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Boit runs through field to pace Hogs to third-place SEC finish

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ men’s track and field team put together a third-place overall finish at the 2019 SEC Outdoor Championships on Saturday night at John McDonnell Field.

The Razorbacks posted 91 points as a unit and marked back-to-back years to earn a third-place score.

The finish of the 5,000-meter run brought the packed house at John McDonnell Field to its feet, as junior Gilbert Boit won the individual title with a time of 13:54.76.

Coming down the final straightaway, Boit split teammate Cameron Griffith and Alabama’s Gilbert Kigen on the track and crossed the finish line in first to complete the indoor/outdoor conference 5,000-meter run sweep.

Griffith and sophomore Matt Young finished third and fourth, respectively, with times of 13:55.05 and 13:57.97. Arkansas totaled 21 points from the 5,000-meter race.

Earlier in the evening, Griffith posted a second-place finish in the 1,500-meter run at 3:48.81 to earn eight points. It marks back-to-back years he’s taken the silver medal in the event, running 3:47.02 last year, and the third consecutive year to score in the run.

The 4×100-meter relay kicked things off on the track and took home bronze behind a season-best 39.26. The quartet of Josh Oglesby, Rashad Boyd, Kris Hari & Roy Ejiakuewku moved up to No. 6 among NCAA West qualifying times heading into the weekend while earning six points toward the team standings.

John Winn, Hunter Woodhall, Jalen Brown and Rhayko Schwartz comprised the 4×400-meter relay, which also finished third and posted a time of 3:03.53. The squad’s time was a season-best and moved Arkansas up to fifth among relay qualifying teams in the West Region.

Sophomore Hunter Woodhall brought home fourth in the 400-meter dash at 46.22, a personal-best, giving him five points. It’s the fastest by a Razorback this season in the event and puts him at 18th among West qualifiers this season.

Later, fellow sophomore Kieran Taylor also notched a fourth-place mark in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:48.34 for another five-spot.

Junior Laquan Nairn posted a fifth-place finish in the triple jump in the afternoon portion of the day. He made the final of the event with a leap of 15.25m (50-0.5) on his third attempt, putting him in eighth.

After moving down to ninth before the final round of jumps, Nairn landed in the pit at 15.68m (51-5.5) with his final mark to take fifth and pick up four points for the team.

In the 110-meter hurdles, senior Shakiel Chattoo clocked a PR and a sixth-place time at 13.71 to earn three points for the squad. His time propels him up to No. 5 in the NCAA West heading into the weekend competition.

unior Travean Caldwell took eighth in the 400-meter hurdles at 50.86 to add another point for the Razorbacks.

Postseason track & field continues with a trip to Sacramento, California, for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships on May 23-25.

Discus Throw
9th – Erich Sullins – 51.05m (167-6)

Triple Jump
5th – Laquan Nairn – 15.68m (51-5.5) PB

4×100-Meter Relay
3rd – Josh Oglesby, Rashad Boyd, Kris Hari, Roy Ejiakuekwu – 39.26 SB

1,500-Meter Run
2nd – Cameron Griffith – 3:48.81
12th – Ethan Moehn – 3:56.23

110-Meter Hurdles
6th – Shakiel Chattoo – 13.71 PB
9th – Carl Elliott III – 13.83

400-Meter Dash
4th – Hunter Woodhall – 46.22 PB

800-Meter Run
4th – Kieran Taylor – 1:48.34

400-Meter Hurdles
8th – Travean Caldwell – 50.86

5,000-Meter Run
1st – Gilbert Boit – 13:54.46
3rd – Cameron Griffith – 13:55.05
4th – Matt Young – 13:57.97
10th – Austen Dalquist – 14:18.76
11th – Colin O’Mara – 14:21.03
17th – Kyle Levermore – 14:34.62
31st – Preston Cates – 14:50.62
32nd – Ethan Moehn – 14:52.52

4×400-Meter Relay
3rd – John Winn, Hunter Woodhall, Jalen Brown, Rhayko Schwartz – 3:03.53 SB

 

Big innings late propel Razorbacks past LSU for first time since ’11

FAYETTEVILLE — With a two-run seventh and a six-run eighth inning, Arkansas ran away with an 11-6 victory over LSU on Friday night in Baum-Walker Stadium.

