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Buhl, Overstreet lead Razorbacks at first day of SEC

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — William Buhl and Mason Overstreet each had a run of three consecutive birdies going low for No. 16 Arkansas in round one of the 2018 SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club, on Wednesday.

Buhl counted an even par 70, while Overstreet added a 1-over 71 leading the Razorbacks to a 289 and 10th place with two rounds of stoke play remaining before the field is cut to the final eight. The final eight moves on to match play to determine the league champion.

The Razorbacks’ 9-over 289 is just one shot back of the top eight and nine back of a runner-up spot after one round of play. Vanderbilt surged to the top of the leaderboard and the No. 4 Commodores are in the clubhouse with a 4-under 276 – the only round under par.

The field features five top-10 teams and 12 of the 14 teams are in the top-50. No. 9 Auburn and No. 50 Tennessee are tied for second, shooting a 280, followed by No. 11 LSU at 281 and No. 6 Alabama with a 283 rounding out the top five.

Buhl’s round saw him turn 2-under after he posted three consecutive birdies on holes 7, 8 and 9. He added a fourth birdie on the back side finishing tied with Overstreet with four for the round. Overstreet had his success on the back nine with three consecutive birdies on holes 13, 14, and 15 and he closed the day with a final birdie on No. 18. Buhl leads Arkansas and is tied for 11th overall while Overstreet is tied for 18.

Tyson Reeder is tied for 36th with a 2-over 73 and Alvaro Ortiz and Luis Garza are tied for 53 shooting 75.

The Lineup

PLACE PLAYER SCORE TO PAR
T11 William Buhl (4) 70 E
T18 Mason Overstreet (2) 71 +1
T36 Tyson Reeder (5) 73 +2
T53 Alvaro Ortiz (1) 75 +5
T53 Luis Garza (3) 75 +5

The Field

PLACE TEAM SCORE TO PAR
1 No. 4 Vanderbilt 276 -4
T2 No. 50 Tennessee 280 E
T2 No. 9 Auburn 280 E
4 No. 11 LSU 281 +1
5 No. 6 Alabama 283 +3
6 No. 19 Kentucky 286 +6
7 No. 39 Missouri 287 +7
T8 No.38 South Carolina 288 +8
T8 No. 34 Ole Miss 288 +8
10 No. 16 Arkansas 289 +9
11 Georgia 291 +11
T12 Mississippi State 293 +13
T12 No. 7 Florida 293 +13
14 No. 2 Texas A&M 296 +16

The Razorbacks return to the links playing with Georgia and Mississippi State beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday.

Razorbacks get top seed at NCAA regional in Austin

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will make its 17th NCAA Regional Championship appearance and its first as a No. 1 seed, traveling to Austin, Texas, the NCAA announced today.

The Razorbacks were one of 72 teams selected to four individual sites with each regional championship featuring 18 teams and six individuals.

Dates: May 7-9
Location: Austin, Texas | UT Golf Club
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Format: Three rounds of stroke play with the top six teams from each Regional Championship advancing to the NCAA Championship
NCAA Championship: May 18-23, at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma

The Razorbacks are enjoying a record-setting year. They have won a single-season best six tournaments including the program’s first SEC title in Hoover, Alabama, last week. Coach Shauna Taylor is the first in SEC women’s golf history to win the championship as both a player and a coach.

Junior Maria Fassi leads the team with a 69.70 stroke average. Fassi has won six individual titles, was selected to the inaugural Palmer Cup International Team and ranks second on the ANNIKA Award Watch List recognizing the best player in college women’s golf.

The supporting cast includes senior Alana Uriell and junior Dylan Kim who are also on the ANNIKA Award Watch List and who were selected to the Palmer Cup USA Team this spring.

Uriell has two top-3 finishes in regional action while Kim made two NCAA Championship appearances while at Baylor.

Kaylee Benton picked up three match play wins at last week’s SEC Championship and Cara Gorlei finished tied for seventh at last year’s Columbus Regional and advanced to the NCAA Championship.

Taylor has paced the Razorbacks to 12 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances as a head coach. Her team’s hold the record for best finish (3/T3), best individual finish (T2), team single round (283), team tournament score 864), and individual low round (67).

