Phil & Tye hit on what it will take for Arkansas fans to buy in to Chad Morris, Nikki Chavanelle, and more!
McEwen, Storms named to All-SEC teams for Hogs on Tuesday
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — For the third straight year, Arkansas has had two Razorbacks get All-SEC honors.
Sophomore Hannah McEwen and junior Autumn Storms have been recognized by the league’s head coaches with a pair of All-SEC accolades as announced Tuesday by the conference office.
McEwen earned a spot on the All-SEC First Team and Storms earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team.
With Tuesday’s release, McEwen and Storms are the 18th and 19th all-conference performers in program history, and the fourth and fifth for coach Courtney Deifel, now in her fourth season in Fayetteville.
Storms is repeating as an all-conference honoree after collecting All-SEC Freshman honors in 2017.
McEwen becomes just the second Razorback to garner first-team recognition, joining Devon Wallace who was selected All-SEC First Team as a utility player in 2012.
McEwen’s first-team honor is not the first of her career either, as she was named to the All-SEC second team as a freshman in 2018.
McEwen and former Hogs Kimmy Beasley (2012-2013) and Brett Erickson (1999-2000) are the only three Razorbacks in program history to be recognized with all-SEC honors in back-to-back seasons.
McEwen has started in all 55 games so far this season, reaching base in all but five games this season.
She heads into SEC Tournament play as one of the most consistent hitters in the league, topping the conference in hits with 72 and ranking fourth in batting average (.402).
McEwen also leads the conference in hits against SEC opponents and is only one of three league hitters to average .400 or better in both overall and SEC play.
Storms wraps up her junior year with both weekly and conference awards, collecting her All-SEC honor just the day after earning SEC Pitcher of the Week for her outstanding 2-0 showing against Auburn last weekend.
Storms currently holds a team-best and career-high 1.54 ERA, ranking fifth in the SEC. She is among the top five pitchers in the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio, strikeouts, and victories as well.
Arkansas can rely on Storms to not give up many free bases; with only 28 walks in over 180 innings pitched, she ranks first in the SEC in walks allowed per seven innings.
Storms has recorded a career-high 163 strikeouts this season, including a career-high 13 strikeouts against SEMO.
Up next
With the sweep of Auburn complete, the Razorbacks finish the regular season 12-12 in conference play for the second year in-a-row.
The Hogs earned the ninth seed after a four-way tie for sixth place in the SEC rankings between Florida, Missouri and Georgia.
Arkansas will face eighth-seeded Georgia in the first round on Wednesday evening (May 8) at 5:30 p.m.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John & Tommy discuss Arkansas QB’s translating to the NFL, Gus Malzahn’s connection, and more!
Arkansas rallies on back nine at NCAA Regional to move into fourth
CLE ELUM, Wash. — Maria Fassi, Kaylee Benton and Dylan Kim birdied the final hole lifting Arkansas’ women’s golf team into fourth place after round one action of the 2019 NCAA Washington Regional in Cle Elum, Washington, on Monday.
Fassi and Benton both finished under par and are inside the top-10. The Razorbacks played Tumble Creek Club at Suncadia Resort 1-under shooting a 287 and are just six strokes back of top-ranked Southern California who leads the field with a 281.
Northwestern and host Washington are just ahead of Arkansas with San Jose State and UCF above the six-team cutline to advance to the NCAA Championship.
Fassi and redshirt freshman Brooke Matthews turned under par on the long and challenging front nine.
Fassi was 3-under through the first eight holes but found the thick, stick-line rough on No. 9 and doubled the hole. The senior All-American rallied with three birdies in the final four holes to shoot a 2-under 69. She is currently tied for fifth overall.
Benton’s successful senior campaign continues with the Buckeye, Arizona, native counting a 2-under 70 to come off the course tied for seventh overall. She turned even but bogeyed No. 11 to move to plus-1. Benton also rallied with three birdies in her final five holes to finish under par.
Freshman Ximena Gonzalez was the third Razorback who rallied late in the round. The Queretaro, Mexico, native turned 3-over but had four birdies on the back nine to shoot 73 and finish T-26th overall. Matthews finished her day with a 3-over 75 and Kim shot an 80 on Monday.
Arkansas will tee off in the late morning flight beginning on the back nine on Tuesday. Final round action takes place on Wednesday.
From Shauna Taylor
I think the meat of this golf course is really on the front side – probably through 11 holes and then you have three par fives in your last five holes. If you stay patient, you can get some back coming in. I’m really proud of our fight. I know we turned a little funky, but I love the resilience. Three of our five birdied the final hole and Maria (Fassi) birdied three of her last four holes. It says a lot about them and the fight they have. It takes a team effort. I’m really proud of Ximena (Gonzalez). She was 4-over at one point and got it back to 1-over. She had three birdies coming in and turned her round around.
