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Razorbacks pull out close win over Tennessee; clinch SEC series

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — With the bases loaded and two outs in a tied ballgame, junior Tori Cooper stepped to the plate and delivered a game-winning single to lift the 25th-ranked Razorbacks to a 2-1 win over No. 14 Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Bogle Park.

The rally secured Arkansas’ first series win against Tennessee since 2002 and its first SEC series win since the 2013 season. Saturday’s game was played in front of 1,544 fans, a program attendance record.

With the win, Arkansas improves to 21-5 overall and 2-3 in league play. Freshman starter Autumn Storms picked up the win in a complete-game performance while Cooper and Autumn Russell, who had the game-tying RBI in the seventh, each had two hits to pace the Razorbacks’ offense.

With her team trailing by one, pinch hitter Haydi Bugarin led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. After a one-out single off the bat of Madison Yannetti and a third walk of the game to Shelby Hiers, the bases were loaded. Russell tied the score with a base hit to left field, scoring Bugarin from third.

Tennessee (21-5, 2-3 SEC) was one out away from pushing the game to extra innings after a Nicole Schroeder lineout but Cooper dropped the 0-2 pitch to shallow center just past a diving effort by the Volunteers’ shortstop and pinch runner Sydney Parr, on for Yannetti, crossed the plate to clinch the win.

Featuring a pitcher’s duel between two freshmen, the game was scoreless entering the seventh inning. Tennessee had the bases loaded in the top of the inning, and scored on an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Savannah Huffstetler.

Storms limited the damage to one run with her fourth strikeout. She used the strikeout to record the final out in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

The Temecula, Calif., native allowed just the one run, scattered five hits over seven innings and struck out four in her fifth complete game of the season. In earning the win, Storms moves to 9-3 in 16 appearances. She collected a three-inning save in Friday’s opener.

Up Next Arkansas goes for the series sweep Sunday when the teams return to the field at 11 a.m. (CT). The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+ which is also available through the WatchESPN app. General admission is free for all home games.

Arkansas stuns Tennessee in SEC matchup with grand slam homer

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ 34th home run of the season was a game changer as junior A.J. Belans delivered a grand slam in the bottom of the third to lift Arkansas to a 4-3 home win over Tennessee on Friday evening at Bogle Park.

The win was the program’s first against a ranked team since the 2014 season.

In its all-time series against Tennessee, 11 of Arkansas’ 15 wins have come on in Fayetteville.

With the win, the Razorbacks improve to 20-5 overall and 1-3 in SEC play. Grace Moll picked up the win, her eighth of the season, while Autumn Storms secured the triumph with a three-inning save.

Tennessee starter Matty Moss retired the first two hitters of the third inning before Autumn Russell lined a single into center field. After a four-pitch walk to Nicole Schroeder and an infield single off the bat of Tori Cooper, Belans stepped in with the bases loaded.

She sent the 0-1 offering from Moss over the fence in center field for the Razorbacks’ fifth grand slam of the season. It was her fourth round tripper of the year.

Belans now has a hit in nine of the last 11 games including four straight. Russell and Stephanie Canfield each had two hits against Tennessee (21-4, 2-2 SEC).

Russell now has a team-leading 10 multi-hit performances while Canfield moved into sole possession of fifth place on Arkansas’ career hits (216) list. Schroeder, the NCAA leader with 12 home runs, drew three walks in the game, tying her career high.

Moll allowed two runs on four hits in four innings of work, and was aided by a pair of double plays turned by her defense. In the top of the third, the visitors had runners on second and third with one out.

Tennessee’s Meghan Gregg lifted a ball into foul territory which Belans gloved before firing home to cut down a would-be score tagging from third. After giving up a run in the sixth inning, Storms worked a 1-2-3 seventh to preserve the win.

Up Next

Game two of the weekend series is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on SEC Network+ which is also available through the WatchESPN app.

The first 200 fans in attendance will receive an Arkansas Razorbacks cell phone wallet. General admission is free for all home games.

Knight’s pitching lifts Razorbacks past Mississippi State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Sophomore Blaine Knight had a strong showing in his Friday night debut in SEC play, going a career-long seven innings and striking out a career-high 11 batters to help the Razorbacks to a 3-1 win over Mississippi State at Baum Stadium.