Arkansas in an NCAA Regional
First appearance | Number of appearances: 
2000 | 17/16 consecutive
Best Finish: 3 (2015) and T3 (2013)
Best Individual Finish: T2 | Gabriela Lopez and Alana Uriell (2015)
Times to advance to the NCAA Championship: 8 | Plus two individuals

The Austin Regional Field
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Texas (7)
3. Michigan State (10)
4. Florida (14)
5. Auburn (24)
6. Oklahoma (20)
7. Houston (25)
8. Miami (28)
9. Baylor (30)
10. Texas A&M (39)
11. BYU (43)
12. East Carolina (49)
13. Texas Tech (48)
14. Virginia Tech (55)
15. Texas-San Antonio (71)
16. Georgetown (86)
17. Houston Baptist (124)
18. Missouri State (159)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two members of the Arkansas women’s tennis team earned SEC postseason honors Wednesday, announced by the SEC office.

Sophomore Giulia Pairone was named to the first team, while junior Ana Oparenovic was selected to the second team.

Pairone, the No. 48 ranked singles player in the nation, posted a 13-5 record in singles action this spring, including an 8-5 mark at the top spot.

She and senior Mia Jurasic were solid in dual match doubles play, recording a 12-10 record with a 7-5 mark in SEC action.

Oparenovic, who earned All-Freshman honors two years ago, went 15-9 in singles this spring and is currently ranked No. 75 nationally.

Oparenovic and freshman Tatum Rice were dominant in doubles action, posting a 14-5 dual match record at the No. 1 position. The nation’s No. 29 ranked tandem, Oparenovic and Rice have knocked off three ranked opponents this season, including one top-15 duo.

Wednesday night matchup with Tech cancelled

FAYETTEVILLE — With rain expected to continue throughout the day Wednesday and in consideration of Texas Tech’s travel plans, Arkansas’ midweek series finale against the Red Raiders has been cancelled and the game will not be rescheduled.

Tickets to Wednesday’s contest are null and void. Individuals who purchased single-game tickets may exchange them for tickets to any future 2018 regular-season game, subject to availability.

Arkansas will now focus its sights on its next Southeastern Conference series when it takes on the Alabama Crimson Tide starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Baum Stadium.

It will be televised on SEC Network+.

Saturday’s and Sunday’s final two games of the series will also be on SEC Network+ with first pitches set for 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Hogs’ pitchers make early lead over Tech hold up

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 7 Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings on No. 4 Texas Tech, then was able to quiet the powerful Red Raider offense Tuesday night to earn a 5-1 win at Baum Stadium.

It was the Razorbacks’ sixth win over a Top 5 opponent this year.

Texas Tech’s Grant Little walks back to the dugout in the first inning after being the second strikeout victim of the Hogs’ pitchers. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

With three runs in the first and two in the second, the Arkansas pitching and defense took over the remainder of the way, holding Texas Tech to no hits and only walked one over the final six innings.

It’s the 33rd game this year that Arkansas has walked four or less batters as a staff and 10th game they’ve held opponents to one run or less.

The win is also the sixth-straight midweek win for Arkansas and 24th win at home. The Hogs have been quite comfortable when playing at home as the pitching staff has racked up a 2.52 ERA, while the offense is hitting a combined .334 inside the friendly confines.

The Hitting

Four different Razorbacks recorded two hits in Tuesday night’s game, while the team, combined, had 10 hits.

It was the 25th game this year that the Razorback offense has recorded 10 or more hits in a game and the Hogs are 19-6 in those games.

Arkansas got up on Texas Tech starting pitcher Ryan Sublette early in the first inning, reaching its first five batters before recording the first out.

Dominic Fletcher got the first RBI of the game when he singled home Eric Cole with the bases loaded. The next batter, Jared Gates, was hit by a pitch to drive in the second run.

Then, Jordan McFarland hit into a bases-loaded double play, but was still able to get the third run home.

Fletcher finished the game 2-for-5 with two RBIs. It’s his first multi-RBI game since March 17 against No. 4 Kentucky and sixth multi-hit performances in his last 11 games.