We start on the back tomorrow and we have to really attack the course. We have to take advantage of those par-fives, two of the three are reachable. Every time you play the front side, you learn something, and your plan can be a little better and more precise. Having two rounds under our belts now we can be better prepared for the front side.
NCAA Golf Championships
The University of Arkansas and Blessings Golf Club are the proud hosts of the 2019 NCAA Women’s and Men’s National Championships.
Admission and parking for the entire two weeks will be free, courtesy of Tyson Foods and the Tyson Family Foundation.
The women’s event begins May 17 and is immediately followed by the men’s championship beginning May 24. For more information or to volunteer for the event, log on to www.NCAAGolf19.com.
Razorbacks’ Storms, Diaz pick up player honors from league Monday
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Right-handed pitcher Autumn Storms was named SEC pitcher of the week and Ashley Diaz was named SEC co-player of the week as the Razorbacks closed out the regular season with a sweep over Auburn.
Storms had another outstanding outing for Arkansas, recording a weekend 1.08 ERA. She struck out eight Tigers and gave up only two extra-base hits.
Storms held Auburn to a .118 average at the plate and gave up no sacrifice hits either.
In game one of the series, Storms held the Auburn offense to only two hits, gave up no extra-base hits, and allowed only one Tiger to reach second safely the entire contest. Her complete performance in the circle was her 13th of the season and fourth shutout.
She currently ranks third in the league for ERA in SEC play, and she is the only pitcher in conference play who not only maintained less than a 2.0 ERA in both overall and SEC play, but is also performing better against SEC opponents
Diaz was nothing but clutch this weekend in the Razorbacks’ sweep of Auburn, recording six hits and batting .600 with three runs batted in. Diaz finished the weekend with a .636 on base percentage and slugging 1.000 at the plate.
After trailing 1-0 in the first inning of game three, Diaz soared a two-run home run to left field. In the series finale victory, Diaz went 3-for-3 including her long ball, which was the 30th of her career, moving her into fourth all-time at Arkansas for career home runs.
Up next
With the sweep of Auburn complete, the Razorbacks finish the regular season 12-12 in conference play for the second year in a row.
The Hogs earn the ninth seed after a four-way tie for sixth place in the SEC rankings between Florida, Missouri and Georgia.
Arkansas will face eighth-seeded Georgia in the first round on Wednesday evening (May 8) at 5:30 p.m.
???? Monday Halftime Pod — featuring Dave Van Horn
Phil & Tye catch up with Dave Van Horn plus recap their weekend!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy discuss the Kentucky Derby, the UK series win, directions plus Tom Murphy!
Hogs take third straight SEC series, but can’t sweep Wildcats
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Arkansas picked up a third-straight conference series win on Sunday, defeating Kentucky, 9-1, in the first half of their doubleheader.
But they couldn’t complete a third-straight sweep, falling in the second game, 4-3, snapping their nine-game conference winning streak.
The Razorbacks (37-12, 17-7 SEC) have now won six SEC series this year, three coming on the road and have come out winners in nine of their last 10 conference games. The nine-game streak in league play is the longest for a Razorback team since 2010.
With the win on the front end of the doubleheader, coach Dave Van Horn picked up his 1,000th win in Division I play, joining eight other active head coaches in the nation.
In his 31-season career, Van Horn has a combined record of 1,265-616, with 25 seasons coming at the Division I level.
Arkansas used a six-run sixth inning to blow the first game open after trailing 1-0 going into the final two innings.
Junior Dominic Fletcher’s two-run home run in the top of the sixth, gave the Hogs the 2-1 lead and they never looked back. It was his only hit of the game, but was his ninth long ball of the year, third most on the team.
Freshman Patrick Wicklander looked strong on the mound through five innings in Sunday’s game one, giving up just one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts for his fifth win of the year.
It’s his third-straight outing with six or more strikeouts and each consisted of less than six innings pitched.
Game 1 | Arkansas 9, Kentucky 1 (Box Score)
In the first game of the day, it looked as if Kentucky starter Dillon Marsh and Wicklander were going to be locked in a pitchers’ duel.
Wicklander had the one blemish in the fourth inning when the Wildcats scored after a couple of singles, a throwing error and a groundout.
The San Jose, California native still looked sharp after giving up the run, as he struck out two more in the fifth to finish with six strikeouts on the day.
Wicklander never gave up more than one hit in an inning except for the fourth and walked only one in his outing. It was his lowest walk total in five innings or more since March 12 against Western Illinois (5.0 IP, 1 BB).
Arkansas finally got to Marsh in the sixth after Matt Goodheart led off with a single and then Fletcher unloaded a first-pitch fastball over the left-centerfield wall to make it 2-1.
Kentucky went to the bullpen after the homer, but still reached six of their next seven batters, scoring four more times for a six-run frame.