Knight, who already had a 10 strikeout performance earlier this year against No. 5 Arizona in the Frisco College Classic, did just a little bit better on Friday. Matching Bulldog starter Konnor Pilkington pitch for pitch, Knight shook off an early first inning home run to pick up his second win of the year and allowed just four baserunners over his seven innings of work.

With his 11-strikeout performance, Knight is the first Razorback pitcher to have multiple 10+ strikeout games in the same season since Drew Smyly had 11 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (March 13, 2010) and 10 against Florida (April 23, 2010) during the 2010 season.

Junior Luke Bonfield and sophomore Grant Koch provided all the run support Knight needed as both hit home runs that provided the three runs. Bonfield’s came in the bottom of the first inning as a response to Mississippi State’s solo home run in the first. His two-run shot was his fourth of the year as it was part of a 2-for-4 night.

Koch provided the insurance run with a solo home run of his own in the sixth inning, his team-leading sixth of the year and was his only hit of the game.

Moments That Mattered
It seemed like Friday night’s contest was going to be a slugfest after both teams hit home runs in the first inning. Mississippi State’s Ryan Gridley hit his fourth home run of the year with two outs in the first, but Knight settled down to retire 14 of the next 16 batters with only one reaching second base.

In his last three starts, Knight has struck out 25 batters in 17.1 innings and has still only walked one batter this season. Going back to last year, Knight has never walked more than two batters in a game and he has only done that twice in his career over 23 appearances.

Knight and Pilkington matched each other with scoreless frames in the second through fifth innings. Koch broke that scoreless streak with his solo shot into Hog Pen to give Arkansas a 3-1 advantage. Koch still remains near the top of the SEC in home runs. His six round-trippers is just one less than LSU’s Greg Deichmann, who led the league with seven home runs coming into Friday night.

Arkansas still leads the conference as a team in long balls with now 27 home runs. Mississippi State remains in second with 20 home runs of their own.

Arkansas’ bullpen continued what Knight had started when head coach Dave Van Horn decided to change up pitchers. Kevin Kopps and Evan Lee worked a scoreless eighth inning, giving up just one hit. Senior Cannon Chadwick worked a perfect ninth inning, striking out two and earning his first save of the year.

Razorback Quotables
“That was a really good Friday night ballgame. There were 24 or 25 strikeouts. We struck out a lot. He’s (Konnor Pilkington) a strikeout pitcher. He’s tough to see. The zone was fairly wide for both pitchers and they were hitting their spots. Both teams had to make that adjustment. I feel fortunate that we got a couple balls up in the air and we hit them out of the park. It was a tremendous job of Blaine Knight just shutting it down after the first inning. They’re a really good offensive team and Blaine just had one of his best nights as a Razorback.” – Coach Dave Van Horn on the SEC opening victory

“The bullpen was outstanding. We told Kevin (Kopps) to come in and he had three right-handed hitters in a row in that 7-8-9 hole and you get those guys we’re going to go to (Evan) Lee for the switch hitter at the top and the two hole, left-hander if need be. Then we were going to go with (Cannon) Chadwick and that was our plan. We stuck to it and it ended up working.”.– Van Horn on his bullpen’s performance

“He had all his stuff working tonight, sometimes one pitch is there, one is not. Tonight, he was commanding all of them, mostly his fastball. I think his fastball was the biggest part. He was really throwing hard and it lasted throughout the game, which is rare for a lot of guys. Just phenomenal.”.– Grant Koch on Blaine Knight’s career night

“It’s not good, it’s great. Now we got them on their heels a little bit, but it’s like we’ve been talking about. It’s like a boxing match. We got three rounds, we won the first one, we got to fight the second one tomorrow and the third one on Sunday.” – Knight on winning the SEC opener

Anderson puts lot of credit with Kingsley for first-round win

Andy Hodges
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If there was a defining moment for Moses Kingsley in the NCAA Tournament, it with 17:41 left in Arkansas’ opening game in the NCAA Tournament.

Seton Hall’s Desi Rodriguez was sailing along down the lane for what he assumed was going to be a fairly routine dunk.

He obviously didn’t know Kingsley.

“Coach says you gotta protect the paint,” Moses said later.

Rodriguez had his dunk blocked and Kingsley didn’t let the ball hit the floor. Rodriguez bounced a third of the way down the lane but Kingsley didn’t foul and it sparked the Hogs to a 77-71 win.

“That was the turning point for us,” forward Jaylen Barford said after the game.

Kingsley had a huge game.