It’s the second-straight game that the Hogs have scored 10 or more runs and first series win over LSU since 2011.

After falling behind 3-0 after the first two innings, Arkansas (39-12, 19-7 SEC) crept its way back into the game with single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings.

The breakthrough finally came in the seventh when Casey Martin’s RBI single to left field allowed Trevor Ezell to score the go-ahead run to make it 4-3.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

The Razorbacks went on to score seven more times to grow its lead to 11-3., while the pitching staff held LSU’s offense in check, allowing only four baserunners in the third through eighth innings.

With the win, this year’s Razorbacks are now tied with the 2004 team for the most conference victories in the Dave Van Horn era dating back to 2003.

It’s also the third-straight year that Arkansas has 18 or more games in league play.

All nine of Arkansas’ starters recorded at least one of the Hogs’ 12 hits in the game. Dominic Fletcher, Heston Kjerstad and Casey Opitz all turned in two-hit performances with Fletcher driving in a team-best three RBIs.

Kjerstad notched his 11th multi-RBI game of the year, driving in two runs, including one off a big solo home run in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-3.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

On the mound, freshman Patrick Wicklander didn’t have his best stuff, but only gave up three runs in 3.1 innings, striking out four.

The Razorback bullpen were the stars of the night as the Kevin Kopps and Jacob Kostyshock combo held the Tigers to just one hit in 4.2 innings, while striking out five.

Kopps picked up his fifth victory of the year after throwing four scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Kopps entered the game in the middle of the fourth inning after LSU had loaded the bases with one out and a 3-1 lead, looking for insurance runs. Kopps stopped that momentum in its tracks, inducing the 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning with no runs crossing the plate.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Hogs win first series over Tigers since 2011

For the first time eight years, Arkansas has won a regular-season series over LSU after its five-run victory Friday night.

It’s the first series victory since 2011 and a win on Saturday would also be the first sweep of the Tigers since the same year. The Razorbacks have combined for 25 runs in the first two games of the series and are hitting .370 as a team with six home runs and a .671 slugging percentage.

Arkansas has scored 10 or more runs in seven of their last 12 SEC games and have had a winning margin of five or more runs in five of those games.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Fletcher continues torrid doubles pace

Junior Dominic Fletcher picked up his 20th double of the season as part of his two-hit game, driving in two of Arkansas’ final runs in the eighth inning.

Fletcher now takes sole possession of first in the SEC in doubles, just one ahead of teammate Casey Martin.

Fletcher has three doubles in his last eight games and its his first season with 20 or more doubles in his career.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Kjerstad matches home run total from 2018

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad mashed his 14th home run of the season in the sixth inning Friday night, which matches his total from a year ago, giving him 28 for his career.

It took Kjerstad 11 less games to reach the 14 homer mark this year and his longball total is good for second in the league.

The Amarillo, Texas, native is hitting .342 in his last 10 games with four home runs and 11 RBIs. He’s now hitting .330 for the year, good for second on the team with 44 RBIs.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Razorback quotables

“I thought they both did a great job. Obviously (Kevin) Kopps came in and settled it down for us. When he got behind in the counts — Kopps — it just seemed like he could make a good pitch. Then, (Jacob) Kostyshock came in and I thought he spotted his fastball really well. It was running. He’s got a little bit of a knack to get out left-handed hitters and he did it again today.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on Kevin Kopps and Jacob Kostyshock