The Hogs added two more runs in the second after Fletcher came up big again with his second RBI of the night on a hard-hit single up the middle. His knock was preceded by a Luke Bonfield RBI single that helped spell the end for Sublette.

The Pitching

Junior Barrett Loseke was lights out from the bullpen, earning his first victory of the year after throwing 4.2 perfect innings, while striking out a career-high 10 batters.

It’s the second appearance that Loseke has made this year where he’s struck out eight or more. Against Charlotte on March 21, Loseke struck out eight over three innings in his second start of the year.

He’s currently only allowed one run and two hits in appearances (3) that have lasted longer than three innings.

Overall, it was a strong night for the Razorback pitching staff as the Red Raiders were held to four hits, tying their lowest total in a game this season.

As a team, Arkansas struck out 17 batters, its highest in a game this year and highest since striking out 18 against Grand Canyon on April 5 of last season.

Freshman Jackson Rutledge, who got the call for the start, was strong over 2.2 innings, as he scattered four hits and gave up just one earned run. He faced 13 batters and struck out three while throwing 48 pitches in his second start of the year.

After Rutledge, sophomore Evan Lee came in and began the shutdown of the Texas Tech offense. Lee struck out four over 1.2 innings, and didn’t give up a hit, while walking only two. It’s the fifth outing that Lee has had last longer than an inning this year, but it’s his first no-hit outing of the season.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn watches as another Texas Tech batter strikes out in the first inning against pitcher Jack Rutledge. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Razorback Quotables

“A super job by our bullpen. They came in and located some pitches and pitched ahead in the count. Especially (Barrett) Loseke down the stretch. He might throw ball one, very rarely did he go 2-0, when he did he came back and threw a strike and worked the count back even and ended up getting a lot of strikeouts.” — Coach Dave Van Horn on the bullpen

“In baseball, you’re going to win some games a lot of different ways. We’ve scored a lot of runs, we had two shutouts in one day. I didn’t think we would shut down Texas Tech and hold them to one run with that offense but sometimes you get on a little bit of a roll and it happens. But hey, it’s great, it’s good for the pitchers. The confidence of the pitching staff. Our bullpen didn’t do a great job this past weekend and it’s really nice to see them come out and finish a game off for us.” — Van Horn on importance of win

“I told him after the game that’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him pitch. I think what separated this one from other outings was his ability to make adjustments quickly on the fly. If you saw him miss with an off-speed or miss with a fastball, you saw him make adjustments really quickly. It was a great outing by him and it’s good to see because I think he figured some stuff out tonight.” — Grant Koch on Barrett Loseke’s performance

“Personally, I was a little nervous, but I wouldn’t say nervous as in scared, nervous as in anxious and excited and ready to pitch against them. Like I said, Jackson (Rutledge) came out there and Evan (Lee) came out there and absolutely dominated them, so by the time I came in I felt like they already established that we were going to pitch, we were going to throw off-speed and they already had the hitters timing off. So, it just made it even easier for me, they were the ones that really had the tough challenge of starting the game off.” — Barrett Loseke on his nerves facing Texas Tech

Up Next

Arkansas and Texas Tech will be back on the field to finish out the short series on Wednesday at Baum Stadium.

First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network.

Van Horn after Hogs’ solid win over Texas Tech

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn talked about the team’s bouncing back from being swept at Mississippi State to get a solid 4-1 win over the No. 4-ranked Red Raiders.

Loseke, Lee, Koch on strong pitching effort against Tech

Arkansas relief pitchers Barrett Loseke and Evan Lee along with catcher Grant Koch talked after the 5-1 win about the solid effort keeping a good-hitting Red Raiders team off balance.

Hogs-Colorado State to air prime time on CBS Sports

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ game against Colorado State on Sept. 8 in Fort Collins, Colorado, will kick off at 6:30 p.m. and televised live on CBS Sports Network, announced Tuesday by the Mountain West Conference.

The Razorbacks own a 3-0 advantage over the Rams in the all-time series with the last matchup coming in 1990.

All three of the previous meetings were in Little Rock, as Arkansas won 43-9 in 1974, 36-3 in 1979 and 31-20 in 1990.

Arkansas will open the 2018 season, its first under new coach Chad Morris, on Sept. 1 against Eastern Illinois at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.