Storms named SEC’s top pitcher after complete game shutout over Kentucky
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Autumn Storms was selected as the SEC Pitcher of the Week after a 3-0 performance last week, including a complete-game shutout of Kentucky last Friday.
The weekly accolade is the second of Storms’ career.
Storms’ shutout against the Wildcats was the first for the Wildcats this season. She went on to only allow two runs in game three of the series, helping the Razorbacks to their sixth-straight conference home series win.
Storms started the week with a win over Sun Belt opponent UT-Arlington, where she allowed only four hits and struck out five Mavericks. Over the course of the week, Storms tallied 12 total strikeouts.
The Temecula, California native faced 94 batters and recorded only one true walk through 20.2 innings pitched. She currently ranks in the top 50 of four categories among Division I pitchers including victories, walks allowed per seven innings, strikeouts and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Since becoming a Razorback, Storms has recorded 325 strikeouts; Storms’ 116 strikeouts this season are already a single-season career high.
Up Next
Arkansas will start a four-game road stretch on Wednesday when they travel to Missouri State for a non-conference mid-week game with the Bears.
After Wednesday’s contest, the Razorbacks will head south to Gainesville, where they will kick-off a three-game series with Florida starting Friday at 5 p.m.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John Nabors & Tommy Craft discuss selling the Arkansas program to coaches, Eric Musselman rumors, plus Aaron Torres!
Could Nevada’s Musselman be Hogs’ choice if Sampson not interested?
With every passing hour there is no announcement that Houston’s Kelvin Sampson is the new Arkansas coach, you have to wonder if there’s a different focus and if the focus is on Nevada coach Eric Musselman.
After the Cougars were eliminated by Kentucky in the Sweet 16 last week, every Razorback fan started the clock, watching intently for an announcement.
One that hasn’t come from anyone official.
Musselman is a name that’s been whispered by numerous people for nearly a week now.
After a couple of stints in the NBA that were rather unremarkable, he worked first at Arizona State, then LSU before going to Nevada as the head coach in 2015 and in four years he’s won at a 76.4 percent clip.
He’s had the Wolfpack in the NCAA Tournament for three of his four years. The first year he had a 24-14 record and won the CBI Tournament. Okay, that’s not even the NIT, but it’s in the record and with that record in a major conference they would have been in the NCAA.
The Hogs likely weren’t going to look at a Rick Pitino, for a variety of reasons … pick one. Chris Beard isn’t leaving Texas Tech for Arkansas. He’s a Texas guy and might go to the Longhorns, but that’s a big question mark, too.
Because of Hogs athletics director Hunter Yurachek’s relationship with Sampson, everyone assumed that was a deal done months before the firing of Mike Anderson last week.
If there was a deal — and no one has any evidence I’ve seen there was one — for whatever reason it fell completely apart. Probably because Houston has some boosters who can pony up the financial resources to make the Cougars an attractive job.
All of that leads to Musselman, who is 54 years old, has worked in the NBA and as an assistant at the top college levels. Reportedly he was one of the keys to LSU landing Ben Simmons.
He’s won everywhere he’s been … except in the NBA.
Like I said, that’s not a negative from this corner. Pitino and Calipari didn’t win in their trials in the NBA, either.
You can see on his resume why he might be an attractive choice.
Whether he’s the first choice or not.
???? Monday Halftime Pod — featuring Arkansas legend Sidney Moncrief
Phil Elson & Tye Richardson discuss the coaching search, interview Arkansas legend Sidney Moncrief, plus the guys recap their weekend!
History made Tuesday night when Razorbacks host Little Rock
FAYETTEVILLE — Tuesday night marks a historic night in Arkansas baseball history as the Razorbacks face Arkansas-Little Rock for the first-ever meeting between the two programs in the regular season.
It will be the first of two games Arkansas plays against in-system schools, facing Arkansas-Pine Bluff in two weeks.
Arkansas (22-6, 6-3 SEC) is looking to get back on the winning track after dropping two-of-three against then-No. 21 Ole Miss last weekend.
The series loss snapped a streak of 18-consecutive home series wins dating back to 2017, but now the Hogs have their sights set on earning a win on Tuesday to take momentum into their weekend series at Auburn.
Freshman Patrick Wicklander will take the hill for his fifth-consecutive midweek start. The San Jose, California native got the nod last week at Missouri State and was unhittable for two innings, striking out the final five batters he faced.
In his five starts this year, Wicklander has a 2.84 ERA and a 4.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
The bats of Dominic Fletcher and Casey Martin come into the eighth week of the season hot as both players hit well over .400 last week with Fletcher leading all Razorbacks with a .438 average over the last four games.
