Arkansas players Robert Moore, catcher Casey Opitz and pitcher Caden Monke talked after the game, including Opitz’ towering shot that was misplayed in the outfield for a hit.
Hogs’ series with Gonzaga starts this afternoon live on ESPN Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas returns to action with a four-game series against Gonzaga at Baum-Walker Stadium and you can hear it live at ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs or 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
You can also listen online at HitThatLine.com. CLICK HERE
The pregame show starts at 1:30 p.m. with first pitch at 2 p.m.
It will be the first time the Razorbacks have played the Bulldogs since 2016. Arkansas has never played Gonzaga in a three-game series, let alone a four-game set.
The Bulldogs hold a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series, with a 3-2 mark in games played in Fayetteville.
Arkansas is coming off a three-game sweep of Eastern Illinois to open the 2020 season. The Hogs outscored the Panthers, 27-5, in the three games, picking up victories of 5-1, 10-1 and 12-3 for a strong start to the new year.
Arkansas put together a .324 clip at the plate in the opening series, tallying 35 hits, 15 for extra bases.
The Razorbacks struck out EIU 31 times en route to a 1.33 team ERA and a .206 opponent batting average over the three games, allowing only three extra-base hits.
The Razorbacks have now won their last 19 opening weekend series dating back to 2002, including all 18 seasons under Dave Van Horn.
Arkansas has never lost opening day under Van Horn, outscoring opponents 148-42.
Van Horn has tabbed right-hander Kole Ramage, right-hander Connor Noland and lefty Patrick Wicklander to start the first three games of the series against Gonzaga. Sunday’s starter is to be announced.
Ramage entered Sunday’s game as the first reliever and tossed 2.0 scoreless frames against the Panthers. He allowed just one hit and one walk, striking out two, to earn his first win of the year and ninth of his collegiate career.
Noland earned the opening day win after tossing 6.2 innings on Friday afternoon. He allowed just one run, unearned, on two hits, walking one batter while striking out a career-high 11. Half of the batters he faced, he struck out.
Wicklander tossed 5.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits, two walks and a hit batter, ringing up seven Panthers. He held EIU to a .167 clip at the plate and did not allow an extra-base hit. He was one strikeout shy of matching his career-best, picking up the game two victory.
Pitching matchups
Thursday – RHP Kole Ramage vs. LHP Keaton Kneuppel
Friday – RHP Connor Noland vs. LHP Mac Lardner
Saturday – LHP Patrick Wicklander vs. RHP Alek Jacob
Sunday – TBA vs. RHP Nick Trogrlic-Iverson
Noland’s performance on the mound on opening day earned him SEC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 17.
It was his first pitcher of the week honor and second weekly accolade from the conference office, picking up newcomer of the week during the middle of his freshman season.
He wasn’t the only Hog to earn hardware after the first series of the year, as Heston Kjerstad was also named SEC Co-Player of the Week and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week. It was the first time Arkansas has won SEC Player and Pitcher of the Week in the same week.
Outfielder Heston Kjerstad had quite the weekend at the plate, going 7-for-12 with four homers, 10 RBIs and six runs scored, earning national player of the week honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
He began the year with a 3-for-4 performance, including an RBI single and two solo home runs. It was the fifth time in his career he had hit multiple homers in a game.
Kjerstad would accomplish the feat again in the series finale as part of a 3-for-5 day, launching a three-run dinger and a solo hot, as well as a two-RBI double. All seven hits brought in at least one run during the weekend against the Panthers.
Kjerstad finished the series with a .583/1.667/.643 line at the plate in 12 at-bats. He is the first Hog since at least 2002 to record four home runs in the first series of the year.
Arkansas did not move in any of the updated polls after the first week of the year.
Week 2 rankings
Perfect Game – No. 4
USA Today Coaches – No. 5
NCBWA – No. 6
D1 Baseball – No. 7
Collegiate Baseball – No. 9
Baseball America – No. 11
A total of 29,118 fans came to see the Hogs play last week, which was the second-highest opening weekend attendance in Arkansas history and was No. 2 in total attendance in the country for the first series of the 2020 season.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — The new proposed transfer rule, Richard Davenport and more!
Tye & Tommy on the transfer rule impact, Richard Davenport talks recruiting Thursday and more!
Two big issues could change college sports in dramatic, ugly fashion
When the NCAA holds its annual convention in April, the questions getting the most publicity are a one-time transfer rule and compensating players above and beyond what they get now.
