Wicklander top player nationally; Wallace gets SEC award

Arkansas pitcher Patrick Wicklander picked up a weekly national honor Monday while freshman Cayden Wallace got an SEC award.

Wicklander was named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after striking out a career-high 11 in six innings against Florida.

Wallace was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season after the Hogs swept the Gators for their 10th series win of the year and the outright SEC regular-season title.

Wicklander allowed only one run on three hits and a walk en route to his fifth win of the season as well as his fourth quality start of the year.

He is the third Razorback this season to receive the honor from Collegiate Baseball, joining Matt Goodheart (April 19) and Kevin Kopps (April 26).

Wallace collected three hits, including two homers, and drove in four runs in Thursday’s series opener against the Gators, powering the Razorbacks to a 6-1 win.

The true freshman finished with a team-leading four hits and a team-best four runs scored on the weekend, slashing .400-.538-1.000 in 10 at-bats with two walks.

The Greenbrier native is one of six Arkansas players to earn a weekly honor from the conference this season. He and two-time SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week Kevin Kopps are the only Razorbacks to have taken home an award on multiple occasions this year.

Wallace, Wicklander and the Hogs get back to work this week at the 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala., at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Top-seed Arkansas will play the winner of eight-seed Georgia vs. nine-seed LSU at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, on the SEC Network.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.