“Yeah, in 2011, that was the game (James) McCann hit the grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when we were down – what, three? – something like that, and then we went on to sweep them. Sometimes a big hit like that can change a whole series. It feels good to win the series. We’re not satisfied. We’re going to do everything we can to win tomorrow.” — Van Horn on winning the first series over LSU since 2011

“We felt like we were going to win the game. We’d come all the way back, they had stranded some runners and we felt like (Zack) Hess was starting to lose a little bit of his fastball. He’s got a great one. He’s going from 95, 96, 97 to 93. That’s a big difference. We’ve seen a lot of that this year. They (LSU) still have some weapons down there.” — Van Horn on Heston Kjerstad’s sixth-inning homer being the turning point

“That was huge to have a guy come out of the bullpen like that and slam the door. You know (Kevin) Kopps has done that multiple times this year but he came in and the bases were loaded, basically, a tough spot for anyone to come into as a pitcher, and he pitched it well. He got the ground-ball, turned into the double play and that was huge to give us a little bit of momentum. He was doing work out there and we just wanted to help him out.”

— Heston Kjerstad on Kevin Kopps inducing the bases-loaded double play in the fourth inning

“I felt like that was a good momentum shift for our team. On the four innings, I think it just helped to get our offense going and I was trying to make them quick. It kept the momentum on our side.” — Kevin Kopps on his outing helping get the offense going

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Up next

Arkansas will go for its fourth conference series sweep on Saturday as it will take on LSU one more time at Baum-Walker Stadium.

You can hear the game on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home. Pregame starts at 12:30 p.m.

First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. with Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter on the call and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Kostyshock, Kopps, Kjerstad on taking series over Tigers

The three K’s — Jacob Kostyshock, Kevin Kopps and Heston Kjerstad — talked about coming from behind to beat LSU on Friday night and clinch the series.

Van Horn recapping Hogs’ series-clinching win over LSU

For the first time since 2011, Arkansas has taken a series against LSU and Dave Van Horn talked about a win where his team once again came from behind.

Razorbacks move into prime position for title at SEC Championships

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas remains in the hunt for a conference title following day two of the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at John McDonnell Field.

Arkansas qualified nine athletes through to tomorrow’s finals while the Razorbacks added 34.5-points through eight events scored.

Tori Hoggard, Lexi Jacobus, and Desiree Freier combined for 19-points in the pole vault as the trio finished 2-3-4 in the event. Hoggard and Jacobus cleared an identical 4.36m (14-3.50), but were separated by misses throughout the competition, while Freier’s fourth-place finish came following a clearance of 4.26m (13-11.75).

Janeek Brown (12.84Q) and Payton Chadwick (12.91Q) advanced to the final of the 100-meter hurdles, both earning the Auto-Q by finishing in the top three of their heats.

Brown finished as the second-fastest qualifier trailing LSU’s Tonea Marshall by one one-hundredth of a second (0.01).

Five of the eight finalists in the 1,500-meters will be Razorbacks as Lauren Gregory (4:18.79Q), Sydney Brown (4:20.69Q), Carina Viljoen (4:23.19Q), Maddy Reed (4:23.33Q), Meghan Underwood (4:25.84q), and Taylor Werner (4:28.14Q) all earned a chance to compete for the conference crown Saturday afternoon.

Brown’s time finished as a personal-best.

Kethlin Campbell advanced to the 400-meter final running 52.03 that stood as the fourth-fastest time from the preliminary round.

An SEC finalist at 100-meters last season, Kiara Parker will make her return as she advanced to this year’s final in 11.24 seconds. Parker’s time is the fastest qualifying mark heading into the finals.

Devin Clark is an SEC Champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after crossing the line in 9:55.86 Friday night. The senior from Spring Branch, Texas brought home 10-points for the Razorbacks and earned her first individual SEC title.

Rachel Nichwitz scored in the event for Arkansas as well running 10:29.41 for sixth-place.

Matching Nichwitz’s sixth-place finish was G’Auna Edwards who took sixth in the long jump with a best of 6.36m (20-10.50).