He hit 10-of-13 field goals including a 3-pointer, two-of-two at the free throw line, grabbed six rebounds, had four blocked shots, two assists and a steal.

“We didn’t want to go home,” he said. “My team’s looking for me to bring it in games like this and I think that’s what I did.”

That may have been an understatement.

But it’s what Dusty Hannahs has seen for years from the native Nigerian who played on the Arkansas Wings AAU team with Hannahs.

“I’ve played with Moses since the 10th grade and he’s just grown as a player every year that I’ve ever been around him,” Hannahs said. “Now it’s almost peak Moses.”

Mike Anderson agreed.

“I don’t know what happened to Moses, but he awakened today and he was big,” Mike Anderson said later.

The Pirates came into the game as one of the leading rebounding teams in the country and got up by 8 on Arkansas in the second half with 9:29 to play.

No panic from the Hogs. That’s due partly to Anderson, who has had a finger on the pulse of this team most of the time this year.

“At the end they were locked in,” Anderson said of his team. “Fatigue was a factor in this game. Sometimes when fatigue happens, your decision-making is not as quick.”

For Seaton Hall, it played exactly the way Anderson expected it.

“Early in the game they were attacking us and getting to the basket, whipping that ball around,” he said. “As the game went on, they kinda slowed down on those decisions. Our guys were in that moment.”

When the Razorbacks fell behind, Anderson took a timeout.

“We had to settle down and get back to what we were doing in the first half,” he said. “We lost our composure. You win games with defense and we went offensive-minded, so we started trying to do it individually and I told our guys that’s not who we are.”

It worked.

“Once we got some baskets, we went right inside to Moses — we went in to the bellcow — and he delivered for us, he made some big buckets, got to the free-throw line, now we get Delgado in foul trouble, so it was an effort of let’s establish inside and it’s amazing how that opens up the outside and, of course, now you get to the free-throw line,” Anderson said.

“We thought we could go off the dribble with those guys and it really came in handy in those times — it’s a game of runs — so we had a run to come back at ’em.”

The other reason nobody was too worried was the way this team has played all year.

“We are a second-half team,” Anderson said.

The biggest difference was the Hogs winning the turnover battle in the second half.

“It’s funny because in the first half we only got 2 points off turnovers and I think we missed about five layup opportunities, whether we charged or not make the right decision, or they make a great play and block it,” Anderson said. “In the second half, once we sped ’em up or tuned ’em over, we made better decisions.”

He knows that’s usually the way it works for this team. When it’s all clicking, they are getting the turnovers.

“Today, we needed that,” he said. “We had 12 steals and we needed that because they were just attacking us on the glass. They had 21 offensive rebounds and you don’t win those kind of games unless you change the possessions some kind of way and that was the difference in the game today.”

In the end, it was a win, which allows Arkansas to advance.

“It was a good win for us,” Anderson said. “Looking forward to advance.”

Even if it’s against North Carolina, the No. 1 seed in the South Region.

But more on that later.

Considering how few wins the Hogs have lately in the NCAA, this one should be enjoyed.

At least for a night.

Hogs hold off Seton Hall at end for first-round win

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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GREENVILLE, S.C. — Jaylen Barford hit the go-ahead layup with 57.8 seconds left to help Arkansas hold off Seton Hall 77-71 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Barford had 12 of his 20 points after halftime for the Razorbacks (26-9), the No. 8 seed in the South Region. That included his layup off Khadeen Carrington‘s turnover at the other end, pushing Arkansas ahead for good as the Razorbacks scored the game’s final seven points.

The 6-foot-3 junior also came through with a pair of free throws with 18.3 seconds left following a whistle in which officials reviewed Desi Rodriguez‘s foul to stop the clock and changed it to a flagrant foul.

After Barford hit his free throws, Daryl Macon added another to make it a 75-71 game. Carrington missed a 3 at the other end in what amounted to the ninth-seeded Pirates’ last gasp.

Macon added two more free throws with 9.7 seconds left to seal Arkansas’ ninth win in 11 games.

Moses Kingsley added 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting for the Razorbacks, who shot 47 percent against a defense that had been holding teams to around 43 percent.

Carrington had 22 points to lead the Pirates (21-12), who shot just 38 percent and couldn’t hold onto their late lead.

BIG PICTURE

Seton Hall: The Pirates had a 15-3 run to take a 64-56 lead with 8:41 left, but their mistakes down the stretch hurt. They had 15 turnovers — including two straight around Barford’s layup — to deny their pursuit of a first NCAA Tournament win since 2004.

