Arkansas coach Mike Anderson met with the media Thursday to preview Saturday’s game with LSU in Baton Rouge.
Koch named D1Baseball preseason All-American
FAYETTEVILLE — Razorback junior catcher Grant Koch was named a Preseason Third Team All-American by D1Baseball.com earlier this month.
It’s the second preseason honor for a Razorback this year heading into the 2018 season, following Blaine Knight, who earned a preseason All-American nod from Collegiate Baseball back in December.
Koch is the first Arkansas player to be named a D1Baseball Preseason All-American since Zach Jackson in 2016 and he returns to Fayetteville as one of the best catchers in the Southeastern Conference.
The Hog backstop was a constant in the lineup last year as he started in nearly every game (63 games), and hit .264 with a career-best 13 home runs and 42 RBIs.
His home run total was the seventh most in the conference, most among catchers, and most by a Razorback catcher in the Dave Van Horn era.
The Fayetteville-native put his name among the best catchers in Razorback history as he had a great 12-game start to the season, racking up a .358 average with 18 hits, 18 RBIs, and five home runs.
It was the best offensive start to a season by an Arkansas catcher since Brady Toops in 2004.
He went on to finish the season with 15 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games, which were good for third on the team and he was lethal in the field as he caught 16 base stealers in 24 attempts (.600), good for third in the league.
Koch went on to earn a place on the All-SEC First Team becoming just the second Razorback catcher to earn an All-SEC distinction and the first to be named to the first team.
He was also named a Johnny Bench Award semifinalist later in the year, the only SEC catcher to make the list.
Arkansas is scheduled to open the 2018 season against Bucknell on Friday, Feb. 16 with first pitch at 3 p.m. at Baum Stadium.K
Top-ranked Hogs head into pair of tough road challenges
FAYETTEVILLE — Following its recent ascent to the top of the national polls the No. 1 Arkansas journeys to Lubbock, Texas, and New York for a pair of road challenges this weekend, including the Texas Tech Open and the New York Road Runners (NYRR) Millrose Games, respectively.
Regional Bout
In Lubbock the Hogs will face off against host and regional foe, Texas Tech as well as Adams State, Angelo State, Eastern New Mexico, Hardin Simmons, Huston Tillotson, LeTourneau, Lubbock Christian, McMurry, Midwestern, New Mexico Jr College, Oklahoma Christian, Oral Roberts, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston, Tarleton, Texas A&M – Commerce, Trinidad State, Univ of Southwest, UTRGV, Wayland Baptist, Western Texas, West Texas A&M. The two-day meet will see Arkansas kick off competition in the 60-meter dash prelims at 5:30 p.m. CT Friday, Feb. 2. The Razorbacks will close out the weekend with the 4-x-400-meter relay at 3:50 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Important Links: Meet Schedule | Live Results |
Texas Tech Open Events To Watch:
60 Meters & 400 Meters
Featured Razorback: Payton Chadwick (PR: 7.59 | PR: 53.42)
Having already established herself as one of the fastest student-athletes at 200 meters this year, Payton Chadwick will look to replicate that magic, testing out her turnover in the 60-meter dash and her speed endurance in the 400. Chadwick currently ranks nationally in three events all reliant on explosive ability including No. 2 in the 200, No. 7 in the long jump and No. 8 in the 60-meter hurdles. A solid outing this weekend could bring a fourth and potentially a fifth national top-10 mark for the Razorback junior out of Springdale, Arkansas.
Long Jump
Featured Razorback: Taliyah Brooks (PR: 21-3)
Another multi-talented Hog, Taliyah Brooks, will be in the hunt for an improved mark in the long jump. Brooks holds the indoor and outdoor long jump program record and heads to Lubbock ranked 10th in the national polls. She has a best performance this season of 6.28m/20-7 1/4, which she jumped in front of her home crowd at last weekend’s Razorback Invitational.
Pole Vault
Featured Razorback: Lexi Jacobus (PR: 15-2 1/4) and Tori Hoggard (PR: 15-0)
With two vaulters whom have the ability to clear a 15-foot bar, the pole vault always remains an event to watch for Arkansas. All-American vaulters Lexi Jacobus and Tori Hoggard will headline the event in Lubbock both in search of consistency and high clearances. Jacobus leads the nation in the event as one of two vaulters this year to break the 15-foot barrier, off her 4.61m/15-1 1/2 clearance last weekend on her home runway. Hoggard currently has the 4th best clearance in the country, having successfully vaulted a 4.45m/14-7 1/4 bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan to win the Simmons-Harvey Quad.
Big Apple Mile Battle
Five-time All-American Nikki Hiltz will open up in her signature event this weekend, taking on the Wanamaker mile at the prestigious NYRR Millrose Games. Contested annually at the Millrose Games wince 1926, the Wanamaker mile is an invitation-only race extended to the premier budding middle distance talents in the country. Hiltz is one of two collegians in the field joined in the competition by New Hampshire’s Elinor Purrier who placed eighth in the race last year. A national runner-up in the 1,500-meter run during the 2017 outdoor season, Hiltz currently has a PR of 4:34.57 in the mile, secured during her sixth-place finish at the national indoor championships last March.