Either one by itself could be workable, but the combination of the two may makes for an interesting dynamic that would change things dramatically and maybe in an ugly way.
Former Georgia coach Mark Richt weighed in on the Twitter thing with maybe the most accurate description of what to expect in the biggest sports:
“I know, I have an idea. You recruit and develop players and when I think they’re good enough I will poach them from your roster! Welcome to what the new normal will look like in college football!”
Let me sum it up for you simply by saying the rich will get richer and the poor, well, they’ll need a combination of luck, more money and more money than that.
Welcome to free agency in college athletics.
The idea of something approaching a direct salary for college athletes will never work out to an amount of anything significant. It’s basic math. That’s because the athletic departments at most schools don’t have the same money to work with.
SEC schools have more than the Big 12 or Pac 12 and they ALL have more than non-Power 5 schools. That’s the rub. What do you do with the schools that aren’t in one of the big boy conferences.
What that means, quite simply, is somehow the folks in Fayetteville can only pay the players the same amount as the ones in Pine Bluff or Little Rock. Yes, Arkansas State, UALR, UAPB and UCA have a vote equivalent to the UA at the NCAA meetings.
Forget about percentage. The private schools are never going to release that number and the bigger schools will be paying so much the best players will have to take a pay cut to play professionally.
The NCAA rules are made to the lowest-common denominator. Figuring out all the economics of this will make bean counters the most important people in college athletics.
Paying players for their name, likeness and image might be more interesting. If you think there’s a ton of money to be made from apparel sales, no college makes enough profit off the jerseys for the player’s cut to amount to a whole lot (they get a royalty from the retail outlets that’s not exactly a big percentage).
In effect, if they’re lucky they’ll get 10 percent of 10 percent of that jersey you paid $100 for with a player’s name on the back. About $1 per jersey, in other words.
Throw in the drama associated with the biggest names getting thousands in appearance fees by a business while the others get nothing and you get all sorts of extra problems. The only reason it works in professional sports is everybody is getting something.
It’s how some pro owners get around salary caps by helping boost certain players earning potential off the field. The Dallas Cowboys were doing that for decades before Jerry Jones bought the team.
Combine free agency for players with the freedom to move from school to school and you have chaos.
But what this whole issue is going to do is open up the scenario for a breakway from the NCAA by the biggest schools. They will, sooner or later, get tired of being limited by the smaller schools.
That is why the two issues coming up in April that are getting all the discussions in February are going to likely create some changes in the world of college athletics, regardless of what is decided.
Of course, we’re assuming any of this passes.
We’re talking about a merry band of idiots with a rich history of waiting until the train gets going, then jumping under it.
Which, of course, means there’s no way to predict what will happen.
Neighbors says Tennessee ‘may be worst matchup all year’ for Hogs
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said Wednesday morning the Vols’ record may not be what it usually is but they still pose a problem in matching up players for Thursday night’s game.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — zone D in the future, RJ Young, What’s Your Beef
Tye & Tommy debate whether Arkansas should implement some Zone D, RJ Young joins the show, plus What’s Your Beef Wed!
Hopkin picks up second-fastest split in 200-medley at SEC Championships
AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas finished the first day of the 2020 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships with Anna Hopkin earning the second-fastest split time in the 200 medley relay (20.82).
After one day of competition, the Razorbacks sit in 11th with 89 points.
The team of Andrea Sansores, Vanessa Herrmann, Kobie Melton and Hopkin finished in eighth place in the 200 medley relay with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:37.34, finishing second in their heat. This time also ranks the ladies second in Arkansas school history.
The women’s 800 freestyle relay team of Peyton Palsha, Emma Hultquist, Lexi Ljunggren and Alyssa Lemon touched the wall in 7:09.88 to finish in ninth place, good enough for the fourth-fastest time in program history.
Coach Neil Harper
“Today was a great start for us. We recorded a season-best in the 200 Medley Relay and got the NCAA B qualifying time. Andrea, Vanessa Kobie and Anna all had fast splits. The 800 free relay beat our time from SEC’s last year by 4 seconds. Peyton, Emma, Lexi and Alyssa all had personal bests so I am extremely proud and excited how well we are performing. We are all looking forward to our events tomorrow and hope we keep the tally of personal bests going.”