Arkansas: The Razorbacks survived being soundly beaten on the boards (46-32) but they did just enough to speed the Pirates up and get the game closer to their preferred pace. They also made 18 of 23 free throws to help prolong their late-season surge.

UP NEXT

Arkansas advanced to Sunday’s second round to face the Texas Southern-North Carolina winner.

Hogs host annual Pro Day with 17 former players participating

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — A total of 17 former Razorbacks showcased their abilities to 30 NFL teams on Wednesday afternoon during Arkansas’ Pro Day held inside Walker Pavilion at the Fred W. Smith Center.

The players took part in individual tests before breaking into positional work.

He did what?
None of the more than 300 a

hletes at this year’s NFL Combine ran a sub-4.4 40-yard dash, broad jumped 11 feet and had a vertical of 40 or more inches. On Wednesday, wide receiver Dominique Reed did all of those things.

Reed opened the day with a 40-yard dash clocked in the 4.37-4.40 range and then made his way to the vertical jump where he leaped 40 inches.

Reed continued to impress in the first hour of Pro Day when he made his way to the broad jump where he delivered a leap of 11-foot-4, which would have been the second-best mark at this year’s NFL Combine.

Morgan Improves
Dominique Reed wasn’t the only wide receiver that clocked some impressive times, as Drew Morgan improved on his times from the NFL Combine in the 40, 3-Cone Drill and 60-yard Shuttle.

Morgan trimmed a tenth of a second off his 40 with a time that ranged from 4.59-4.64.

The Greenwood product showed his quickness with a 6.63 3-cone time and a 11.07 60-yard shuttle time, which would have landed him second among wide receivers in both tests at the NFL Combine.

Combine Comparisons
Below is a look at where some of the Razorbacks’ Pro Day results would have ranked at this year’s NFL Combine.

• One of 10 tight ends to run a sub-4.70 (4.69) 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, Jeremy Sprinkle improved in the 4.61-4.65 range.

• LB Brooks Ellis finished third at his positon in the 3-Cone Drill at the NFL Combine and slightly improved. Ellis was also second in the 60-yard Shuttle (11.28) at the combine.

• DJ Dean’s 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press would have ranked tied for third-most among defensive backs.

• Jared Collins’ broad jump of 131 inches (10-9) would have ranked fifth among defensive backs and his 4.44-4.46 40-yard dash 11th.

• WR Cody Hollister only benched due to having foot surgery in December. Hollister was able pound out 29 reps of 225 pounds, which would have been six more than any other wide receiver at the NFL Combine.

Notables

• DL Deatrich Wise Jr. only participated in positional workouts after testing at the NFL Combine.

• DL Jeremiah Ledbetter improved his 40 time by a tenth of a second to 4.75-4.79. He also increased his broad jump by seven inches to 10 feet.

• WR Keon Hatcher did not participate at all but was in attendance. He also attended the NFL Combine.

• P Toby Baker and PK Adam McFain did positional work outdoors for the scouts.

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Hogs ready to open SEC play against Mississippi State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas opens Southeastern Conference play at Baum Stadium this weekend when Mississippi State visits for a three-game series starting on Friday and running through Sunday. Game one is set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, followed by game two on Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday’s finale will start at 1 p.m.

Follow Live
All games will be available on the WatchESPN app in their entirety. Friday night’s game will be part of the SEC Network’s Bases Loaded special. As part of SEC opening weekend, the SEC Network will “whip-around” to all of the games going on in the conference with in-studio analysis.

Mike Morgan (PXP) and Ben McDonald (Analyst) will be calling games one and two between Mississippi State and Arkansas. Alex Perlman (PXP) and Troy Eklund will pick up game three on Sunday for SEC Network+.

Phil Elson (PXP) and Rick Schaeffer (Analyst) will call the whole series for the Razorback Sports Network on the radio.

Probable Starters
Fri. | 6:30 p.m. | (ARK) RHP Blaine Knight (1-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. (MSU) LHP Konnor Pilkington (2-1, 1.73 ERA)
Sat. | 7 p.m. | (ARK) RHP Trevor Stephan (3-0, 0.75 ERA) vs. (MSU) RHP Peyton Plumlee (2-0, 1.88 ERA)
Sun. | 1 p.m. | (ARK) TBA vs. (MSU) TBA

1-2 Pitching Punch
Sophomore Blaine Knight and junior Trevor Stephan have provided a premier 1-2 punch in starting pitching for the Razorbacks on the weekend. Combined through the first four weekends of the year, the two hurlers have a 1.67 ERA over 43.1 innings pitched and a 6.88 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Stephan holds the better record and ERA, but Knight has only walked one batter in 19.1 innings, which is tied for the lowest in the SEC.