Right-hander Cody Scroggins relieved Wicklander in the bottom half of the sixth and looked very good in his first game back since April 14.
Scroggins faced six batters over the next inning and a third, striking out four. Marshall Denton finished the game, getting the final two outs on 10 pitches.
As a team, Arkansas finished with 10 hits, marking the ninth time in the last 10 games that it has notched 10 or more hits in a game.
This year the Hogs have 28 games with 10 or more hits and 10 with 15 or more hits.
Game 2 | Kentucky 4, Arkansas 3 (Box Score)
The Hogs nearly got the sweep in game two of the doubleheader, getting the tying run to third base in the top of the seventh, but grounded into a game-ending double play to fall one run short.
Arkansas’ offense struggled against Kentucky starting pitcher Zack Thompson all game, who ended up trying for the complete game, but made it only 6.1 innings, while striking out 11.
Arkansas did manage a run in the third and another run in the fifth to keep it within two runs before the seventh. In the final inning, Trevor Ezell doubled with one out and later scored on a Goodheart single to make it 4-3.
It was Goodheart’s second RBI of the game as he drove in Christian Franklin back in the third for Arkansas’ first run of the game.
Ezell and Goodheart both finished with two hits in the game. Ezell reached base four times in game one and two times in game two to complete a 4-for-7 day with two walks and three RBIs.
Starting pitcher Connor Noland was never able to settle in as he gave up four runs in 3.1 innings and six hits. He struck out four and walked only one, but gave up three solo home runs.
Up next
Arkansas returns home for the final regular-season series of the year at Baum-Walker Stadium against LSU starting on Thursday and running through Saturday.
Game time for the series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
Razorbacks down Auburn, 5-2, to complete sweep behind Diaz’ homer
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas completed its first sweep of the season, closing out the regular season with a 5-2 win over Auburn on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Bogle Park.
Ashley Diaz hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the first and the Razorbacks never looked back.
Hannah McEwen was on base when Diaz’ home run soared over the left-field wall, giving Arkansas the 2-1 lead.
For the second game in-a-row, the Tigers were the first on the scoreboard. Auburn opened up the contest with a leadoff double by Casey McCrackin and was driven in by Alyssa Rivera on a follow up base hit.
The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the fifth inning, when sophomore Danielle Gibson connected on the first pitch of the inning far beyond the center-field fence.
Katie Warrick scored Arkansas’ third run of the game, extended the Hogs’ lead to 3-1 after five frames. Warrick reached base early in the inning on a fielder’s choice and after an Auburn error and wild pitch, crossed home.
The Tigers’ Kendall Veach homered to start the sixth inning but Diaz’ bat stayed hot, and with an RBI-double to right-center field in the bottom of the inning, the Razorbacks had the insurance run they needed to close out the win.
Starter Autumn Storms pitched six innings for Arkansas in her 20th win of the season, giving up only four hits. Mary Haff entered in relief for Storms and earned her fifth save of her sophomore campaign after retiring the Auburn lineup in the top of the seventh.
Notables
• Arkansas has now outhit its opponents in six-straight contests, and 14 of the last 15.
• Storms and Haff combined to recorded 12 strikeouts and not a single walk all weekend.
• The series victory over Auburn extends Arkansas’ home-series winning streak to eight .
• Diaz’ home run was the 30th of her career, pushing her up to fourth all-time at Arkansas for career home runs.
Up next
With the sweep of Auburn complete, the Razorbacks finished the regular season tied for sixth and 12-12 in conference play for the second year in a row.
The Hogs earn the ninth seed after a four-way tie in the SEC rankings between Florida, Missouri and Georgia.
Arkansas will face eighth-seeded Georgia in the first round on Wednesday evening at 5:30 p.m.
How five of Hogs’ league foes could be headed downhill this year
After last year’s disaster, anything beyond four wins for Arkansas fans will be a step forward for some while others figure they won’t win all of the non-conference games.
Such is life with Razorback fans. Some of them determine the entire fate of the program on each snap of the ball.
But here’s to a ray of hope. In addition to four games out of the league that should be winnable, there are some SEC teams on the schedule who will be backing up from last year … you can count on it.
One of the most accurate things I ever heard came from Lou Holtz back in spring practice of 1978 after the Hogs had just gone 11-1, finished third in the country and beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Lou was trying to temper the predictions for 1978 as folks had the Razorbacks beating everybody on the schedule about 90-0 or something like that.
“Last year has nothing to do with this year,” Lou said.
Over the years that has proven to be one of the most accurate statements ever made.
This year that could be a dangerous way to predict the SEC West … after you get past putting Alabama somewhere near the top. While LSU and Texas A&M should be good again. Whether they are better or not, well, that’s up in the air.
The interesting part is everybody else.