Next day of SEC Championships
The Razorbacks will be back in the pool tomorrow morning with prelims for the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free beginning at 9:30 a.m. and wrap up the day with finals in the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free.
Day one results
Women’s 200 Medley Relay
- Andrea Sansores, Vanessa Herrmann, Kobie Melton, Anna Hopkin – 1:37.34
Women’s 800 Free Relay
- Peyton Palsha, Emma Hultquist, Lexi Ljunggren, Alyssa Lemon – 7:14.96
Women’s 1-Meter
20. Estilla Mosena – 242.30
32. Josephine Matalone – 206.80
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.
Short-handed Hogs drop fifth straight game, losing to Gators
When you realize that Arkansas was 3-of-18 on three-pointers and started Ethan Henderson the 73-59 loss at Florida on Tuesday night probably isn’t that surprising.
Yes, apparently things have gotten that bad with one of the best outside shooters in the league still rehabbing from knee surgery. Isaiah Joe made the trip to Gainesville, but didn’t play and there has been no word when he will be on the court again.
Maybe the biggest surprise is the Razorbacks cut a 19-point deficit to two — twice in the second half — but could not complete the comeback as Florida pulled away late.
Mason Jones led Arkansas (again) with 21 points while Adrio Bailey had an SEC career-high 16 points and an SEC career-high eight rebounds.
Henderson, who hasn’t seen much playing time this season, played 11 minutes, scored 7 and grabbed three rebounds before fouling out in the second half.
The Gators were red-hot (50 percent) from the field and out-rebounded the Hogs by 10 (36-26).
And next on the schedule is a surging Missouri, who beat Auburn on Saturday, 85-73 and have a 12-13 record (4-8 in the SEC).
They beat Arkansas in overtime earlier this season, 83-79.
Arkansas looks to break losing streak in road matchup against Florida
• Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (16-9. 4-8 SEC) at Florida Gators (16-9, 8-4 SEC)
• What: Razorbacks are in Gainesville for the 16th time.
• When: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 6 p.m.
• Where: Gainesville, Fla., Exactech Arena / Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151)
• TV: ESPNU (Roy Philipott and Dane Bradshaw). CLICK HERE to Watch ESPN Online
• Radio: ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home with Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman. Pregame starts at 5:30 p.m.
• Listen online at HitThatLine.com. CLICK HERE
Against Florida
• This will be the 38th meeting between Arkansas and Florida, all coming since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1991-92.
• The Gators own a 25-12 advantage in the series, including a 13-2 mark in Gainesville.
• Florida has won 10 of the last 11 meetings. The Gators have won 13 straight in Gainesville with Arkansas’ last win in the Sunshine State coming on Feb. 2, 1995 (94-85).
Last year against the Gators
• Jan. 9 in Fayetteville: Mason Jones scored 30 points and played a key role in a 15-2 run late in the game to get the Razorbacks to within two (53-51) with 1:02 left, but the Florida Gators made four free throws inside the final 12 seconds to get a 57-51 victory.
• Arkansas was down 15 (51-36) with 6:11 left before Jones scored 11 points (six free throws, a jumper and a 3-pointer) to trim the Razorbacks’ deficit to two, 53-51. Jones capped the 15-2 run with two free throws with 1:02 left.
• On the ensuing possession, Arkansas’ defense got a stop as Daniel Gafford pulled down his 12th rebound of the contest. The Razorbacks then had two chances to tie the game, but Jones’ jumper missed with 24 seconds left and Adrio Bailey’s put-back rimmed out.
• Arkansas was forced to foul and Kevaughn Allen sank two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Gators a four-point lead. Arkansas came up empty again before Allen made two more from the charity stripe to secure the six-point win (57-51).
• Allen finished with 18 points, including 11-of-12 at the free throw line. Overall, Florida was 15-of-19 while Arkansas was 15-of-26.
FREE MASON: Jones Leads NCAA Free Throws
• Arkansas junior Mason Jones made 18-of-21 from the free throw line Saturday versus Mississippi State, scoring 38 points.
• Jones now leads the NCAA in both free throws made (172) and free throw attempts (208).
• The 18 makes are an Arkansas single-game record in an SEC game while ranking third (tied) overall. The 21 attempts are the second-most by a Razorback in an SEC game behind Corliss Williamson’s 22 in 1995 and ties for fifth-most overall.
• Jones has made more free throws (172) than field goals (139) but ranks in the SEC top 10 in both (first for free throws made and seventh for field goals made)