Getting Better With Time
Junior pitcher Trevor Stephan had only been a pitcher for two seasons before arriving at Arkansas, but he looks like a seasoned veteran on the mound after his first four starts this season. Stephan has been the Saturday starter for all four weekends this year and he has yet to give up more than three hits or two runs each time. Stephan currently leads all Hog pitchers with a 0.75 ERA and a perfect 3-0 record. In his last two starts (Nebraska, Rhode Island), Stephan has struck out a combined 21 batters in 14.1 innings and has only given up one earned run. Last week against the Rams, Stephan had a perfect game into the seventh inning and pitching into the ninth inning. He currently has the fifth-lowest ERA in the conference and his 13 strikeouts last week were the most by a Razorback since Jess Todd had 17 in the 2007 SEC Tournament against South Carolina.

Chadwick Does It All In Walk-Off Win
Senior relief pitcher Cannon Chadwick was a renaissance man Tuesday afternoon against Alcorn State. After coming in to pitch in the top of the eighth inning, Arkansas was still tied with the Braves going into the ninth. Dave Van Horn, who had lost his DH after placing Grant Koch into the defense, chose to keep Chadwick in the game by having hit bat in the bottom of the ninth. Making his first plate appearance as a Razorback, Chadwick worked a 3-2 count and walked to get on base with one out. Two hits later, Chadwick scored the winning run from second and giving himself the victory. On the mound, Chadwick has turned into Arkansas’ go-to guy in the late innings. With a 1.46 ERA in 12.1 innings and a 17-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Chadwick has had seven scoreless outings and no more than three hits on three occasions.

Chicks Dig The Long Ball
The Razorbacks have hit 25 home runs as a team so far this year, the most of any team in the SEC and the eighth-highest total in the nation. In 13 of 18 games, Arkansas has hit at least one home run and in six of those games, it has hit two or more. The number of long balls is two more than the Hogs had through 18 games last year and is the most through the first 18-game stretch since the 2010 team that reached the NCAA Super Regionals. On Wednesday, Arkansas hit four home runs against Alcorn State, three coming in the first inning. In its second road game of the year at Louisiana Tech, Arkansas hit five home runs to come back from a nine-run deficit, the largest of the Dave Van Horn era.

Arledge Goes Streaking
Leading the team with a .393 batting average, senior Jake Arledge takes a 14-game hitting streak into the 2017 SEC Opening Weekend. His streak is the longest since Michael Bernal hit safely in 14-straight games in 2015. The school record for the longest hitting streak was 30 games set by Randy Bobb in 1987. During his streak, Arledge has hit .415 with 15 runs scored and 13 RBIs. Only four of his 22 hits have been for extra-bases, but he has six multi-hit games during that span, which ties for the team lead.

Johnson Faces Mississippi State For First Time
2017 will mark the first season with the Razorbacks for new pitching coach Wes Johnson. A Sherwood, Arkansas native, Johnson takes over for long time pitching coach Dave Jorn, who stepped down last summer. Johnson spent one season at Mississippi State and four seasons at Dallas Baptist before arriving at Arkansas. Last season, with the Bulldogs, Johnson developed a pitching staff that improved its ERA by more than a full run and won 44 games, its most since 1997. Johnson helped developed All-American and MLB first round pick Dakota Hudson, who won nine games and had 115 strikeouts in 2016.

Post play will carry Hogs’ NCAA Tournament success

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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SEC Now’s Dane Bradshaw and Antoine Walker break down Arkansas’ first round matchup against Seton Hall.

Hogs draw No. 8 seed in South for NCAA Tournament

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Fresh off an SEC Tournament Championship appearance, Arkansas punched its ticket to the Big Dance on Sunday night, earning a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Winning eight of their last 10 games, the Razorbacks (25-9) will square off against the Seton Hall Pirates (21-11) of the Big East Conference in the round of 64 in Greenville, South Carolina.

Arkansas will play its opening game on Friday at 12:30 p.m.

