Belans, Warrick on Hogs’ playing with confidence
Offense leads Hogs to semis after win over Georgia
COLUMBIA, Mo. — For the first time since 2001, Arkansas has advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament with Thursday’s 8-3 win over eighth-ranked and No. 2 seed Georgia.
The Razorbacks’ eight runs are the most scored by the program in an SEC Tournament game.
Arkansas will face No. 12 South Carolina in Friday’s semifinal at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
One of three Razorbacks with two hits in the game, senior A.J. Belans was 2-for-3 at the plate including a three-run homer while freshman Mary Haff tied the program’s single-season record with her 26th win in 3.1 innings of relief work.
The No. 18 Razorbacks improve to 39-14 for the most wins by the program since the 2002 season.
FINAL: #18 Arkansas 8, #8 Georgia 3 | Box Score
Georgia (43-11) put together the game’s first threat by loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first.
However, sophomore starter Autumn Storms got out of the jam by deflecting a shot up the middle toward Haydi Bugarin at second who gloved the ball and flipped to first for the third out.
The game was scoreless through two before Arkansas broke through with four runs on four hits in the top of the third frame.
With two down and runners on first and second, junior Katie Warrick doubled to right field to drive in the first run and Belans followed with a three-run shot to right center to push the Razorbacks’ lead to 4-0.
It was her fourth home run and the team’s 53rd of the season.
The Bulldogs scored one in each of the next two innings to cut their deficit in half but after a quiet fifth inning for both teams, Arkansas scored three insurance runs to cushion its lead.
Warrick and Belans got things started with back-to-back singles and after a sac bunt by senior Loren Krzysko, the team had runners on second and third.
Fellow senior Tori Cooper delivered an RBI single to right field to score pinch runner Sydney Parr.
The bases were loaded after Kayla Green took a pitch off the shoulder and Bugarin picked up an RBI of her own by drawing a walk that plated pinch runner Carley Haizlip.
With the bases still loaded, freshman Hannah McEwen drove in the seventh run with sacrifice fly for her 53rd RBI of the year.
Haff entered the game to get the final out of the fourth inning. She worked out of a bases-loaded jam of her own in the fifth inning.
The freshman responded by inducing a ground ball to third for a force out at the plate and got out of the inning with a lineout to Cooper in left.
Georgia scored a run in the bottom of the sixth but the Razorbacks got that run right back on an RBI single by Cooper in the top of the seventh.
Despite plunking a hitter with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Haff went on to close out the game and clinch Arkansas’ spot in the semifinal.
Her 26 wins are tied for the most by an Arkansas pitcher since Heather Schlichtman, also in her first year in Fayetteville, established the mark in 2001.
Hogs set to host Aggies for regular season finale
FAYETTEVILLE — With the division races heating up across the SEC, sixth-ranked Arkansas heads into their final regular-season home series this weekend with 21st-ranked Texas A&M in hopes of not only holding its lead in the Western Division, but also continuing its strong play at Baum Stadium.
Game one of the three-game series with the Aggies is set to begin on Friday at Baum Stadium with a first pitch time of 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.
Playing at home has been one of the strongest assets of this year’s Razorback squad. In those home games, the Hogs are 26-3 and hitting .337 as a team with 251 runs scored (8.7 runs/game) and 49 home runs.
Nine different players are hitting over .300 in home games with junior Eric Cole leading all Razorback hitters with a .376 batting average.
Cole has been a catalyst in the Arkansas starting lineup since being moved up to the lead-off spot on April 29 against No. 4 Texas Tech.
Over the last seven games, Cole is leading the team with a .379 batting average (11-for-29) and has gotten on base in the first inning in four of those games.
The Rotation
On the mound, Arkansas will continue with its three-man rotation of juniors Blaine Knight and Kacey Murphy, and redshirt sophomore Isaiah Campbell.
Knight continues to be a steady pitcher for the Hogs as he’s the only undefeated pitcher in the SEC at 7-0 and his 2.77 ERA is good for sixth-best in the league among starting pitchers.
As for Murphy, the southpaw has worked five or more innings in each of his last five starts and has not given up more than three earned runs in any of his 11 appearances this year.
Murphy actually holds the best ERA on the team at 2.57 and that total is good for fourth-lowest in the league.
Senior Day
Prior to game two’s contest between the Razorbacks and Aggies, Arkansas program will take time to honor its three seniors in Carson Shaddy, Luke Bonfield, and Jared Gates.
Shaddy and Bonfield are each finishing up four-year careers, while Gates, who transferred in from junior college, is finishing his second season in Razorback red.