Arkansas will likely be picked at the bottom. That really doesn’t matter, though, because the only thing that matters is where you finish.
As we said, though, you probably could put the four teams below those top three mentioned earlier in a bag, shake ’em up and pour ’em out and get about as good of a guess as anybody else.
Yes, I’m putting Auburn in there, too. The only thing evident down there is the football program appears to be in chaos just a year after they committed $7 million a year to make sure Gus Malzahn stays there.
Now he may not be there by Halloween.
To say Gus has a short leash may be an understatement. Considering he collapsed after he got his new contract might be an understatement. The Tigers are 8-7 since reportedly flirting with the Hogs after Bret Bielema was fired.
After an 8-5 season that pleased absolutely no one at Auburn, there was a juggling of the coaching staff and now Gus is taking over the offense again, which is drawing mixed reviews.
Their schedule has six conference games in the first eight, including Oregon, Texas A&M, Florida and LSU. Half of their first eight games are on the road, including a trip to Fayetteville on October 19.
If the Tigers are 6-2 heading into November it will be surprising.
Something similar is happening at Mississippi State that had the same record as Auburn last year (8-5), but had four players among the first 44 players taken in the draft and a first-year coach in Joe Moorhead, who didn’t appear to do a lot to keep his offensive coordinator from going to the Green Bay Packers.
Moorhead is taking over much of that and has road trips to Auburn, Tennessee and Texas A&M in the first eight games … and LSU at home. If MSU is at 4-4 heading into November that will be shocking.
Ole Miss may be in the worst shape of all. When a relatively inexperienced head coach fires both coordinators and loses the top playmakers off a 5-7 team (1-7 in the SEC), there are no questions about changes.
While the NCAA basically slapped the Rebels on the wrist, the long and drawn-out investigation has taken it’s toll in terms of instability within the program under two head coaches and a revolving door for coaches and players.
Kentucky had a dream 10-3 season last year and lost their best playmakers on both sides of the ball to the NFL. Losing players isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless it’s the guys who make the plays that got you those 10 wins.
Finally, Missouri at the end of the Hogs’ schedule won’t be playing for a bowl game. They are on probation for a year because their administration couldn’t handle the NCAA properly and you always wonder what’s going to happen in that situation, plus they aren’t exactly loaded with talent. Kelly Bryant and quarterback isn’t an upgrade from Drew Lock.
That’s five teams on Arkansas’ schedule that won’t be improved over last year.
When you look at the playmakers they lost and the folks they are trying to replace them with, well, they won’t be as good.
At a couple of places throw in staff changes to an already rocky situation and the potential for chaos is there.
Yes, I know Alabama had a major shuffle, too, and they aren’t mentioned much here. They still have the best talent in the league.
And Nick Saban’s still there.
Razorbacks’ bats get hot late in 7-1 win to clinch series over Auburn
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas trailed by a run heading into the bottom of the sixth, then put seven on the board to take a 7-1 win over Auburn in the second game of the series Saturday at Bogle Park.
The Razorbacks recorded seven runs on six hits to take the lead and secure the win.
Pinch-hitter Ryan Jackson hit a two-out, bases-clearing double off the left-center wall to give Arkansas the 4-1 lead in the bottom of the inning.
Arkansas tacked on three insurance runs before the inning was over to solidify the victory.
Heading into the sixth inning, Arkansas trailed, 1-0 after Auburn scored on a single to center field in the third inning. The Hogs were unable to capitalize at the plate, tallying only three hits, stranding four Razorbacks on base — three in scoring position.
Sophomore Danielle Gibson led off the rally that included runs batted in by four different Razorbacks. Senior Carley Haizlip was called on to pinch run for Arkansas after Gibson safely reached first with a base hit to center field. Haizlip scored the tying run from second after an Auburn throwing error left Kayla Green’s hit in right field.
Starter Mary Haff pitched a complete game for the Hogs, striking out four Tigers and giving up no free bases on balls. Haff retired the Auburn lineup in order in four of the seven innings and recorded 14 first-pitch strikes against the Tigers.
Notables
• Hannah McEwen has reached base safely in 49 of 54 contests this season.
• Nicole Duncan was hit by a pitch for the 17th time this year, breaking the single-season record previously held by Kim Eiben in 2002.
• Tonight marks the fifth time the Hogs have scored seven runs in a single inning this season.
• The Razorbacks have outhit their last five opponents, 13 of the last 14.
• Arkansas has scored the most runs in the sixth inning, plating 57 of their 275 runs in the sixth.
Keep up with the Hogs
• Game 3 | Watch | Live Scoring
Up Next
The two teams will meet for game three, tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. Sunday’s game will be available via live stream on the SEC Network+.
After the weekend series against the Tigers, Arkansas will hit the road and return to College Station for the SEC Tournament, set to start on Wednesday, May 8th.