Hogs can’t overcome hot-shooting Aggies on road
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Arkansas could not overcome the hot shooting Texas Aggies on Tuesday night, as the Razorbacks fell on the road, 80-66.
The Razorbacks and Aggies traded baskets for the first four minutes of the game, as Texas A&M would hold a one-point lead.
Getting his fifth start of the season, freshman guard Darious Hall was big early for the Hogs. Hall had six of Arkansas’ first 14 points to go along with two steals.
The Razorbacks ran off a 10-0 run to take a 17-8 lead, their largest in the first half. A&M would put together a 20-4 run of their own to take a six-point lead, but Arkansas would use a 9-2 run to close the half to trail 33-32 at the break.
Arkansas’ offense ran through its defense. The Razorbacks forced 12 Aggie turnovers in the first half, scoring 15 points off of those miscues.
Arkansas also had its own mistakes though, turning the ball over nine times in the opening period. Hall tied with Daryl Macon at the half, leading the Hogs with 10 points each.
To open the second half, the Aggies got hot. Texas A&M manufactured an 24-4 run, hitting five consecutive three pointers to quickly stretch their lead to 21.
A&M hit nine of their first 10 shots coming out of the break, including seven three pointers, while Arkansas missed 11 of its first 13 shots.
After the Aggies built their largest lead of the game at 59-38, the two teams would go back and forth before Arkansas manufactured a 13-2 run, including scoring 10 straight to cut it to nine with six minutes remaining.
That is as close as Arkansas would get. The Aggies would hold on for a 80-66 win.
Macon led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting, going 3-of-9 from deep. Hall finished with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting, while senior guard Jaylen Barford scored 19 of his own, going 7-of-16 from the floor.
Texas A&M went 7-of-12 (.583) from deep in the second half to run away from the Hogs, going 15-of-25 (.600) from the floor overall in the final period.
Has time come for Arkansas to play Arkansas State?
A week or so ago, a booster whose family has been donating and buying tickets for several decades approached me with a message.
It was as simple as it was surprising.
“It’s time for the Hogs to start playing Arkansas State,” he said.
To be honest, I didn’t need any convincing. I’ve been on the record for over 40 years as saying the Razorbacks should be playing the little school in Jonesboro … in ALL sports, not just football.
Frank Broyles had a simple answer that, well, really was just a BS solution to the problem that sounded politically correct and gave everybody an out.
It was Frank’s public belief that it would divide the state. He wanted the fans of the smaller college football teams to also be Razorback fans.
What he failed to grasp about, oh, the mid-1970’s was playing the smaller teams in the state wasn’t going to lose any Hog fans. I attended Central Arkansas in the mid-1970’s and it was easier on Monday mornings to find students that knew the score of the Razorback game than how the Bears did the previous Saturday.
Going to Arkansas games in Fayetteville it was not uncommon to see fellow students in attendance at those games. UCA (like some other college teams) scheduled their games around the Razorback games so fans could listen and follow THAT game before coming to the Bears’ game.
Things haven’t really changed.
Oh, the way they keep up with the Hogs has. The internet has helped that along tremendously.
In reality, less than three percent of the population of the entire state of Arkansas can squeeze into Razorback Stadium. That means 97 percent of the state is following the games on their mobile phone, television, radio or whatever.
Trust me, it’s not usual at a game between two other Arkansas schools for somebody to shout in the press box about the score with the Hogs. I’ve been there and seen it.
Playing other colleges in Arkansas isn’t going to affect the fan base one bit.
The UA has a problem in Little Rock and some new expansion in Fayetteville that may or may not cause some interesting financial situations. Only time will tell on the latter.
But the Little Rock problem could be solved by playing Arkansas State there. I’ll be honest, I’ve bounced back and forth between playing them in Little Rock or Fayetteville, but War Memorial probably makes more sense.
Give ASU 10,000 tickets to the game and no guarantee. That’s it, pure and simple.
Sorry, but splitting the stadium and giving ASU half isn’t fair. Now that would likely be a cheaper solution for the UA than paying some ridiculous guarantee to a Sun Belt team to come to Little Rock for a game.
And if ASU wants to come to Fayetteville every year they get a guarantee and the same number of tickets any other visiting team gets.
It would be a wise move for the state to rotate between UCA and UAPB every year, too. Play that game in Fayetteville. They get a guarantee, the money stays within the state of Arkansas and everybody benefits.
But if the argument is the Hogs will lose fans or support by playing those teams, then that’s simply a BS argument. This doesn’t cost Arkansas in recruiting, but could benefit other in-state teams. If a high school senior isn’t good enough to play for the Hogs at least he could play against them.
Why?
If they do, then there are bigger problems.