Both Shaddy and Bonfield have suited up for the Razorbacks more than 180 times since 2015 and have combined for 51 homers and 245 RBIs, while helping the Hogs to their most recent trip to the College World Series (2015).
As for Gates, the Kansas-native has solidified himself into Arkansas history when he hit a mammoth insurance home run in last year’s NCAA Fayetteville Regional just before 3 a.m., sending the regional to a deciding seventh game.
Over his 64 games as a Hog, Gates has 45 hits, nine home runs, and 30 RBIs.
FOLLOW LIVE
All games this weekend will broadcast to a national audience as Friday’s series opener will be on the SEC Network, while Saturday and Sunday’s games will be on ESPN2.
Tom Hart (pxp), Kyle Peterson (analyst) and Eduardo Perez (analyst) will be on the call for all three games.
Phil Elson will call all three games on the radio for the Razorback Sports Network from IMG with former Razorback Bubba Carpenter.
That radio broadcasts are also available on the Razorback Gameday app.
IMPORTANT LINKS (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)
Fri, May 11 – Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – 6 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH (SEC Network)
Sat, May 10 – Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – 1 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH (ESPN2)
Sun, May 12 – Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – 12 p.m. – LIVE STATS | WATCH (ESPN2)
PROBABLE STARTERS
FRI: ARK RHP Blaine Knight (7-0, 2.77 ERA, 66 SO, 10 BB) vs. TAMU RHP Mitchell Kilkenny (8-2, 2.20 ERA, 71 SO, 19 BB)
SAT: ARK LHP Kacey Murphy (5-4, 2.57 ERA, 58 SO, 10 BB) vs. TAMU LHP John Doxaxis (6-3, 3.04 ERA, 57 SO, 20 BB)
SUN: ARK RHP Isaiah Campbell (3-5, 4.76 ERA, 43 SO, 23 BB) vs. TAMU RHP Stephen Kolek (5-4, 3.78 ERA, 52 SO, 31 BB)
RAZORBACK PRIME 9
• Junior outfielder Eric Cole had an outstanding series against LSU last week, going 5-for-12 (.417) at the plate, including a two-homer game on Friday. He’s the seventh Hog to record a multi-homer game this year.
• The Razorbacks are still atop the SEC West at 14-10 in conference play and will look to continue their strong play at home. This year, the Hogs have the best home winning percentage in the SEC (.897).
• Blaine Knight is currently the only SEC pitcher with an undefeated record at 7-0. In nine of his 12 starts, Knight has thrown six or more innings and struck out four or more.
• Heston Kjerstad (.357, 10 HR) and Casey Martin (.340, 10 HR) are the only Division I freshmen with a .330 average or higher and ten or more home runs.
• Jake Reindl earned his fifth save of the season against LSU last week. He has yet to give up an extra-base hit in SEC play and has struck out 17 over his last 9.2 innings.
• The Razorbacks are currently the best hitting team in the SEC with a .306 combined batting average and also leads the SEC in hits (502), home runs (74), and slugging percentage (.498).
• Following last week’s SEC and NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week award, junior pitcher Barrett Loseke had another strong weekend against LSU, earning his second win of the season, pitching four scoreless innings and allowing just one hit.
• After hitting just .190 in his first 17 games of the season, sophomore Dominic Fletcher has had the hot bat, hitting .358 in SEC games (eighth-highest among SEC hitters), including .389 over his last 10 games overall.
• In 28 games this year, Arkansas has totaled 10 or more hits. In those games, the Hogs are 22-6 with 18 of those wins coming at Baum Stadium.
Razorbacks’ Haff impresses in win over Bulldogs
Van Horn doesn’t like playing against former assistants
Texas A&M’s coaching staff is familiar with Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, having played for him at Nebraska and it’s something Van Horn doesn’t particularly like.
Gates looks ahead to A&M series, back over Hogs’ career
Razorback senior Jared Gates talked about the upcoming series against Texas A&M and looks back over his career in Fayetteville and his mother.
Fayetteville native Shaddy reflects on career
With senior day approaching Saturday, Fayetteville native Carson Shaddy talked about how playing for the Hogs is what he always wanted to do as he looks at final weekend at Baum Stadium.
Bonfield on Saturday’s senior day; Mother’s Day
Arkansas senior Luke Bonfield talked with the media Thursday about the final series at Baum Stadium this weekend against Texas A&M and his mother’s influence.
Ortiz named second team All-SEC and to community service team
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas senior Alvaro Ortiz earned Second-Team All-SEC honors and was selected to the SEC Community Service team for men’s golf, the league office announced today.