The Razorbacks are currently in second place with 34.5 points through eight events scored.

PLACE WOMEN [8 out of 21 scored] SCORE
1 Auburn 41
2 Arkansas 34.5
3 Missouri 33
4 Alabama 32
5 Florida 31
5 Texas A&M 31
7 Ole Miss 26.5
8 Tennessee 20.5
9 Georgia 18.5
10 Miss State 14
11 Kentucky 11
12 Vanderbilt 10
13 South Carolina 6
14 LSU 3

 

Arkansas will have at least one athlete in nine of the 13 events contested tomorrow afternoon.

Arkansas set for final day of SEC Championships on Saturday

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas remains in title contention following day two of the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at John McDonnell Field.

Arkansas qualified four athletes through to tomorrow’s finals while the Razorbacks added 10-points bringing their total to 32 after eight events scored.

Sam Kempka added to the Razorback total with two points from a seventh-place finish in the shot put where the senior finished with a best mark of 18.64m (61-2) — the No. 4 throw in program history.

Laquan Nairn matched Kempka’s points with a seventh-place finish of his own, leaping out to a mark of 7.63m (25-0.50) — a personal-best mark.

Shakiel Chattoo and Carl Elliot III advanced to the finals of the 110-meter hurdles each running identical 13.79 times. Chattoo advanced by the auto-Q, finishing as one of the top three in his heat, while Elliot III earned his spot in the final as the second-fastest time qualifier.

Cameron Griffith moved on to the final in the 1,500-meters running 3:49.40 to win his heat.

Hunter Woodhall narrowly missed matching his personal-best in the prelims of the 400-meters as he grabbed a spot in tomorrow’s final after running 46.56 that is a tenth of a second (.10) off his lifetime-best of 46.46 from the John McDonnell Invitational.

Despite not scoring in two events, Gabe Moore took fifth-place in the decathlon with a two day total of 6,345-pts. Daniel Spejcher finished seventh with 5,960-pts. – a new personal best.

Moore who entered the day in second place moved to the top of the scoreboard after the 110-meter hurdles where he ran 14.56 for 903-points. Moore moved on to throw 49.33m (161-10) in the discus for 856-points.

On his opening attempt in the pole vault, he injured himself on the approach, which resulted in the senior recording a NH in the event scoring 0-points. After gathering himself for a second, Moore mounted a return to action posting a mark of 46.77m (153-5) for 541-points.

Unfortunately, Moore was unable to complete the two-day grind due to injury but still finished fifth-overall scoring four points towards the Arkansas total on the scoreboard.

Spejcher finished out the decathlon adding marks of 16.56 in the 110-meter hurdles, 38.94m (127-9) in the discus, 3.00m (9-10) in the pole vault, 50.09m (164-4) in the javelin, and a run of 5:12.50 in the 1,500-meters taking seventh-place for two points towards the Razorback total.

The Razorbacks are currently in third place with 32 points through eight events scored.

PLACE MEN [8 out of 21 scored] SCORE
1 Florida 37
2 Georgia 34
3 Arkansas 32
3 Miss State 32
5 Alabama 28
5 LSU 28
5 Tennessee 28
8 Texas A&M 24
9 Missouri 19
10 Kentucky 15
11 Auburn 14
12 South Carolina 13
13 Ole Miss 8

 

Arkansas will have at least one athlete in 10 of the 13 events contested tomorrow afternoon.

Patriots finally give Bielema coaching title, but does it help UA’s buyout?

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Former Hogs coach Bret Bielema, who’s been hanging around the New England Patriots since being kicked out of his role in Arkansas, was named defensive line coach Friday, according to the team’s website.

Other sources in Boston have been reporting it, too.

Of course he’s been being paid by the Patriots since assuming the role of assistant to coach Bill Belichick in early 2018, but the amount apparently was slightly below the mitigating number of $150,000 before it started reducing his buyout from the UA.