The Razorbacks are a No. 8 seed for the second time in program history, holding an overall record of 0-1.

Arkansas is making its 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its second appearance in a three-year span for the first time in nine years.

In the Razorbacks’ last NCAA Tournament appearance, Arkansas defeated the 12-seed Wofford Terriers 56-53 in the round of 64, before falling to fourth-seeded North Carolina.

Arkansas is 41-30 all-time in their previous 30 appearances and is 19-11 in its first game in the tournament.

This marks head coach Mike Anderson’s eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach.

Anderson is 8-7 all-time in the Big Dance, having advanced as far as the Elite Eight in 2008-09 during his days at Missouri.

Arkansas’ bats silent in loss of finale against Rhode Island

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ bats were nearly silent on Sunday in the series finale with Rhode Island.

The Hogs only managed three hits off Rams’ starting pitcher Matt Murphy, dropping their first game at home this season, 3-0, at Baum Stadium.

Arkansas (12-4) still claimed the series victory after winning both ends of a double-header Friday night with the Rams (6-8).

The Razorbacks have won three straight series at Baum Stadium to open the year and are, currently, one of five teams in the conference with one loss or less in its home stadium.

This year marks the third straight that Arkansas has won its first three weekend series at home.

Third baseman Hunter Wilson had two of Arkansas’ three hits in the game as it capped a tremendous weekend for the sophomore. In his last 10 at-bats, he has seven hits, all singles, including two RBIs.

On Friday, in game two of the doubleheader with Rhode Island, the Spiro, Oklahoma native went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, his first three-hit game of the year and first of two straight multi-hit games.

Redshirt senior pitcher Josh Alberius made his third start of the year, going five innings on the mound and allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.

Alberius struggled through the first two innings, giving up three straight hits to start the game, including a two-RBI double. Then, in the second, he gave up a solo home run, which made it 3-0 in favor of the Rams.

After the homer, he settled down and retired 11 of the final 14 batters he faced. Alberius has been used in many different roles so far this year. His last three appearances have been starts, but he’s also been one of the Razorbacks’ most effective arms out of the bullpen.

In his three non-starting appearances this year, Alberius has held opponents to just two hits in 5.2 innings, while striking out seven. He’s allowed no runs across in those innings and is one of only two Hog pitchers with five or more innings pitched and no runs allowed out of the bullpen.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Kopps relieved Alberius in the sixth inning of Sunday’s game and gave Arkansas a chance in the late innings. Kopps pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and struck out out three Rhode Island batters.

After starting the first two weekends, Kopps has made three straight appearances out of the bullpen and has yet to allow a run. He’s thrown six innings and struck out only four, but has allowed just six baserunners in those three appearances.

Arkansas now focuses on the two-game midweek series with Alcorn State, which starts on Tuesday at Baum Stadium. Due to forecasted cold temperatures in the area on Tuesday, the start time for the series opener has been moved up from 6:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday’s game between the Braves and Hogs will still be played as scheduled at 3 p.m. Both games will be televised on SEC Network+ and broadcast on the radio on the Razorback Sports Network.

Kentucky ends Hogs’ run in SEC Tournament, running away in final

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas fell to Kentucky on Sunday afternoon in the SEC Tournament Championship, 82-65.

Down by as many as 19 in the second half, Arkansas fought back to cut the deficit to nine with 1:32 left in the contest, after sinking six of its last seven shots. Kentucky made its late free throws to keep Arkansas from getting any closer.

Arkansas’ bench, with the exception of Daryl Macon, did not perform as it has all year. Macon led the Razorbacks and tied for the game-high in scoring with 18 points, including 10 in the first half. The junior also pulled down four rebounds, tying for the most among Arkansas guards.

To start the contest, Kentucky raced out to an early 6-2 lead but Arkansas shortly responded. Going on a 7-0 run, the Razorbacks were able to take their first lead of the game at 9-7.

Early on, neither team could pull away from the other. Kentucky and Arkansas battled for the first 18 minutes of the game, before Kentucky was able to use a 9-0 run at the end of the first half to take a 12-point lead into the locker room.

Dusty Hannahs tallied 14 points, as Jaylen Barford scored 13 points to go along with two rebounds. Manuale Watkins posted seven points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Trey Thompson led the team with four assists and two blocks.

UP NEXT
Arkansas now waits for its ticket into to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show begins at 4:30 p.m. CT Sunday afternoon on CBS.

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