Ortiz has paced the No. 15 Razorbacks to two tournament titles and seven top-5 finishes in 2017-18.
The Zapopan, Mexico, native leads the team with a 70.8 stroke average and has one of three individual wins this season.
Ortiz has four top-5 finishes and leads the Razorbacks with 19 rounds under par, 138 birdies and 377 pars. He has been Arkansas’ low man in six events.
Ortiz makes his second appearance on the SEC Community Service Team, an initiative by the league to recognize the accomplishments of student-athletes for their work off the course.
As a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Ortiz has helped organize various community service projects throughout the department. He is majoring in international business and holds a 3.158 cumulative grade point average.
Arkansas will make its 25th NCAA Regional Championship appearance, including its 11th consecutive, as part of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship field announced last week.
The Razorbacks were selected as the No. 3 seed of the Norman Oklahoma Regional which will be hosted by the University of Oklahoma at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. Arkansas is one of two SEC schools at the site and one of 14 league teams in the postseason.
Dates: May 14-16, 2018
Location: Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, Norman, Oklahoma
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Format: Three rounds of stroke play with the top five teams from each of the six regional sites advancing to the NCAA Championship
NCAA Championship: May 25-30, at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma
Haff named top finalist for Freshman of Year award
COLUMBIA, Mo. — On the heels of earning all-conference honors, Arkansas pitcher Mary Haff has earned a spot on the top-10 finalists list for the 2018 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year.
Through 38 appearances, Haff carries a 25-6 record in the circle with a 1.49 ERA and 223 strikeouts in 183.0 innings of work.
The top-three finalists for the prestigious award will be announced May 23. Haff is one of three pitchers on the list and one of two freshmen representatives from the SEC.
In her last outing, Haff tallied her 17th complete game of the season in a 3-1 win over No. 19 Kentucky in the opening round of the SEC Tournament in Columbia, Missouri. She struck out five Wildcat hitters along the way.
The victory snapped Arkansas’ eight-game SEC Tournament losing streak and set up a Thursday matchup with No. 8 Georgia at 1:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
Haff is tied for first in the SEC and tied for fourth nationally with 25 victories, one shy of the program’s single-season record set by Heather Schlichtman in 2001.
Her 223 strikeouts are second in the SEC and rank among the top 20 in the NCAA this season. That figure is a program freshman-class record and sits third on Arkansas’ single-season list. Haff is also fourth in the SEC with a .154 opponent batting average.
Earlier this week, Haff was named to the All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Freshman Team.
She became the fifth pitcher in program history to earn All-SEC honors and the second consecutive to earn all-freshman accolades; teammate Autumn Storms was an SEC All-Freshman Team member in 2017.
Haff is also a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week.
Fassi moves to top of ANNIKA watch list for top player award
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior Maria Fassi moved to the top spot in the ANNIKA Award Watch List presented by 3M in the last release of the standings before the final vote.
On the heels of her come-from-behind win at the NCAA Austin Regional, Fassi jumped up one spot into the lead over UCLA’s Lilia Vu who held the lead for several weeks.
Razorback Dylan Kim is also on the Watch List at No. 14.
Fassi, along with her teammates, is rewriting the Razorback record books this season. She paced No. 3 Arkansas to a program-record seven tournament titles including the first Southeastern Conference and NCAA Regional wins.
As a team, Arkansas has played to 10 top-4 finishes in 10 tournaments (7 wins, 2 runners-up and 1 fourth-place finish).
As an individual, Fassi has won six tournaments and tied for the win but fell in a two-hole playoff at the SEC Championship. She leads the team in stroke average, rounds under par and earned SEC Golfer of Year this season.
Voting for the ANNIKA Award is now open to all Division I student-athletes, coaches and golf communications directors.
Voting will end at the conclusion of the NCAA Championship on May 23. The winner will be announced live on Golf Central on Wednesday, June 6, at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Final ANNIKA Award presented by 3M Watch List:
1. Maria Fassi, Arkansas
2. Lilia Vu, UCLA
3. Patty Tavatanakit, UCLA
4. Lauren Stephenson, Alabama
5. Leona Maguire, Duke
6. Andrea Lee, Stanford
7. Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest
8. Jillian Hollis, Georgia
9. Kristen Gillman, Alabama
10. Ainhoa Olarra, South Carolina
11. Olivia Mehaffey, Arizona State
12. Pimnipa Panthong, Kent State
13. Sophia Schubert, Texas
14. Dylan Kim, Arkansas
15. Kaitlyn Papp, Texas