Three of Fletcher’s seven hits went for doubles last week and his 14 doubles this season ties Mississippi State’s Jake Mangum for the SEC lead.
Martin hit his team-leading sixth home run of the year on Sunday against Ole Miss, extending his hit streak to six games.
Against the Rebels last week, Martin went 6-for-13 (.462) with two multi-hit games and has 10 hits during his six-game streak.
Follow live
Tuesday’s game with the Trojans will be available via SEC Network+ and the ESPN app. Brett Dolan (PxP) and Troy Eklund (Analyst) will have the call.
Fans can listen to the radio call on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home and via the Razorback Gameday app.
Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter will have the call from Baum-Walker Stadium. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch. There will also be a live radio link available on ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Probable Starters
TUE. : (ARK) LHP Patrick Wicklander (2-1, 5.11 ERA, 37 K, 15 BB) vs. (LR) RHP McKinley Moore (0-2, 9.00 ERA, 12 K, 10 BB)
Razorback Prime Nine
• For the first time in school history Arkansas will take on an in-state school when it faces Little Rock on Tuesday at Baum-Walker Stadium. It will also take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff on April 16.
• Arkansas is 16-3 this season in non-conference games and is hitting .306 in those games, while the pitching staff ERA is at 3.13.
• The Razorbacks defeated Missouri State, 8-2, in their last midweek contest after getting eight unanswered runs over the course of the final four innings.
• Freshman Patrick Wicklander will make his fifth-consecutive midweek start on Tuesday. In those starts, Wicklander has a 2.84 ERA and a 4.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
• Junior outfielder Dominic Fletcher is coming off one of his strongest weeks of the season after going 7-for-16 (.438) at the plate, which led all Razorbacks, with three of his hits going for doubles.
• For the fifth-straight start, redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell went six or more innings after going seven against No. 21 Ole Miss last week. He only allowed four earned runs and five walks in March.
• Redshirt freshman Jacob Nesbit saw his 15-game hitting streak come to a close last Friday against the Rebels. Nesbit hit .412 during the streak with 15 RBIs and slugged .529.
• Outfielder Dominic Fletcher is tied for first in the SEC in doubles (14) heading into the fourth week of conference play. He matched his career-best of two doubles in Friday’s series opener vs. Ole Miss.
• Closer Matt Cronin had his longest outing of the year last Friday against Ole Miss, going 1.2 innings for his seventh save of the year, striking out three. The save total is second most in the SEC.
Up next
Arkansas hits the road for its first Thursday-Saturday series in conference play when it travels to 10th-ranked Auburn at Plainsman Park.
Game one is set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU, while game two will be at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.
The series finale will have first pitch at 2 p.m. and be broadcast on SEC Network+ as well.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy discuss the Sweet 16/Elite 8, spring practice updates, plus Tom Murphy joins the show!
Photos from Saturday’s cold, windy, rainy practice, including scrimmage
PHOTOS BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM
Razorbacks can’t stop Ole Miss after trading lead four times in Sunday loss
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas and Ole Miss traded leads four times Sunday afternoon in the rubber match at Baum-Walker Stadium, but it was the Rebels that scored six-straight runs in the sixth and seventh innings to beat the Razorbacks, 10-5, earning the series victory.
The series loss breaks a streak of 18-straight home series losses the Razorbacks have had dating back to April of 2017.
The last home series loss came against Ole Miss (April 27-28), which was the last time the Rebels visited Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (22-6, 6-3 SEC) had struggles on the pitching staff as they combined for 12 walks in the game. It’s the second time this season the pitchers have walked 12 or more batters in a game, both were losses (14 at No. 9 Texas on March 20).
Ole Miss (20-9, 5-4 SEC) had its leadoff batter reach base in every inning but the first and put the pressure on the Razorback arms early.
Redshirt junior Cody Scroggins worked his way out of a few jams early on for Arkansas, giving up just two runs over four innings, one being a home run.
However, once the bullpen took over, the Rebels were able to put 14 runners on base over the next three innings, scoring eight times and build their lead to five.
Arkansas’ offense responded well early on when it scored twice in the fourth and three times in the fifth to take its only lead of the game at 5-4.
Junior Dominic Fletcher drove in two of the Hogs’ runs with a single in the fourth and a double down the left field line in the fifth. He finished the game 2-for-4 and had five hits in the series, three being doubles.
Fletcher now has 14 doubles this year, which is already two less than he had all of last year. His total also ties for the most in the SEC.
Sophomore Casey Martin provided the only other runs for the Razorbacks in the fifth when he hit his team-leading sixth home run of the year, a two-run blast that tied the game at 4-4.