When he was fired the day after Thanksgiving 2017, the buyout was for just south of $12 million at the tune of over $300,000 a month, although in the last few months you could be questioning if Arkansas should have kept paying him.

The buyout also required him to be actively pursuing another job and his salary above $150,000 a year would mitigate that total a little.

Basketball coach Mike Anderson landed a head coaching job with St. John’s within a few weeks, making the UA’s buyout there meaningless.

Bielema taking a blurry role on an NFL staff could have raised questions with folks back in Arkansas. As a private business, the Patriots have no legal obligation to disclose anything to anybody.

As I said previously, stop sending the checks and make him file a lawsuit … in Washington County, Arkansas, per the terms of the contract. Then you get lawyers involved and you can legally either force to the Patriots to disclose financial information they’d probably rather not get involved with or give Bielema a real job with a title and compensation to match and lower the UA’s obligation.

In case you aren’t aware, being an NFL assistant these days pays pretty good. Coordinators are making over $1 million a year.

Is his role with the Patriots simply as a defensive line coach? There are folks around the Patriots who say he was much more heavily involved last season as just the errand boy for Belichick.

He was rumored to go with Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores when he got the head coaching job at Miami, but that didn’t happen and some in Boston felt that was because Bielema was going to be coordinating the defense in New England.

As things are playing out, that appears to be a possible scenario.

The Patriots own website had an interesting line in the story on staff announcements:

What remains unclear, however, is who will call defensive signals. Flores did so last season.

Could they be working with Bielema to avoid naming him a coordinator to let Arkansas pay the bulk of his salary while they help him skirt — at a bare minimum — the spirit of his buyout?

It’s just a question you wonder if the smart folks at the UA have as well.

Of course, the answer could just be that nobody thought ol’ Bret was good enough to keep coaching at the big-time college level.

Based on his five years at Arkansas, that’s not a wild leap.

???? Friday Halftime Pod — featuring ESPN’s Kyle Peterson

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Phil & Tye hit on the LSU dub, interview Kyle Peterson, plus FOMO Friday!

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday

John & Tommy recap Game 1, officer Breeden stops by, Scott Tabor shares his baseball wisdom and more!

Homer barrage lets Hogs open series with 14-4 win over LSU

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas hit five home runs Thursday night to jump out to a big lead against LSU and ended up taking the series opener over the Tigers, 14-4, at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Arkansas (38-12, 18-7 SEC) didn’t’ seem to struggle at all with LSU (30-20, 14-11 SEC) starter Ma’Khail Hilliard, scoring six runs in the first three innings before putting up a six spot in the fourth after the Tigers had to go into their bullpen.

The 14 runs scored is the most for an Arkansas team against LSU since scoring 14 in 2008 in a 14-13 victory in 10 innings.

Dominic Fletcher. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Casey Martin, Dominic Fletcher, Casey Opitz, Trevor Ezell and Jack Kenley all went deep in the game as it was the second time this season that the Hogs have hit five home runs in a single game (vs. Northwestern State, April 23) and fourth time with four or more.

Martin turned in a 4-for-5 game with three runs scored, but he just had one RBI coming off his solo home run in the bottom of the first. It was Martin’s 12th home run of the year, just one shy of his total from his freshman season.

Fletcher also went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He’s got seven hits in his last five games and his home run off the scoreboard in the second inning was his second in three games.

Arkansas pitcher Isaiah Campbell looks up at the ball after giving up a solo home run to LSU’s Daniel Cabrera in the second inning Thursday night. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Isaiah Campbell had to battle early in the game, but settled in after giving up two runs in the first two innings to go six innings strong.

Campbell worked the final four innings scoreless and retired 11 of his final 12 batters while scattering just four hits, one walk and striking out four.

It was Campbell’s ninth win of the year and 10th quality start as he’s pitched six or more innings in 10 of his last 11 starts.

