to score the first run of the day. He has a hit in all five games this season.
The Zags answered with a run of their own in the top of the fifth, capitalizing on a two-out error.
Ernie Yake began the rally with a single, then quickly got to third after a stolen-base, throwing-error combo. It would be fulfilled by a Brett Harris single up the middle in the next at-bat to even the score.
A wild bottom of the fifth inning would ensue, as Arkansas responded with four runs to take a 5-1 lead. The inning began with a pair of singles from Opitz and Cole Austin to put two on for Moore.
Then, with the infield thinking bunt and the shortstop attempting to execute a wheel play to cover third, Moore chopped an RBI single exactly where the shortstop had been playing to drive in a run.
Following Moore’s at-bat, Braydon Webb reached base after his bunt couldn’t be fielded by the pitcher, driving in Austin. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly out from Franklin gave Arkansas five runs on the day.
After the four-spot by the Hogs, Gonzaga sent a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 5-3.
The Hogs got the runs back in the bottom half of the inning to bring the score to 7-3. Opitz led off the frame with a triple off the right field wall, then a walk by Austin put runners on the corners for Moore, who roped a single to right field to score Opitz.
It was followed by a sac fly from Webb to right field for the second run of the inning.
Opitz would finish his day at the plate with two-run dinger into Gonzaga’s bullpen to bring the score to 9-3. It was Opitz’ first homer of the year and fourth of his career.
The Hogs and Bulldogs hit the field for game three on Saturday.