Martin has two home runs in his last five games and is batting .323 over his last seven games with three multi-hit performances. He went 6-for-13 (.462) in the series against Ole Miss and has a six-game hitting streak.
Along with Martin and Fletcher, Heston Kjerstad, Jack Kenley and Christian Franklin all had two hits in the game. Kjerstad was held hitless in the series until a single in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game.
Kenley has three hits in his last seven at-bats, while Franklin turned in his first multi-hit game since March 19 at No. 9 Texas.
Razorback quotables
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game. I mean, we walked double digits and hit a couple. We fought back in the game and flipped around the momentum, took the lead 5-4 and come out and walk the leadoff man on four pitches – I think they get a hit, I don’t know what happened after that. Next thing you know they score three. We’re down a couple runs. Give them (Ole Miss) credit, they’ve got a good lineup, but you’ve got to make people earn it, you know. I’d rather them have 20 hits than 14 hits and take away 10 of those walks. I can live with that. It’s not throwing the ball over the plate that really made a difference in the game.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on the 10-5 loss to Ole Miss
“Just talked about paying attention to details. All the little things, like holding runners. Keeping on runners and just throwing the ball over the plate. Make an adjustment. We’re going to make some adjustments, maybe on who travels. If guys can’t throw it over the plate, we’ll give some other guys opportunities. Little things like that.” — Van Horn on his message to the team after the game
“It’s just baseball. You are going to have days when the pitching staff is just not going to be there and we are going to have days where the hitters can’t hit, but today our hitters did a phenomenal job of keeping us in that ballgame, for sure.” — Cody Scroggins on the way things snowball when pitchers are hitting their spots
“Take away some positives from the day, learn from the negatives. That will take you a long way. You learn more from when you lose. Coach (Van Horn) kind of said that and he’s 100 percent right. So take away positives from the day and learn from the negatives.” — Casey Martin on the players’ message to each other
Up next
Arkansas hits the field again on Tuesday against the Little Rock Trojans with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs in their histories. The game will be televised on SEC Network+.
Razorbacks rally to sweep pair of weekend series in Mississippi
STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Arkansas women’s tennis team earned its first weekend sweep in conference play, defeating Mississippi State, 4-3, Sunday afternoon.
The Hogs got off to a slow start, dropping the doubles point in the third set. Lauren Alter and Tatum Rice dropped the No. 1 position before Thea Rice and Martina Zerulo evened doubles play with a 6-3 win.
The Bulldogs clinched the point at the No. 3 position as Jackie Carr and Laura Rijkers fell 6-4.
Mississippi State quickly went up 3-0 as Rijkers fell 6-2, 6-2 and No. 115 Martina Zerulo fell 6-1, 6-4. No. 79 Tatum Rice earned Arkansas’ first point of the match, defeating Magda Adaloglou 6-3, 6-3.
The Hogs got within one of the tie at the No. 5 position as Miruna Tudor earned a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win.
Alter tied the match in the tiebreaker set, rallying from a first-set deficit for a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory. Carr clinched the match for the Razorbacks with a 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 win at the No. 6 position.
Arkansas will return to the court to close out its home slate next weekend, hosting No. 5 Georgia, No. 24 Tennessee, and Oral Roberts. Senior day activities are set for Sunday afternoon between the Tennessee and Oral Roberts matches.
For more information on Razorback women’s tennis, follow @RazorbackWTEN on Twitter.
Arkansas 4, Mississippi 3
Doubles Results – Order of Finish (1,2,3)
1. Magda Adaloglou/Tamara Racine (MS) def. Lauren Alter/Tatum Rice (ARK) 6-2
2. Thea Rice/Martina Zerulo (ARK) def. Emma Antonaki/Anastasia Rentouli (MS) 6-3
3. Janina Braun/Sara Lizariturry (MS) def. Jackie Carr/Laura Rijkers (ARK) 6-4
Singles Results – Order of Finish (3,1,2,5,4,6)
1. No. 82 Emma Antonaki (MS) def. No. 115 Martina Zerulo (ARK) 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 79 Tatum Rice (ARK) def. Magda Adaloglou (MS) 6-3, 6-3
3. Anastasia Rentouli (MS) def. Laura Rijkers (ARK) 6-1, 6-2
4. Lauren Alter (ARK) def. Tamara Racine (MS) 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
5. Miruna Tudor (ARK) def. Janina Braun (MS) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
6. Jackie Carr (ARK) def. Sara Lizariturry (MS) 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
Van Horn not happy with pitching after dropping series to Ole Miss
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn wasn’t pleased with his team’s pitching after dropping the series to the Rebels on Sunday, 10-5, with problems on the mound.