Slammin’

By the middle of the bottom of the fourth inning, Arkansas already had a 7-1 lead and were knocking on the door to pad the lead even more when Jack Kenley got into the box with the bases loaded and one out.

Kenley laced a 1-0 pitch down the right field line for a grand slam to make it 11-2 Razorbacks before the fifth inning. It was Kenley’s 10th home run of the year, making him one of four Razorbacks with 10 or more home runs this season.

The grand slam was the fifth by a Hog batter in 2019 (C. Franklin, H. Kjerstad, C. Martin, D. Fletcher). For Kenley, his four RBIs marked his second game this year with four or more.

Home run pace picks up

Through 50 games this season, Arkansas has hit 69 home runs as a team, just six back of the pace of last year’s team that hit a school-record 98 home runs.

Over the last 10 games, Arkansas has hit 25 home runs and four have come from Casey Martin, Heston Kjerstad and Dominic Fletcher. Fletcher hit his 10th home run of the year Thursday night, making 2019 his third-straight season with 10 or more home runs.

The 69 home runs this year is now good for the most in the SEC.

Christian Franklin. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Razorback quotables

“I would say the guys that are hitting home runs, not necessarily. We thought (Jack) Kenley would hit some home runs this year. I didn’t know he’d get to double digits. We thought he’d get close. He does a nice job of fouling off pitches and taking pitches and getting some good pitches to hit. We’ve hit a few here and there and you know a lot of times the second half of the season, when your team usually hits them, it warms up a little bit and your guys are in a little bit more of a groove offensively, seeing the ball better. I don’t even know how many we have. Every now and then it’s nice to hit some and put up some quick runs and that’s what we did tonight.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on his team’s home runs showing an uptick

“I’ve said this many a time this year that (Isaiah) Campbell, a lot of times in the past, he might have given up more runs, but he’s learned how to get out of those jams. He just gave up one. They, obviously, hit a home run in the next inning. You just tip your cap to (Daniel) Cabrera. He’s a really good hitter, probably one of the top hitters in our league. Solo home runs don’t beat you a lot of times.” — Van Horn on Isaiah Campbell’s ability to limit damage

“Obviously, you’re playing a team like LSU and you’re playing a team in the league, and it’s the first game of the series, then they punch in a run in on your game one pitcher, it will make you start thinking a little bit. Maybe that’s what the crowd was doing. I don’t think there was any panic in our dugout whatsoever. We haven’t even hit yet. When (Casey) Martin hit that ball, it lit the crowd up a little bit. We’re confident and we’ve been playing pretty good. This team, I’ve said it a lot, they feel like they’re never out of a game and they’ll fight you.” — Van Horn on answering back in the first inning after LSU took the 1-0 lead

“Taking that first one is huge. Especially against a really talented team like that.  But Marty (Casey Martin) said it already and will tell you that baseball is just a crazy sport.  We can have 14-4 win today and a nail-biter the next day, the exact opposite.  So just getting that first win under our belt and getting the wrinkles out of opening the series is big.” — Trevor Ezell on being a team like LSU by 10 runs in the series opener

To be honest, it’s a simple thing going back to when you’re a little kid. Coach would say, ‘You shouldn’t try to hit a home run. You try to hit a line drive and if you hit a line drive, it’ll find its way out.’ That’s pretty much what I want to do, is get a good pitch and put a good swing on it..” — Jack Kenley on if he expected his home run numbers to go up and if he’s trying to hit home runs

Up next

Arkansas and LSU will meet back on the field tomorrow for game two of their series with first pitch slated for a 6:30 p.m. start.

You can hear the game on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home. Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter will have the call with pregame starting at 6 p.m.

The game will be televised online only via SEC Network+.

Martin, Ezell, Kenley on big hitting night in win over LSU

Razorbacks Casey Martin, Trevor Ezell and Jack Kenley recapped opening the series with the Tigers by banging 15 hits, including five homers in the 14-4 win.